need advice for good PC laptop

R

ramdop

Active member
hi

i read over 100 post looking for laptop for my hvx

and didn't find what i am looking for

i need to know what will be a good laptop for recording dvcpro hd

i learned that you can attached hard disc with firewire straight to the camera to record from the p2

is it transfer it as mxf so i just take the hard disc to fcp for edit (is it stay at 100mbps with 4:2;2)

how long does it take to do this on set(do i have to stop shooting?)

can i download it to the hard disc and at the same time to minidv tape?

if i go with this system the only thing is that i can't play back from the hard disc?

but can download to the hard disc slow motion from the p2

which i can't do with firestore


pleas i am lost:)
 
You can record HD straight from the camera on the fly with a Firestore. On-the-go drives are a good way of dumping footage (not recording on the fly), I think usb takes roughly 2 minutes per gig to dump and firewires about twice as quick.

There are programs like DV rack HD 2 (no renamed as Adobe OnLocation) that will allow you to record from your camera straight to your laptop via firewire. I use the editing program Edius Broadcast 4 to do this and it works well.
 
I would check with Barry Green. I remember him posting somewhere about his laptop. I think that it's a Dell.

PM him and check for sure.

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I had a Dell but ditched it. My current laptop is a Sony Vaio SZ340, and it's an ideal companion to the HVX. It has a Core 2 Duo processor and a fast graphics card for handling full-screen 1080, it has a firewire input slot, it has a PCMCIA slot for P2 card offloading, it has a screamingly fast hard disk that can offload a 16GB card in just over 8 minutes, it also has an ExpressCard slot for future expansion or for reading/writing SD cards (for metadata and scene files). It easily handles live capture from DV Rack 2.0 HD in all modes.
 
You indicated that you want to transfer it to FCP. You would really want to use a Macintosh for this.

Any MacBook Pro with FCP 5.04 or later should work; and try HD Monitor or ScopeBox.
 
Barry, does your Sony have ATI or Nvdia card? My Sony laptop can't use Magic Bullet b/c it only supports Nvdia cards.
 
What's really cool (I think) about the SZ340 is that it has two graphics cards built-in. One is the on-board Intel GMA X3100, the other is an NVidia GeForce 8400 GS. So when you're at the airport or whatever and you need maximum battery life, just slide the switch over to the Intel on-board. But when you need maximum performance, slide the switch the other way and use the NVidia.
 
ramdop said:
. . . i need to know what will be a good laptop for recording dvcpro hd . . . pleas i am lost:)
Click to expand...

Lotsa questions--I'll just respond to this one: There are NO laptops that can record DVCPRO HD. That can only be done in camera (providing you have P2 card(s) inserted).
 
I think he means he means capture and I'm pretty sure I captured to Edius BC without a p2 card in.

I just purchased a dell xps with a 512mg 7950 graphics card and 200gb hard drive, only bad thing is it only has express card so now I have to get the duel systems adaptor. Doesn't have a HDMI input either only DVI.
 
The Sony Style website doesn't list the SZ340 anymore, but both NewEgg and PCSuperStore have several SZ340 models in stock.
 
Hey Barry,

How many Ghz on the SZ340?

Actually could you provide the specs on your notebook? And would you be able to edit HD footage with AvidXpress Pro on that laptop?

I only ask because it isn't listed on Avid's qualified notebook list.

Thanks.
 
sweet. going to newegg or PCsuperstore.

i'll only be shooting 720 and cutting with Vegas. Is 2 gigs of ram going to make that much difference? or is 1 enough?
 
Last edited:
G-Man said:
Hey Barry,

How many Ghz on the SZ340?
Click to expand...
Mine is a Core 2 Duo at 2.00GHz, but they offered them faster.

Actually could you provide the specs on your notebook?
Click to expand...
I don't even remember 'em all. 100GB hard disk 4200RPM SATA, 2GB RAM, everything else is a stock SZ340.

And would you be able to edit HD footage with AvidXpress Pro on that laptop?

I only ask because it isn't listed on Avid's qualified notebook list.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't use anything but an Avid-certified laptop. Here's why -- I had Avid XPress Pro HD installed on my prior laptop, a Dell, which was running Windows XP Media Center edition. Well, after a couple of months XPress Pro quit working, it had a constant crash situation. I called and wrote to Avid tech support, and when I finally got ahold of someone they said "what OS, please?" I said "WinXP Media Center". They said "that's not supported. Goodbye."

Basically, unless I was willing to reformat my hard disk and install a different version of the OS, Avid was completely unwilling to assist in any way possible. They just pretend you don't exist.

So if you're going with Avid, I strongly thoroughly recommend that you get a certified system, just so they can't pull that kind of crap on you.
 
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