macbook closed while capturing?

S

Saddler

Well-known member
Can I start a capture via FCP on a Macbook and then close the macbook to place in a backpack while filming, or does that unavoidably put the computer to sleep?
 
don't know about it going to sleep but I would worry about heat issues if that did work. If you can find a way to mount it in your pack so there is some space around it, espeicially the bottom and nothing is blocking the air vents, then it may work. The sleep thing, i don't know, i don't have a macbook or pro.
 
Saddler said:
Can I start a capture via FCP on a Macbook and then close the macbook to place in a backpack while filming, or does that unavoidably put the computer to sleep?
Click to expand...


Have you tried?
 
This thread seems to be getting at an important concept:

Like Saddler (original post), I want to be able to use a mac book as capture device in the field with minimal physical kit constraints.

I don't want to have to open it and use menus every time I start a capture (very hard in nasty environments (beaches, citystreets, deserts, playas, snow, rain)...

Best case would be to start the capture once and walk around shooting until the Mac runs out of disk/battery. And the screen-off closed mode would extend Mac battery life to well beyond 3 hours...

For this, I'd figure on semi-armoring the mac book (creative use of duct tape, carbon sheets, foam) and providing it proper ventilation in some kind of a dust/rain resistant back-pack-like enclosure...

This would be far superior to the various portable drives and puny P2 cards I've seen so far (cheaper, more storage, less transfer/capture time, instant editing, instant back-up to external firewire array when back at base-camp, etc.)

Has anyone actually pulled something like this off yet? Would it require some customization of the mac book (probably just disable sleep)?

ps: has anyone heard of replacing the 120GB internal drive in the macbook pro 17" with something larger??? Or an external *battery powered* firewire 800 drive?
 
I don't know about the MacBook Pros, but with older Powerbooks, you could close the lid and the computer would stay running IF you had an external monitor hooked up. They were specifically designed to run this way, so heat wasn't an issue (as long as the side fan vents remained clear).

Assuming the MacBook Pros worked this way, if you could trick the computer into thinking there was an external monitor (maybe with a blank DVI connector?), you could run with the laptop closed. However, I wouldn't place it in a backpack, or any space where there wasn't adequate ventilation.
 
GroovyBrent said:
I don't know about the MacBook Pros, but with older Powerbooks, you could close the lid and the computer would stay running IF you had an external monitor hooked up. They were specifically designed to run this way, so heat wasn't an issue (as long as the side fan vents remained clear).

Assuming the MacBook Pros worked this way, if you could trick the computer into thinking there was an external monitor (maybe with a blank DVI connector?), you could run with the laptop closed. However, I wouldn't place it in a backpack, or any space where there wasn't adequate ventilation.
Click to expand...

Yeah my thoughts exactly on the old PB. My Pismo (RIP?) did this great. I edited video for years with dual monitor (laptop + CRT) and external FW drive, FCP 1 & 2.

I agree I wouldn't put it in a backpack. QUOTE: "This would be far superior to the various portable drives..." - from the poster 2 above. I don't see how this would be better than a portable FIRESTORE, etc. You hook it up to your computer when you are done and edit or transfer the files. You don't risk your whole system dying from over-heating - which is VERY possible. Upgraded my pismo to a 800MHz G3 and it fried in 2 weeks in the summertime. It would turn on in my bag for some reason and that is what fried it. Luckily it didn't effect any other part of the machine. Just stuck the old 400MHz proc back in. Considering it isn't as easy as it use to be to fix the PB's I wouldn't risk it.

A friend of mine is building a rig that turns a MacMini into capture device just as you mentioned above. You can take superdrive out and stick in a bigger drive and have it run MAX/MSP as your capture program and trigger it with whatever. In fact you can build a buffer so that you are constantly recording 30(+) seconds and you just hit record to capture and it captures the previous 30 seconds in the buffer as well as anything after that. MacMini's can be made to run off batteries. Look into that as the Mini would be a cheaper alternative to a MacBook or MBPro.
 
From since about a year back, if memory serves me well, portable Macs have a motion sensor that parks the hard-disk head when it detects movement to prevent the head from bumping onto the HD platter (same idea as in P2 Store). I'd have thought that as soon as you start walking about, the motion sensor will cut in so at best you'll get dropped frames or that may cause no answer back along the Firewire, so the camera will be confused.
 
I say keep it lite. Even if you had a nice backpack the less crap you carry, the more you can focus on your shots.

IMO
 
sbove said:
I don't want to have to open it and use menus every time I start a capture (very hard in nasty environments (beaches, citystreets, deserts, playas, snow, rain)...Best case would be to start the capture once
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Don't think you can do that with FCP...too many annoying dialogs, clip by clip. HDLog can do that in "video assist" mode. Auto names the clips, etc. based on start and stop of camera. I've never done it with HVX200, but might be worth trying.
 
sbove said:
ps: has anyone heard of replacing the 120GB internal drive in the macbook pro 17" with something larger???
Click to expand...

Currently 120gb is the largest available HD for laptops!

Indy....
 
Seagate has 160GB 7200RPM drives featuring perpendicular recording in their Momentus laptop lineup.
 
My MBP works the same as the powerbooks in that unless you've got an external monitor/KB connected it goes to sleep whenever the lid is closed.
 
I dunno about the whole heat issue with this possibility, but you could always have a portable hardrive along with your camera plugged into the laptop... you can get 300 gig portable hard drives these days, and maybe even more. They hook up via USB and you could just have the save point be on whatever USB drive you have it plugged into. You would need a laptop though, and I dunno if it would work with a mac mini. Unfortunately, they don't make massive firestores yet (harddrives with firewire-in.)
 
There's an issue with heat in doing this, definitely you'd want to be able to ventilate the thing.

BUT, there's also a utility called Sleepless I found just earlier today, while looking into this very issue.

I can't claim experience with it (I'm away from my MacBook at the moment), but I plan to pick it up later tonight. it's only $10 and doing something rather simple, so I'm sure it'd be just what the doctor ordered.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top