I tried out Onlocation and was generally happy with it but thought that the preview would be a little better. I tried viewing at 100% and larger. I'm considering it for a tapeless solution recording to a laptop for static situation with access to a power supply (meetings, dance recitals, etc). I'd also use the camera's tape as a backup.

The other alternative is a Focus Firestore hard drive recorder with a portable lcd monitor. The advantage is its portability and battery life but in my situations those aren't important. I found that high resolution portable monitors are very expensive, add a hdd recorder and you're talk around $1,500. For half that I could get a nice laptop that would double as monitor, hdd recorder, and portable editor.

What are peoples impression of OnLocation/DV Rack?
Do you think lcd monitors provide better viewing quality?
Is a 5400 rpm laptop hard drive sufficient?

As a monitor on Location is only really useful for checking focus etc. You won't be referring to it in a live event situation except to check levels. There is too much lag on any IEEE 1394 connected device for any live situation (anywhere from 15 - 30 frames).

It has weaknesses as a recorder as well - the length of firewire cable needed and the sloppiness of these connectors makes it a very iffy recording situation.

A 5400 RPM HD is all the Focus Enhancements drives are specced at and should have plenty of overhead, provided you have enough RAM not to dip into virtual memory. For studio situation I think On Location is great, for live recording only ever a backup and certainly not a monitoring situation.

I love OnLo and used DV Rack, it's earlier version. The problem is that both programs are designed for firewire input and an accompniment to tape. I'm wondering if it can support HDMI recording, and if so, will my laptop be able to handle it?

If not, it would still pretty good for camera setup, but my HMC150 and many other new cameras don't have a FW connection.

I love OnLo and used DV Rack, it's earlier version. The problem is that both programs are designed for firewire input and an accompniment to tape. I'm wondering if it can support HDMI recording, and if so, will my laptop be able to handle it?

If not, it would still pretty good for camera setup, but my HMC150 and many other new cameras don't have a FW connection.

On Location is firewire only - you could try finding an HDMI to firewire converter, but they wouldn't be cheap (which I think is the idea). In any case how would you get the HDMI into a laptop? You'd need an ExpressCard based capture card.