[Mitchji]

Hi,

BRU and Retrospect are both very reliable.

I’m not sure if BRU supports incrmental backups (its been a few years since I used BRU). Other than that I think it depends on price and user interface.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Robert Broussard] “-Dual Dell 24″. Because it is cheaper than the Apple 23″ and offers some additional features…”

Hi,

They are onsale right now for $799 with free shipping. The same price as the 20″ Apple.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Jeff Carpenter] “You can turn off auto updates off, and if you’re not actively searching the ‘net there’s not much that’s gonna happen.”

Hi,

If you are capturing or laying off to tape and you can also turn off your Ethernet connection. I ususally do that.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi Bob,

I thought I must be (oops!) overlooking something.

Thanks!

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[debe] “The pros for the 15″ are it’s a lot easier to use on an airplane. It’s lighter, and it’s easier to carry around.

The pro for the 17″ is really screen real estate.

However, that being said, the reason I bought my PB was to edit on-site, not to use on an airplane. My work didn’t require me to use the computer on an airplane. I also bought a computer case with wheels, because regardless of the computer’s size,

So I chose the 17”. I’ve edited on a client’s 15″, and after using my 17″, really see the difference those extra 2″ diagonally get you for screen real estate. I bought my computer to edit on. I decided to buy the best computer I could for editing. Ease of transportation was a secondary concern for me. After all, I’d spend a lot more time editing on it than I’d spend hauling it around.

I also second Tom’s recommendation that you look into a second firewire card bus. You will decrease the chances that you’ll have throughput issues using firewire for media if you have separate busses for input and output data paths. Both the 15″ and the 17″, in fact, all Macs, including the MacBook Pro, ship with one FW bus. Multiple ports, yes, but all those ports share the same internal hardware. “

Another option that would probably cost less and give you much more screen real estate would be to get the 15″ and carry a second LCD for a dual screen configuration. In a wheeled case that would not be too hard.

A second option would be to use an iMac (maybe with a 20″ screen). A friend got an iMac G5 for location editing. This is what he had to say:
“I just got my iMac today – infinitely faster than any powerbook I could have bought at three times the cost. I got the cheapest I could find: a new 1.6gHz 17″ with a CDRW/DVD and 256 RAM on eBay. I upgraded to 1GB RAM and got the iLugger bag.”

I asked him about DV capture:
Can you capture DV with the G5 iMac to a drive other than the boot drive (one firewire bus)? If so are there any problems or tricks?
“Absolutely no problems. I upgraded the imac’s drive to a 320gb and could capture to that drive but I have a firewire drive workflow. I capture to a FWHD on the iMac. I use a Buslink 6 port FW hub on the imac. I really like the imac G5.

This is the bag he got for location use:
https://luggerbags.com/G5.htm

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi,

I asked a friend how he captures to an iMac (1 FW port) and got this reply:
Can you capture DV with the G5 iMac to a drive other than the boot drive (one firewire bus)? If so are there any problems or tricks?
“Absolutely no problems. I upgraded the imac’s drive to a 320gb and could capture to that drive but I have a firewire drive workflow. I capture to a FWHD on the iMac. I use a Buslink 6 port FW hub on the imac. I really like the imac G5.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[David Roth Weiss] “Since my gear is still realtively new I have little concern at this point. And, since I can swap out 1-terrabyte for about $500 total, I can put fresh drives in once a year. Try that with your preconfigured models…”

Hi,

This is still not very safe, not nearly as safe as:
mirrored arrays
full backup

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[Tim Young] “We’re digitizing Digi-Beta foorage off a Sony J3 deck via SDI through an AJA IO, converting the signal to DV for the offline cut of our film.

We don’t know at this stage whether we will do a conform for the online (ie we may use the DV res footage for the online).”

Hi,

Why not digitize to DV50?

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

[David Roth Weiss] “Believe it or not, Scotch tape works quite well in a jam until you can dub to another tape.”

Hi,

DV heads are REALLY TINY. Are you sure that won’t cause head damage?

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Mitchji]

Hi,

Your HD is more than big enough for a boot drive. I advise additional drive(s) for media.

RAM is cheap, add more.

Consider selling it on Ebay and getting a dual g5. If you do a nice add for the G4 and search for a deal on a refurbed or demo or discontinued model it should only cost you $400 to $600 to upgrade.

Best Wishes,

Mitch