Newbie Question #2: Shoot HVX to PC thru SM's DV Rack - Edit in FCP

T

telebay

Well-known member
Hopefully you've read Newbie Question #1 and have already determined whether or not you want to expend your energy on helping me further! If so, please read on.

I have an Acer Ferrari laptop. Currently has 1 gig RAM (can upgrade to 2, if needed). You can see specs here if you wish: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1871781&CatId=1900

Questions:

* To offload the P2 cards to this computer, I'd still have to have a special P2 card reader, correct? A P2 isn't at all like a standard flash card that the ports on a laptop would have, right?

* I know that some on this board use a laptop -- more specifically, Serious Magic's DV Rack. To me, it seems to make sense to use a program like this if you are going to be capturing to a laptop anyway. Concern #1, is DV Rack able to support DVCPro 720p 24fps? Concern #2, what exactly would be the best set-up (please, step by step... I'm a newbie, remember?) if I were to configure this program to capture footage to an external hard-drive and then attach that same external hard-drive to my Mac for editing in FCP?

* Oh, one more thing... as for an external drive, would any of you have any good recommendations?
 
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telebay said:
* To offload the P2 cards to this computer, I'd still have to have a special P2 card reader, correct? A P2 isn't at all like a standard flash card that the ports on a laptop would have, right?
Click to expand...
According to that page, your laptop has a standard Type II PC Card slot. So you should be able to read P2 cards in that slot.

Concern #1, is DV Rack able to support DVCPro 720p 24fps?
Click to expand...
No, DV Rack only supports DV. They do have an add-on pack that adds HDV support, and we're anxiously awaiting whether they'll announce a DVCPRO-HD version.
 
Hmmm... I see. Thanks for the info.

Well, if DV Rack isn't yet an option, what program would you recommend using? 2 scenarios:

1) If I dump the P2 cards directly to my laptop via the Type II PC Card Slot, is there a program that Panasonic includes which would somewhat automate this?
2) If I run a line direct to laptop from camera, and record straight to my external hard drive, what software would be good for this? Again, keeping in mind that I'm only using the PC to capture and will want to transfer files to Mac.

Thanks again for your help!
 
1) there's not much to automate, I mean it's a simple file copy. The P2 Viewer program is a free download from Panasonic and I believe it can do all this; I've never used it to copy files but apparently it can. I normally just drag & drop in windows explorer.

2) Serious Magic's DVCPRO-HD version of DV Rack would be the ultimate for so many reasons. But other programs that can do it (provided your system is fast enough) include Canopus Edius Broadcast and Avid XPress Pro HD.
 
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