[Jeff Carpenter]

I believe firewire only allows two channels at once.

So you’ll have to capture twice. Once for V/A1/A2 and once for A3/A4.

[Jeff Carpenter]

If anyone would like to throw the probably-highly-obvious answer my way I’d appreciate it.
====

As would I.

I’m afraid we may be out of luck, however. I’ve never met anyone who could answer this question for me, either.

[Jeff Carpenter]

1) The VRAM upgrade will help a lot with Motion. Not much at all with DV in FCP. I’d suggest it, though, because it will help the system overall. So although it’s not helping with the DV directly, it’s making the system itself faster which leads to less hang-ups and waiting WHILE you’re editing DV.

2) You’re going to be waiting for the Universal FCP anyway. The current one does not work under Rosetta.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I hear that Western Digital just came out with a 500 GB drive with a 16 mb cache:

https://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/01/26.9.shtml

When I bought a SATA drive last year I went with one that was smaller because all the 500 GB drives only had an 8 MB cache.

So that’s something to consider. I usually get WD drives and I’ve been happy with them. I also know people who swear they’re terrible. I dunno, I’ve never had a problem with on myself.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Paul’s suggestion is the one to start with. Google “Handbrake, OS X” to find another option. I’ve found that, depending on what you want to do, sometime’s one is better than the other.

[Jeff Carpenter]

That’s correct.

I usually like to control the computer that I’m copying TO, since after it’s done I can open up one of the files in an application to make sure it’s ok, but really it shouldn’t matter one way or the other.

[Jeff Carpenter]

DV over firewire? Nothing can be changed. It’s just making a digital dub of the data on the tape. It’s pretty much the same as if you were copying a file off of a CD. There’s no way to alter the data as it’s being copied.

You’d need some kind of capture card that is importing and digitizing the video as you go. Some of them can do stuff like that but you’ll have to wait for someone with more knowledge than me to advise you on that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

http://www.crucial.com is best and most reliable. I don’t know for a fact that it’s cheapest, but if you’re gonna end up with 2 of the 3, those are the right 2 to have, yes?

I don’t think they’re overpriced, though. Look around but I bet that anything you find that’s cheaper will only be by a few bucks. And why risk it for just a few bucks?

[Jeff Carpenter]

Ok, well it looks like you finished your task, but remember this for next time:

Hook up any two Macs with firewire. Shut one of them down. Then turn it back on, holding the “T” key the entire time it starts up. That computer will not load OS X, but will now appear on the first computer as an external firewire drive. Do whatever copying you need to do and then shut the external-drive-computer off.

Easy and faster than most ethernet connections!

[Jeff Carpenter]

Probably. We’d have to know what video card you have in your Mac to answer for sure.

Actually, before you tell us, look at the back of the computer. Are both ports on the card the same? Look at this photo:

https://www.macway.com/images/products/CARATI0010_3.jpg

The one on the left is DVI, the one on the right is ADC. If you have two DVIs, go for it. It’s very possible, however, you have one of each like the photo. If so, it will still work, but you’ll need an “ADC to DVI” adapter. It’s $29 at Apple.com

Well, before you buy anything, go to the Apple Menu in the upper left and select “About This Mac.” Then click on “More Info.” Select “Graphics/Displays” and tell us what the bolded card name is on the top. I’m nearly positive that any card you could have will support dual-monitors, but you might want to tell us what you’ve got just to be extra certain.