My HVX200 Direct Capture Tests on MBP, PB, & PMG5

Bryan Xin

Bryan Xin

New member
I have been conducting some HVX200 tests of my own before going into production that I thought might be helpful. I did direct captures in Final Cut Pro 5.0.4 to the following systems using a 14.5 ft. Firewire cable:

MacBook Pro 15" 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM, 100GB 7200 RPM
PowerBook G4 15" 1.25 Ghz, 1GB RAM, 80GB 5400 RPM
Power Mac G5 Dual 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, 160GB 5400 RPM
External hard drives used: LaCie 250GB d2 triple interface 7200 RPM

1080i60 and 720P24 Tests using built in hard drives:

I successfully captured 1 hour of 1080i60 directly to the built in hard drive on the MacBook Pro and also was successful doing this on the Power Mac G5. I was only able to capture 30 min. to the Power Book G4 because of space limitations. I also successfully captured 30 min. clips in 720p24 on each system.

Tests using an external hard drive (listed above) coming out of the USB port:

I was NOT able to capture 1080i60 with the external hard drive coming out of the USB ports on any system. It was dropping frames every time. I tried with 3 different drives of the same brand and model. However, I was successful at capturing 15-20 min. clips (I didn't try for longer record times) at 720p24 on all systems with the drive coming out of USB.

Tests using an external hard drive using the same Firewire bus as the camera:

I was successful at recording 30 min. to 1 hour clips on the PowerBook and Power Mac (I only have 1 Firewire 400 port on the MacBook - waiting for an Expresscard 34 adaptor) at 180i60 and 720p24 with the hard drive sharing the Firewire bus with the camera. (that's HVX to FW400 port and LaCie drive to FW800 port)

I'm hoping to get a Siig 2 port Firewire Expresscard/34 adaptor soon. I really hope it works so that my MacBook Pro will be just as functional as the others in terms of direct capturing.
 
Thanks for sharing the information Bryan.
Just interested to know how much space you had spare on the hard disk on the Macbookpro after capturing an 1 hour of 1080i60.

It all seemed very reassuring.

Kind regards
THE HONEST LIAR
 
On the MacBook Pro I captured at 1080i60 until FCP ran out of space to capture, which I believe was actually about 71 minutes and used up approximately 58 GB.

Also, I received a Siig Firewire 2-Port ExpressCard today for my MacBook Pro and I did a direct capture of 1080i60 for 120 min. with the LaCie hard drive coming out of the ExpressCard FW port. I'm very happy and relieved.
 
I didn't know you could run Final Cut on the MacBook Pro without the Crossgrade. That makes it version 5.1, not 5.0.4, if my suspicions are correct.

I had heard that there was 1080/24p support added in 5.1. Did you try editing?
 
chakamonkey said:
I didn't know you could run Final Cut on the MacBook Pro without the Crossgrade. That makes it version 5.1, not 5.0.4, if my suspicions are correct.

I had heard that there was 1080/24p support added in 5.1. Did you try editing?
Click to expand...

Yes, I was using 5.0.4 on my MacBook Pro. I'm still waiting for the 5.1 crossgrade to arrive.

I haven't tried editing with it, as my main concern was using the MBP for direct capture.

I believe there is support for 1080/24p in 5.1. I read some other posts that mentioned it being possible, and Apple's website indicates, "HD at 1080i 50/60, 1080p 23.98/24, and 720p 23.98/30/60" under Supported formats and I/O on the FCP specifications page.
 
Thanks for clarifying that. I guess I don't understand that "crossgrade" marketing term. I thought it referred to getting Apple apps to run on the new Intel processor. Your MacBook Pro is Intel, right?

Yes, I will be testing out the editing of 1080p at 24 and 30 fps shortly. I was hoping to read of someone else's experience first. Not a big deal. Thanks again.
 
Bryan, How's the Siig Firewire 2-Port ExpressCard working for you? I just bought a Macbook pro and am looking for express cards to help with all the P2 stuff. I own an HVX200 and recording directly to a hard drive sounds like a great way to do it. That is if you're shooting in a studio or a location that you can set that up. Have you heard anything about a Firewire 800 express card? Or an eSATA express card 34?
 
