Hi, How Are You?
I was just wondering what problems I may run into if I run a 20 ft. firewire cable from the camera to a laptop for tapeless video recording? Will there by any data/quality loss by doing this?

I have the old version of DV Rack I like the monitors it provides. Is there any software for HD capture?

Thank You

Up to 15 feet should not be a problem - I have used that length for years. Firewire is digital - you either get a signal or no signal. There is no quality lost, just no picture or intermittent loss of picture. If you need very long lengths, there are signal boosters / repeater that will allow you to extend up to 50 feet or more.

Some cables are higher quality than others (not necessarily "better" signal), they just hold up to wear and abuse better.

I just finished shooting two days in a abandoned school house using On Location. The software was very useful I liked being able to match up shots from one day to the next. Also rolling to tape as a backup made me comfortable with the whole process.

The draw back is the length and fragileness of the fire wire. The length of the wire had us shooting with very little camera movement. The steady cam shots were untethered so they had to be captured for review. We had the laptop on a rolling table and the camera on a rolling tripod so we just rolled the whole thing over to the next set each time we changed. I am thinking about building a dolly platform that holds the camera operator and laptop.