laptop editing choice: Premiere Pro or FCP

[Bob Cole]

[Bob Cole] “I have to decide, asap, between a portable Mac (either iMac or PowerBook) and a portable PC laptop — FCP or Premiere Pro.”

Just to clarify my poor sentence: I know that FCP=Mac, PP=PC. I’ve played with each enough to feel equally uncomfortable with either (I come from discreet edit*, which still seems like the most intuitive NLE out there).

[Walter Biscardi]

I would simply go with whichever NLE you feel most comfortable with.

FCP on a 17″ Powerbook is outstanding and even supports uncompressed video editing with an AJA Io box and a FW800 Drive. You can also drive a second monitor with the 17″ which is a great feature for long projects.

If you’re more comfortable with Premiere, then go with the best PC laptop you can find.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Bob Cole]

[Walter Biscardi] “FCP on a 17″ Powerbook is outstanding and even supports uncompressed video editing with an AJA Io box and a FW800 Drive.”

The AJA Io manual says “FireWire drive solutions arenot supported in use with AJA Io.”

I’ve been wondering this about FW on both the Mac and PC side: how do you use FW to ingest video and store it on an external FW drive at the same time?

[Walter Biscardi]

I’ll test this when I get back from Vacation. From what I understood, FW800 drives will work fine with the Io. I just took delivery of an Io LA so I’ll test it with my Powerbook when I’m back in town.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Bill]

reliability…………..
I was once and *edit-or like yourself. I took a positiong as a preditor at a network and was using *edit 6. after numerous issues with drives and the death of *edit I decided to give FCP a try. One week of using it i went home sold every pc at home which ran my freelance buisness using premiere. bought an iMac for the wife and a 15″ powerbook. I could not have been happier with the “switch” as they call it. There are plenty of solutions for you. The fact your asking about laptops leads me to think portability is the main issue. Ingesting FW and using an external drive is simple. purcahse a fw400 cardbus for your pci slot and run your fw800 drive off the built in port. works like a charm. you can dirty-foot it and use them both off the built in port, some will say its a no-no but in a pinch i have never had issues with it. As Walter led to it comes down to what YOU really want. if you have any more questions i would be happy to help you.

just press apple-z

15″ g4 1.25
2.0 gb ram
superdrive
lacie 320 bigdisk
fcp hd
lots of mahjong

[Ed Dooley]

You’re right Bob, the manual does say something about that. I think, though, that it goes on to suggest
the LaCie FW800 card if you are going to do it. I have a 17″ PB 1.5G with a LaCie FW card and an IO LA, and
it works great. No problems whatsoever. I use a FW case with an Oxford 912 chip for 2 drives striped RAID 0.
When we moved from M100 to FCP, the decision was based on what desktop NLE we wanted to use, and then
the portable system decision was easy. 🙂
Ed

[Bob Cole] “The AJA Io manual says “FireWire drive solutions arenot supported in use with AJA Io.”
“

[Ben Oliver]

my favorite portable editor……..

a uhaul and a steenbeck!

-ben

[Bob Cole]

[ben] “my favorite portable editor……..
a uhaul and a steenbeck!”

Very good. Brings back memories: hauling a Steenbeck in the back seat and trunk of a small Volvo. It Can Be Done!

[Mat @ lacie]

[Bob Cole] “The AJA Io manual says “FireWire drive solutions arenot supported in use with AJA Io.”

Actually in the IO configuration guide, AJA approves some Firewire solutions including LaCie Big Disk Extreme:
https://aja.com/pdfs/AJA_config_guide_web.pdf

Mat

[Mat @ lacie]

[Bob Cole] “The AJA Io manual says “FireWire drive solutions arenot supported in use with AJA Io.”

Actually in the IO configuration guide, AJA approves some Firewire solutions including LaCie Big Disk Extreme:
https://aja.com/pdfs/AJA_config_guide_web.pdf

Mat