We have completed testing on Magma Express Box (EB1F) connected to a Dell 1710 (2.33GHz / 2GB) using a Blackmagic Intensity card (Win XP). It seems to work well in 24p mode using the HVR-V1U as source through its HDMI output. The CPU runs at 70% - 80% and we didn't drop any frames in our tests (although not exhaustive). In 60i or 30p modes the CPU was running 90%+ and occasionally dropped frames. I suspect that most people interested in D2D laptop recording will be more interested in 24p anyway.

The CPU performance was similar for both Neo HDV (Aspect HD) and Neo HD (Prospect HD).

Final Comment - Intel is now shipping Santa Rosa based mobile laptops with T7800 processors (2.6GHz) and 800 MHz FSB. We don't currently have one of those machines to test, but that will make 24p even easier, and it might provide enough extra performance to enable 60i / 30p modes.

We published a Tech Note here: http://www.cineform.com/products/TechNotes/MagmaExpressBox.htm

David,
Did you test to external FW Drive?

Not yet, but that's a reasonable request. Let me see if we can tee this up....

David, you did capture on same disk where is installed XP?

David, you did capture on same disk where is installed XP?

Yes. The Dell 1710 has only one hard drive.

Have you looked at the Dell Precision M430?
Even the M65 has a second drive option

Have you looked at the Dell Precision M430?
Even the M65 has a second drive option

Yes - it will be great, but I think you mean the M4300. That's Dell's new Santa Rosa (Intel's latest mobile chip) processor. All the processor options for the M4300 have 800 FSB, which, independently of CPU, will increase performance. I suspect the T7500 (2.2GHz) option will be about the same performance as the T7600 (faster processor, slower FSB) I tested in the M90. I suspect the T7700 in the M4300 will have much better performance than the T7600 in the M90. I wish I had an M4300 in house, but I don't.

Laptops with a second drive option will work just fine - shouldn't be a problem.

I just ran some tests with the Magma + Intensity + Dell M1710 (T7600) + Maxtor 160GB OneTouch external drive, connected via IEEE1394.

There did not seem to be any difference in performance between using the external drive and the built-in hard drive. The limitations seem to be with the CPU, not the drive, so these results were as expected.

Hope this helps!

That's interesting as I'm sure that using an external drive (especially USB) soaks up some CPU resources. Happy to be proven wrong though and it may well be that Firewire bypasses this.

Any performance benchmarks on 8-bit 720p capture? I only ask as I'm sure my T7200 laptop benched 85fps on medium quality 8-bit 720p.

Also what CineForm encoder settings were used in these tests? I only ask as I've observed differences in CPU usage depending on Single Picture frame setting, encoder quality level and progressive scan on/off, not to mention up-converting to 10-bit on the fly etc etc.

Also, to supplement David's original post, the Dell XPS M1710 is available with a Core 2 Duo T7600G, which can be BIOS overclocked to 3.0GHz unlike the factory standard T7600.

Not much fun for the battery or the fans but I believe you can turn it up to 2.66GHz too.

maybe silly question,
is it possible to capture to cineform with a non PRO- version of Magma Express Box, wouid it be compatible with my Intensity card?

plz guys, confirm that - I don't want to spend extra 100$ for pro-..

It's a matter of whether the Intensity is a full-size or half-size card, I think.