which capture card for G5 power mac?

Jarred Land said:
I got a new mac too and am waiting as well for blackmagic to pimp out the pci-e slot.

Jarred, you bought ANOTHER Mac? After selling your dual G5 after 2 weeks????:huh:
 
yeah.. that first one i found out was a lemon.. bad memory. Ive been on a mac now again for almost a month.
 
Jarred Land said:
yeah.. that first one i found out was a lemon.. bad memory. Ive been on a mac now again for almost a month.

I got bad memory in one of mine a few years back. The Apple store couldn't figure out the problem... FOOLS!
 
jasond said:
Hi All,

I'm new to this forum, so appologies for potentially re-asking questions that have probably been sufficiently answered.

Anyhow, I've been dying to start shooting my own video/hd projects, and am looking towards a purchase of the HVX200. However I have recently purchased a new Apple 20inch iMac G5 ( with iMovieHD) in the UK.
Question 1: Is this computer powerfull enough to handle capturing and editing HD ( I will not initially be using it for proffessional aplications, and do not mind waiting!)
Question 2: Can I just use the camera and Firewire cable to download DV and or HD straight to my computer, or will I need expensive P2 Stores or Drives.
Question 3 : Is iMovie HD an apprpriate application for editing. (Bearing in mind I do not rate flashy-editing effects, and the majority of cuts will take place in-camera)

An answer to these fundamental querries would be greatly appreciated.

Much respect,
jasond

The iMac is fine for cutting DVCPROHD. I cut a couple of music videos shot with a Varicam on the iMac - 720p... I was able to playback 5-6 streams of 720p DVCPROHD multicam style off the iMac's internal HD with no problems. 1080 works fine as well.

As far as downloading footage, you should be able to use the HVX as a P2 drive connected to your computer via it's FW connector.

I'm not sure iMovie HD will edit DVCPROHD. And I'm certain that it won't be able to convert the P2 files to QuickTime files. You're better off getting FinalCutPro if you're going to be working with the HVX.
 
I'd stay away from iMovie unless I really couldn't go any other way. If you're looking for a solid pro-grade basic editing app; go for FCP Express.
 
jarred- i'm a TOTAL newb on capture cards.... so what would be my best bet to view dual apple cinemas, view HD output via wall-mounted plasma, view an SD output monitor, and input/output to my miniDV deck? since the HVX only puts out 4:4:2 color, would getting capture card that handles 4:4:4 be overkill? ...and i guess all of the HD capture cards handles outputting 4 channel audio, right? i guess to play it safe, the pci-x is what i would need, right? a BIG TIME thanks for all of your help, man... i'm totally confused. i love cinematography, but computer hardware makes my brain feels like scrambled eggs.
 
Hm, you could view the dual apple cinemas with the right video card, and for everything else... Your mini-DV deck stays firewire, no probs there. For monitoring on the plasma an HD-link. Then you need a card to output to the HD-link.
Actually you don't need a card for capture itself as everything is allready digitized in DVCPRO-codec. Well, XMF at first...
Your SD monitor could come from the card if it's an sdi monitor.
Decklinks have simultaneous output to hd and sd sdi. So HD-link and monitor at the same time.
Seems a Decklink High Definition and a HD-link should do your trick. :)
Hope this helps,
Oliver
 
sweet! thanks for the advice, man! my SD monitor is a JVC TM AI3SU 13" . right now, we have it hooked up via BNC from the miniDV deck. i don't see any sort of SDI connection on it.

would the decklink hd plus ($695) be suitable, or would the Plus or Pro be a better choice?
 
An SDI is a BNC connection, but digital. I guess you're stuck with analog then.
Hm, maybe they still make the card with analog monitoring? Or was that just an SD card. I've got that SD card.

Had a quick peak and they do! You need a decklink hd pro. A 4.2.2 will be enough I think. Unless you're planning to work in full 10-bit 4-4-4, the top version is overkill.
Grtz
 
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