Hello all,

I'm shooting a documentary in Japan on a Panasonic AG-DVX100B in 24p. When I'm done, I'll have roughly 100 hours of footage to sort through and compile.

Back in the States, I will have access to a lovely room full of Mac G5's with Final Cut Studio 2, but in Japan I will have access to not but a laptop with the following specs:

* Windows XP SP2 (Home Edition; Ver. 2002)
* 2.40 GHz Intel 4
* 512 MB RAM
* NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go with Microsoft Drivers.
* About 8 GB's of free space on my primary disk with the option of buying an external disk if needed.

What I am looking for is something I can use to make a sort of running mock up of my project--so as to keep tabs on what I'm filming, to make sure it's actually leading to some sort of congealed whole.

As for rendering in 24p--well, anything I release from Japan will likely be nothing more than teasers for distribution via YouTube. I guess, though, I really don't know enough about output formats to know what to be worried about--especially given that I do not intend to produce my final cut on my laptop.

It would be nice if the timelines I come up with in Japan can be easily transfered over to Final Cut Studio when I get back to the States, but I am willing to sacrifice that convenience for the sake of saving money. Given that I am looking an NLE for $300 or less, I am hoping that it will be possible to at least find something in the 'high-end consumer' market if not low-end professional (it is nice to dream).

Thanks!

Sony Vegas & Movie Studio (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp) will run on that laptop. My current editing desktop has almost the same specs. Basic editing from an external drive should be a breeze. If you could add more memory that would speed things up a little.

Vegas. You can get a good deal through a vegas 6 and upgrade package at BH photo.

You may be able to export to an AAF file in Vegas and use it in Final Cut Pro.

Is it true that Vegas Movie Studio can not render a final product in 24p? I know that earlier versions could, but at some point--rumor has it--they shifted the ability to do so to the domain of Vegas ($500+) only.

--Luke

I can't answer your question but I can point you to Vegas 7 for $250 if you need/want it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/462195-REG/Sony__Vegas7_0_DVD_Editing_Software_for.html

Duane

At this time I would also agree with Vegas. I just put Vegas 6 on my laptop to learn the software. I am a long time Premiere and Liquid user. I know that on my systems at work, Premiere Pro 1.5 was very sluggish on a P4 2.3 gig. It worked, but was sluggish until we went up to a 3 gig processor. Vegas seems to run better on less cpu power. If you are looking for a free, really basic software, Avid still has their AvidfreeDV available till the end of the month. I'm not sure how well projects can import from Avid free to FCP, but it might be worth downloading, especially for a free program. It should run well on your laptop.

OT: I see we have the same last name, which is uncommon. Send me an email if you get the chance.

Good luck.