DV-PC question... at DVinfo.net

Shawn McBee · December 6th, 2004, 02:25 PM

I want to bring a laptop to shoots to record straight to disk with the XL2, but I don't want to record straight to the laptop's built in drive. Rather, I want to hook up an external Firewire Hard Drive to the laptop. Does anyone know if this is possible or foresee any problems with this setup?

Thanks for your help,

Shawn.

Marty Hudzik · December 6th, 2004, 02:27 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Shawn McBee : I want to bring a laptop to shoots to record straight to disk with the XL2, but I don't want to record straight to the laptop's built in drive. Rather, I want to hook up an external Firewire Hard Drive to the laptop. Does anyone know if this is possible or foresee any problems with this setup?

Thanks for your help,

Shawn. -->>>

well the first thing is you will need 2 firewire ports on your laptop. I wouldn't think you would want to have the DV data coming off the camera on the same line that is also sending it to disk. 2 seperate ports would be better I'd think. Other than that you should have no problem. Good Luck.

Shawn McBee · December 6th, 2004, 02:56 PM

Yeah...I'm having some difficulty finding a laptop with 2 Firewire ports....anyone know where I should look on this?

More importantly, if anyone happens to have any doubts as to whether this would work, please let me know. Like marty, I don't really see how it'd be a problem, but I haven't used the software either.

Thanks,

Shawn

Marty Hudzik · December 6th, 2004, 03:54 PM

I'm guessing that you might have to buy a PC card and add it to the laptop in order to get multiple Firewire ports on most laptops. You can get these for as little as $39.00 nowadays. I have an HP with a firewire port built in and a PC card to add 3 more ports. I've never used both but if you'd like I'll try it out tonight and see if it works with my portable hard drive. I've been wanting to try this anyway.

Barry Green · December 6th, 2004, 04:01 PM

I just did a ton of this, recording directly to an external hard disk, but I used a USB2 drive for the external. Laptop has three firewire ports on one card, but the external drive is a super-tiny little thing, a 2.5" disk drive in a Triton "Warp Drive" enclosure. It's about the size of a deck of cards and draws all its power from the USB bus, so it's amazingly convenient. The laptop's firewire ports don't support sending bus power, so USB2 seemed to be the better choice. Worked fine.

Marty Hudzik · December 6th, 2004, 04:04 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Barry Green : I just did a ton of this, recording directly to an external hard disk, but I used a USB2 drive for the external. Laptop has three firewire ports on one card, but the external drive is a super-tiny little thing, a 2.5" disk drive in a Triton "Warp Drive" enclosure. It's about the size of a deck of cards and draws all its power from the USB bus, so it's amazingly convenient. The laptop's firewire ports don't support sending bus power, so USB2 seemed to be the better choice. Worked fine. -->>>

Barry,
Did you try this with the Xl2 and the proprietary DV-PC software that the XL2 ships with? I only ask because I know you are an avid DVX user/guru and I am thinking that Shawn might have wanted to test the specific canon software. I tried it with a Pana one time and it said the camera was not supported.

Just asking so I know wether to test it myself or not!
Peace!

Bruce S. Yarock · December 7th, 2004, 04:31 AM

Marty.
You mention "proprietary softaware" that the xl2 ships with. Mine didn't come with any software. o called Canon, and they said I would get someting in 6-8 weeks. Then at the Canon clinic in Miami last month, I asked the Canon tech about this, and he said it wasn'y available yet...
Is there any way now to record directly to pc?
thanks
Bruce yarock

Marty Hudzik · December 8th, 2004, 12:50 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Bruce S. Yarock : Marty.
You mention "proprietary softaware" that the xl2 ships with. Mine didn't come with any software. o called Canon, and they said I would get someting in 6-8 weeks. Then at the Canon clinic in Miami last month, I asked the Canon tech about this, and he said it wasn'y available yet...
Is there any way now to record directly to pc?
thanks
Bruce yarock -->>>

I'm sorry! I forgot they didn't ship it. I downloaded it off the web from somewhere! I don't think Canon USA posted it yet and somebody had a link to the software on a Japan server or something.

Mark Sloan · December 8th, 2004, 01:20 PM

Getting a card with extra FW ports is a good idea. Even with a PowerBook that has 2 ports it is using the same system bus and while it can easily handle it in theory (and often does fine), you can run into problems. That wouldn't be good seeing as how you are not putting it to tape at all.

If you decide to go with USB2.0 make sure you do not have anything else connected to your USB ports, the protocol will slow down your data if there are slower devices on the bus. Again, because you are not taping it, I would go with a FireWire drive for less chance of dropouts.

