Help out a Mac guy - Recommed a PC Notebook for DV Rack & Direct recording DVCPRO HD?

R

Ron Marinelli

Member
Help out a Mac guy - Recommed a PC Notebook for DV Rack & Direct recording DVCPRO HD?

Help out a Mac guy - What are good recommendations for a PC Notebook for DV Rack & Direct recording of DVCPRO HD? When DV Rack supports that, of course (which will apparently be available for the HVX200).

What features are required &/or optimal, ie: HD speed and capacity, CPU speed, RAM, LCD size, Graphics card, etc, etc?

And one more question - isn't anyone working on an equivalent application for Mac users, so we can just buy a PowerBook?

Thanks.


Ron...
 
You can just use Final Cut Pro on a laptop and get most of DVRack's functionality.. it supports DVCPRO now. It will do all the recording and such; it will do most of the scope and monitoring functions, but not while capturing; I think that's the main advantage of DVRack... but if you don't need scopes during actual capture, it's just as good for this application; and, if you are using Mac tools for editing, it's capturing into native format.

What do you want to use it for?

-Barry
 
We're going to be using FCP 5 on a G5.

We're going to be doing a documentary with the HVX200 - some stationary interviews, outdoor location shots, green screen stuff. Not any on the fly, run and gun stuff.

So would you use the monitoring features to set up the shot and then just start recording?
 
I been mulling over this same problem for quite some time and I've come to the conclusion that, if economically feasible, an independent needs to have both platforms working. I will continue to use Mac machines and FCP but i will invest in an INTEL machine for Serious magic DV Rack ( Microsoft direct X and direct to disk) and Ultra 2. One needs to look around on the net for duel core AMD or INTEL chip-set portable workstations with 1900X1200 LCD screen capability. The cost for such a laptop and the hardware will still put one down to around $3,000 or so and perhaps a little more. Being Independent means flexibility and I see no reason to not use both platforms and get them to do what they do best.
 
If you're going to be using FCP to do your edit, then that's all the more reason to get a PowerBook rather than a PC based laptop. Get a PowerBook 17" and call it a day. ;)

I'm not a huge fan of DVRack personally, but Barry Green swears by it, so he can probably give you a better idea about it than I can. As far as signal monitoring goes, I prefer to use dedicated monitoring hardware rather than a computer program.
 
With a little luck the intel powerbook will be out in time for your film. Switch boot to windows for DV rack...
cheers,
Sam
 
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