[Mark Warren]

Bob – thank you very much … it did work great.

Much appreciate your time.

Mark

Mark Warren
Hope Studios
Intel MAC, 32 GB RAM, Four 1TB Internal HD
Final Cut Pro 7

[Mark Warren]

Hi Steve –

Thanks for the helpful info. Savings money is always appreciated. The MXO2 base model for $1,595 is definitely cheaper than the AJA box…although it sounds like I will need to purchase a Windows based laptop, so I can put the MXO2 card in. I only have a MAC Book Pro and MAC Pro. That’s fine…and it will still be cheaper than the AJA box.

Questions:

1. Will a standard laptop with 7200 RPM hard drive work for me? If not, will I need something faster? How big of a hard drive should I get?

2. Will I need any additional software to make this work? Other than what comes with the MXO2? My plan is to simply capture the uncompressed HD video on this new windows-based laptop with the MXO2 card and then transfer it to my MAC PRO for editing. Not sure how I will transfer at this point, but I’m sure I can find something that will work at a decent rate (firewire?).

In terms of my budget, I will have 10K…and I already own a great tripod, lights, green screen background, etc. All I need to buy with the 10K is an HD camera (with 10 bit audio and 10 bit HD/SDI output) and the ability to get the highest quality video to Final Cut Pro.

3. Once I get the uncompressed *.mov files from my new laptop to my MAC PRO, into FCP, do I simply set the Sequence Settings to Pro Res 422 and I’m good to go? Will it need to render the files in order for me to edit them?

Thanks again for your help.

Mark

P.S.: I’ll go check out the JVC 700.

[Mark Warren]

Hello Matty –

Thanks for your time and info.

So, I would need both an AJA Video Ki Pro and an AJA Io Express….correct?

I’m not sure what the difference is (other than the price…$4,000 vs. $1,000).

Mark

[Mark Warren]

Gary – thanks for the update…very helpful.

Mark

[Mark Warren]

Thanks, Tim…your advice is much appreciated.

Mark

[Mark Warren]

Tim –

Thanks for your time and advice.

I like the idea of an internal Kona card…although from my research, it looks like a Matrox MXO2 card would also work…is that correct? Do you have a preference on internal cards for the MAC?

Another question about Green Screen Work…you said that “ProRes should be find as long as you have the chops to shoot with proper lighting, etc.” Don’t I have to use proper lighting no matter what codec I use? I take your comment to mean that some codecs are more forgiving than others? If so, would you recommend I stay away from ProRes and opt more for some other codec? And are you also saying that the 100 MBit MPEG from your NanoFlash is better than ProRes, correct? At least as far as green screen work goes?

I spent some time on the Convergent website and saw their cool products. The NanoFlash sounds awesome..although a bit pricey for me. It sounds like I could accomplish my goals with either their HD-Connect MI or their NanoConnect. In fact, I don’t see the difference between the two. Any ideas?

And sounds like I don’t need to go to the full uncompressed route, as the 100 MBit compression is apparently undistinguishable as uncompressed.

Take care.

Mark

[Mark Warren]

Photoshop is very particular about which fonts it will load. If you can’t see a font in the drop down list in Photoshop, it is because Photoshop has tested it and found some type of problem.

[Mark Warren]

I should have added earlier that I already tried Adobe Visual Communicator 3…which only has this functionality if you have a second monitor.

I want to carry my laptop with my video camera, plug in my firewire and be able to use my 17″ laptop monitor as my viewfinder.

Thanks again for your help.

Mark