December 6th, 2004, 02:25 PM	#1
Shawn McBee Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Sarasota, FL Posts: 69	DV-PC question... I want to bring a laptop to shoots to record straight to disk with the XL2, but I don't want to record straight to the laptop's built in drive. Rather, I want to hook up an external Firewire Hard Drive to the laptop. Does anyone know if this is possible or foresee any problems with this setup? Thanks for your help, Shawn. __________________ "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -Mark Twain

December 6th, 2004, 02:27 PM	#2
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Re: DV-PC question... <<<-- Originally posted by Shawn McBee : I want to bring a laptop to shoots to record straight to disk with the XL2, but I don't want to record straight to the laptop's built in drive. Rather, I want to hook up an external Firewire Hard Drive to the laptop. Does anyone know if this is possible or foresee any problems with this setup? Thanks for your help, Shawn. -->>> well the first thing is you will need 2 firewire ports on your laptop. I wouldn't think you would want to have the DV data coming off the camera on the same line that is also sending it to disk. 2 seperate ports would be better I'd think. Other than that you should have no problem. Good Luck.

December 6th, 2004, 02:56 PM	#3
Shawn McBee Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Sarasota, FL Posts: 69	Yeah...I'm having some difficulty finding a laptop with 2 Firewire ports....anyone know where I should look on this? More importantly, if anyone happens to have any doubts as to whether this would work, please let me know. Like marty, I don't really see how it'd be a problem, but I haven't used the software either. Thanks, Shawn __________________ "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -Mark Twain

December 6th, 2004, 03:54 PM	#4
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	I'm guessing that you might have to buy a PC card and add it to the laptop in order to get multiple Firewire ports on most laptops. You can get these for as little as $39.00 nowadays. I have an HP with a firewire port built in and a PC card to add 3 more ports. I've never used both but if you'd like I'll try it out tonight and see if it works with my portable hard drive. I've been wanting to try this anyway.

December 6th, 2004, 04:01 PM	#5
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	I just did a ton of this, recording directly to an external hard disk, but I used a USB2 drive for the external. Laptop has three firewire ports on one card, but the external drive is a super-tiny little thing, a 2.5" disk drive in a Triton "Warp Drive" enclosure. It's about the size of a deck of cards and draws all its power from the USB bus, so it's amazingly convenient. The laptop's firewire ports don't support sending bus power, so USB2 seemed to be the better choice. Worked fine.

December 6th, 2004, 04:04 PM	#6
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	<<<-- Originally posted by Barry Green : I just did a ton of this, recording directly to an external hard disk, but I used a USB2 drive for the external. Laptop has three firewire ports on one card, but the external drive is a super-tiny little thing, a 2.5" disk drive in a Triton "Warp Drive" enclosure. It's about the size of a deck of cards and draws all its power from the USB bus, so it's amazingly convenient. The laptop's firewire ports don't support sending bus power, so USB2 seemed to be the better choice. Worked fine. -->>> Barry, Did you try this with the Xl2 and the proprietary DV-PC software that the XL2 ships with? I only ask because I know you are an avid DVX user/guru and I am thinking that Shawn might have wanted to test the specific canon software. I tried it with a Pana one time and it said the camera was not supported. Just asking so I know wether to test it myself or not! Peace!

December 7th, 2004, 04:31 AM	#7
Bruce S. Yarock Trustee Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pembroke Pines, Fl. Posts: 1,842	Marty. You mention "proprietary softaware" that the xl2 ships with. Mine didn't come with any software. o called Canon, and they said I would get someting in 6-8 weeks. Then at the Canon clinic in Miami last month, I asked the Canon tech about this, and he said it wasn'y available yet... Is there any way now to record directly to pc? thanks Bruce yarock

December 8th, 2004, 12:50 PM	#8
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	<<<-- Originally posted by Bruce S. Yarock : Marty. You mention "proprietary softaware" that the xl2 ships with. Mine didn't come with any software. o called Canon, and they said I would get someting in 6-8 weeks. Then at the Canon clinic in Miami last month, I asked the Canon tech about this, and he said it wasn'y available yet... Is there any way now to record directly to pc? thanks Bruce yarock -->>> I'm sorry! I forgot they didn't ship it. I downloaded it off the web from somewhere! I don't think Canon USA posted it yet and somebody had a link to the software on a Japan server or something.

December 8th, 2004, 01:20 PM	#9
Mark Sloan Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Venice, CA Posts: 346	Getting a card with extra FW ports is a good idea. Even with a PowerBook that has 2 ports it is using the same system bus and while it can easily handle it in theory (and often does fine), you can run into problems. That wouldn't be good seeing as how you are not putting it to tape at all. If you decide to go with USB2.0 make sure you do not have anything else connected to your USB ports, the protocol will slow down your data if there are slower devices on the bus. Again, because you are not taping it, I would go with a FireWire drive for less chance of dropouts.