[Bob Cole]

[Frank Nolan] “I would however, advise on getting a mixer.”

I know this is the correct advice, technically. But do you think it is advisable when the cameraman is the only crew? For me, a mixer has always meant “Hire a sound recordist.” If I’m the only crew, it’s just another detail that I have to manage — or, possibly, mismanage.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Wayne Carey] “Here’s a fact, how BVW-70 decks are still in operation and being used in broadcast facilities? My last job had several that was almost twenty years old, that’s impressive.”

Good points, and my natural tendency is to buy the most robust hardware. If I had more faith in the future of the HDV format it would be a no-brainer to get the 1500.

In Betacam days I opted for the UVW1800, which was cost-effective, though it did require service a few times. Now I have a BVW 70 sitting idle. Glad I didn’t pay full price.

The price differences between the 25 and 1500 today are much less than the old Betacam UVW-PVW-BVW differences, and if I knew that HDV was going to be nearly as significant as Beta, I’d opt for the 1500. But I’m thinking that HDV is going to be just a bridge format, and that’s why I’m trying to be as stingy as possible with the deck.

The money debate reminds me of the film days, when a “long” interview meant shooting more than one 400′ roll of film, and you could easily blow thousands of dollars in film in an afternoon. Yet that same evening, I could also be checking the prices in the grocery store, and trying to save 30 cents on a can of beans.

For less money than the 1500, I can get the M25U + AJA’s analog-to-SDI converter (HD10AVA). With the HD10AVA I could get anything SD into HD-SDI. Makes you think.

Thanks all for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Good for auxiliary use, problematic for primary use. As Walter points out, it just doesn’t have the muscle of the desktop.

But I just bought a laptop (a Dell, because I wanted to run DV Rack) and love it. I can start evaluating clips while still in the airport. And when I had to do an emergency re-edit (using Premiere Pro) on-site recently, the laptop was right there, which was pretty cool.

But laptops are frequently stolen, so I wouldn’t make it my only machine, or the only place I store my media. How many news stories have you read recently about stolen laptops with a million SSNs in them?

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Here’s a link that might help others in my position:

https://lifehacker.com/software/mac/hack-attack-a-guide-for-switching-to-a-mac-224674.php

[Bob Cole]

[JeremyG] “Bob, what do you mean the MacSpeak sounds geeky?”

Sorry, I don’t have specifics, but I’ll start jotting geeky terms down as I see them. Thanks to this forum, FCP was relatively easy. But I have had strange encounters with: Networking (“Fix Alias” – and why do I have to do this each time?), Soundtrack Pro (saw some inscrutable error messages while trying to round-trip with FCP — and round-tripping really needs work), iTunes (trying to transcode an audio file for use in FCP defeated my best efforts).

On balance, I’m happy, and thoroughly committed to making this transition successful for myself. I really just would like to get a recommendation for a good book, geared to video post-production if possible, from someone who has preceded me in this PC-to-Mac trip. For most things, the Mac works transparently; when it doesn’t, it seems much harder to me than the PC.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Dean, how quiet is that Honda generator? Quiet enough to run during a dialog shoot, say 100′ away?

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thank you Walter! I will try it — it’s been sitting on the shelf for way too long.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Have you seen the actors? Maybe they have enormous warts on their foreheads.

[Bob Cole]

[David Roth Weiss] “And, whenever upgrading, updating, crossgrading, or doing a full install, always clone your system drive to an external drive first using an app like Carbon Copy Cloner. And, always make certain the clone boots properly before proceeding with your upgrade, update, crossgrade, or full install.”

And how do you make sure a clone boots properly?

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Wow. Thank you so much Curtis. This will be fantastic.

— Bob C