which capture card best for FCP ?

[Anders Haavie]

Aja or Decklink are two good brands.

Not sure about the tv, but we have a panasonic hd lcd monitor that works great with dvcprohd. (sdi in)

4 gig ram is ok. I find that you can work with only 2 gig, but 4 is much more smooth.

Good luck

[Rajarshi Basu]

the reason is that, since im already shelling out the money, i want a TV cum
preview monitor…si i can watch my dvds…

[Walter Biscardi]

[Rajarshi] “What analog/digital capture card can i get for under 1000 dollars or less ?
…declink extreme seems to be the most popular in this category.”

Decklink is your only choice when you go that low in your budget. I only recommend AJA Kona products, but if you can’t afford them, then decklink is your only choice.

[Rajarshi] “Can I watch my HD output real time in a HD ready LCD TV with the card?”

As long as it has component or SDI input. A consumer LCD HD screen will not be a great monitor though if you are doing a lot of color correction. A Panasonic 1700 or 2600W would be a better choice, or even a panasonic pro plasma screen.

[Rajarshi] “and how much RAM woukd I need to efficiently edit HD footage and do some basic 2d After Effects work ?”

RAM has no bearing on HD footage, your storage does. Any FCP system should have a minimum 4GB RAM.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

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

[Chris Poisson]

Walter,

I’m not sure I read your answer to this correctly.

[Rajarshi] “Can I watch my HD output real time in a HD ready LCD TV with the card?”

My Kona LH will feed a real-time signal to ANY monitor no matter how its hooked up using Kona’s downconvert feature. True, even on my Sony 14″ SD monitor (which I bought from you) color correction is not perfect, but it’s close. At least I get through my projects, knock on wood.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Chris Poisson] “Walter,

I’m not sure I read your answer to this correctly.

[Rajarshi] “Can I watch my HD output real time in a HD ready LCD TV with the card?”

My Kona LH will feed a real-time signal to ANY monitor no matter how its hooked up using Kona’s downconvert feature.”

He asked about HD so to view HD he’ll need Component or SDI.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

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

[Chris Poisson]

Walter,

Well, I’m confused, because I was talking about an HD project too. The Kona downconverts through my Beta deck to any monitor with any connector. There’s a whole thread about this back a month or so ago.

[Rajarshi Basu]

thanks walter, your suggestions were really useful. Actually on second thoughts I am very much inclined towards the Adobe Production Studio, because of the dynamic link factor, but i would still go for a Mac Pro. And about the Ram, is it always better to have 6 or 8GB i figure for HD .

thanks

raj

[Paul Dickin]

[Rajarshi] “I am very much inclined towards the Adobe Production Studio, because of the dynamic link factor”
Hi
Earlier this week I saw the Mac version of Premiere Pro, and Adobe’s v3 Production studio, demonstrated on a MacBook Pro.

Only a very limited feature set was allowed to be shown, and I was interested that whilst firing up Bridge and Dynamic Link the demonstrator structured in a carefully timed drink-a-bottle-of-water break whilst the software prepared itself 😉

No doubt by the time it ships things won’t be so sluggish, and I didn’t see anything in the demo of what Dynamic Link does that Apple’s FCP<>Motion, Shake, or Soundtrack Pro doesn’t already do with its round-trip project interchange…

However the fact that there is now direct and equivalent competition between both suites of software is bound to be good! 🙂
Apple will need versions new of all its Pro apps at NAB, or soon after, if it is to remain ahead of Adobe’s game…