Basic setup for HDV capture and logging

[Ignatius Gorin]

Self-reply…

Regarding capturing of HDV 1080/50 footages, I’ll have to connect the HVRM25 to the Firewire port, so only USB will be left for the HD. Will that do?

TIA.

[13]

[Ignatius] “I’ll have to connect the HVRM25 to the Firewire port, so only USB will be left for the HD. Will that do?”

No, never use USB hard drives for editing video.

[Raymond Tuquero]

To tell you the truth Almost all Video must be captured by Firewire. Reason: Well, Firewire is a constant connection where USB is not, So video is able to be sent to the computer with less errors in the end capture.

I would recommend a Firewire Hub. Also, The only Hard Drive Camcorder that I have seen that shoots and captures well through firewire is the JVC camcorder. It has a dock that has firewire output. I think since most of the Hard Drive HD Camcorders are Windows based with their own software they only made a few that connect firewire.

Good Luck with your editing and decisions for a good suite.

-Raymond Tuquero-
Houston Editor

[Ignatius Gorin]

Ok, got it. Many thanks. Most of my footages are done with a Z1 (mostly shooting interviews).

So, am I getting this right that a Mac Mini with a Firewire hub will do for this?

TIA.

[13]

If you read the system requirements for Final Cut Studio it says “Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors”

The mac mini has a integrated Intel graphics processor.

You do the math.

[Ignatius Gorin]

Yes, although it seems to be widely reported that this (“FCS”) refers to Motion. I’ve since seen numerous acounts of people running FCP on a Mac Mini with no problem (for basic stuff like logging, and basic editing w/o rendering). Several people reported that 3 HDV tracks would play back smoothly.

My question right now is whether a Firewire hub will do for the capture part using a 7200rpm HD and an HVRM25 SONY deck.

Thanks.

[13]

try it if you wish, but just be prepared for it not to work.

I could never live with running FCP on a mini, it it works at all then render and compression times would be way to long.

[Ignatius Gorin]

Erm… again… I do not need rendering or anything, just capture + footage logging using subclips. And given multiple accounts I’ve been reading around, I’m actually preparing for it to work fine. Capture is my question now.

Obviously, that will be a fourth setup dedicated to logging, besides two MacPro and a Macbook Pro (that works fine for the kind of stuff I’m mentioning here BTW).

Thanks anyway.

[Raymond Tuquero]

Thats a good idea, actually letting the mac mini capture footage, which is fine. I have actually seen some people use the mac minis only for that purpose. I am looking to use the mac minis for a Render Farm set up, for faster fenders for my MacPro here at the office. I hear its a promising idea.

But anyways, Good luck with your edits, and I do not for see any problems for what you are going to use the idea for. And yes you are right the Box saying, can not work with an integrated graphics card is only for motion purposes, since it utilizes the graphics cards with a 128 memory or better.

Raymond Tuquero
-Houston Editor-

[Ignatius Gorin]

Many thanks for your replies. I got the setup yesterday and will start using it on Monday; maybe will I post a final report here.
Now you got me curious about setting up a render farm, which I haven’t delved into so far, but that is off topic for this thread.

Best,
— Ig