Yes chakamonkey, it's the Intel model. The thing that Apple refers to as the "crossgrade" is basically a low cost upgrade from 5.0.4 (Power PC native, but runs on Intel Macs under Rosetta which is an emulation) to 5.1, which is the Universal (Power PC and Intel native) app.

Jay, the Siig Firewire ExpressCard has been working fine. I've used it to connect several different hard drives, a deck, the HVX and even a FW CompactFlash card reader without any problems. As for the FW800 or eSATA ExpressCards, I've only heard that they're on the horizon, but not available yet. I'd like to get one when they come out though.
 
Looks like an Expresscard/34 eSata card is available now:
http://www.shopaddonics.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=ADEXC34-2E

I'd rather get that than a FW expresscard. Just find me an enclosure for this disk and I'll be ready:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Seagate_Barracuda_7200_10_750GB_Hard_Drive,__19215475

Granted, it's not RAID, but I believe you could buy two disks and software mirror if that were a concern.

I don't have an investment in external FW drives, so I think this would be a better way to go. Any comments?
 
So let me see if my powers of deduction are still working.

Based on what you guys have tested, we should be able to record DVCProHD 720/24pN direct from camera - (Firewire through) - MBP 17" - to - (USB2 or FW800) External HD using FCP 5.1.

And these are nomal drives (I'm talking 7200rpm). So a G-Drive would work and wouldn't need a G-Raid.

Am I correct?

Warm regards,
Scott
 
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FCP 5.1 has support for 1080 24p in 24p advanced. I have actually not worked in anything other than 720, but as soon as I finish an article this weekend, my next task is to shoot and edit some 1080 24p material in 5.1 and test it out. More coming...

Ned Soltz
 
Scott Sullivan said:
So let me see if my powers of deduction are still working.

Based on what you guys have tested, we should be able to record DVCProHD 720/24pN direct from camera - (Firewire through) - MBP 17" - to - (USB2 or FW800) External HD using FCP 5.1.
Click to expand...

Nope, 24PN will not stream out firewire. 24P will, and FCP will automatically remove redundant frames on capture
 
Awesome. Thanks. Now that you mention the bit about 24PN and firewire, I sort of remember that being discussed on a Firestore drive thread.

24p it is then! I'm off to buy a G-Drive! Giddyup!
 
Isn't the 720pN capture problem an FCP limitation, and not a camera limitation? It was my understanding that apple just hadn't got to supporting 24pN in DVCPRO.

Anyway, also, re: bandwidth, none of this stuff exceeds 12.5MB per second, so _any_ firewire connection will do it, no problem.
 
MacBook 13" capture?

MacBook 13" capture?

I have FCP 4.5 HD and I was thinking of getting the HVX200 and capturing to an external drive for extended (2-3 hours) periods of time, for things like seminars and performances.

Will a MacBook with the 2.0 dual core do the trick? If I have an external firewire drive attached to the MacBook and a second firewire input on the drive, can I hook up the camcorder to the drive and load FCP and hit capture?

Thanks for the tests.
 
Yeah, 1080i/24p and 720p/24p capture in FCP 5.1.1 with a FW800 ExpressCard connected to a LaCie D2 250GB on a MacBook Pro without any issues. With a FW400 ExpressCard I have had dropped frames capturing 720p/24p and 1080i/24p, but it usually happened consistently (and fairly early in the capture) and a restart of the computer fixed it.
 
accelv said:
I have FCP 4.5 HD and I was thinking of getting the HVX200 and capturing to an external drive for extended (2-3 hours) periods of time, for things like seminars and performances.

Will a MacBook with the 2.0 dual core do the trick? If I have an external firewire drive attached to the MacBook and a second firewire input on the drive, can I hook up the camcorder to the drive and load FCP and hit capture?

Thanks for the tests.
Click to expand...

On a MacBook (not the "Pro" model), I'm not entirely sure. I just did a test on a MacBook Pro capturing 16 min. of 1080i/24p with the camera attached to a drive and the drive attached to the FW400 port and it worked. However, most people recommend that you do NOT share the same firewire bus. If you use this method, I'd highly suggest that you capture in small segments to avoid losing a long capture due to dropped frames. Although, losing any portion, large or small, would probably leave you screwed since it's a seminar or performance.
 
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