New MacBook Pro and P2 Cards

[Barry Kay]

1. Can the P2 cards be put into the ExpressCard/34 slot in the new MacBook Pro?

2. Some stats indicate that with some cards there can be a data transfer rate up to 3.Gbps. Would it thus be possible to go from the HVX directly into this laptop, with no need of P2 cards?

3. Is it possible to record directly from the HVX into this laptop through it's Firewire 800?

4. Can the screen of this laptop, it's top of the line model, be used as a HD monitor? With it's 1920x1200 resolution?

5. Is 1920x1200 = to 1080p?

Thanks for any info about this.

[Dan Brockett]

Originally Posted by Barry Kay

1. Can the P2 cards be put into the ExpressCard/34 slot in the new MacBook Pro?
No, you need the Duel Systems adaptor

2. Some stats indicate that with some cards there can be a data transfer rate up to 3.Gbps. Would it thus be possible to go from the HVX directly into this laptop, with no need of P2 cards?
Yes, but when the laptop crashes, all footage is lost. It's probably too risky unless you like living dangerously.

3. Is it possible to record directly from the HVX into this laptop through it's Firewire 800?
The HVX does not have a FW-800 output, but I suppose you could turn the HVX's FW400 into 800 with an adaptor, but why?

4. Can the screen of this laptop, it's top of the line model, be used as a HD monitor? With it's 1920x1200 resolution?
Only if you used Boot Camp and ran a utility program like DVC Rack or ? Also, a laptop screen is not an HD broadcast monitor, it uses different color space. The only way to really see HD from your HVX is to spend many thousands of dollars for a broadcast HD monitor. Most of us poorer people muddle through with a Marshall, computer monitor or consumer HD set.

5. Is 1920x1200 = to 1080p?
No, 1080p is 1920x1080 but the HVX doesn't output that resolution directly anyway, it outputs it's 1080 over an interlaced wrapper.

Thanks for any info about this.

Good luck,

Dan

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Barry Kay

3. Is it possible to record directly from the HVX into this laptop through it's Firewire 800?

You can do this with FW-400. I've used the HVX to stream DV, DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD into the laptop's FW-400 port, capturing in FCP to an external drive on the FW-800 port. I've recorded up to 3+ hours this way, repeatedly, with no problems. This is with a 3-year old 1.5 GHz PowerBook as well. FWIW

[Dan Brockett]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Hill

You can do this with FW-400. I've used the HVX to stream DV, DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD into the laptop's FW-400 port, capturing in FCP to an external drive on the FW-800 port. I've recorded up to 3+ hours this way, repeatedly, with no problems. This is with a 3-year old 1.5 GHz PowerBook as well. FWIW

Benjamin:

Have you done this on paying jobs for clients? If so, you have some large huevos. Macs don't crash often but they do crash and if they do, gulp...then what do you tell the client or interviewee/actors?

"Sorry, we just lost the entire last scene, let's do it again, but wait for me to reboot my laptop, it crashed."

Not a speech I would want to make.

Dan

[Robert Lane]

Originally Posted by Dan Brockett

Benjamin:

Have you done this on paying jobs for clients? If so, you have some large huevos. Macs don't crash often but they do crash and if they do, gulp...then what do you tell the client or interviewee/actors?

"Sorry, we just lost the entire last scene, let's do it again, but wait for me to reboot my laptop, it crashed."

Not a speech I would want to make.

Dan

Actually shooting tethered directly to a laptop is something many have done - including my company - successfully often. It does however require properly preparing the laptop with external peripherals and configuring the OS in a specific manner to avoid some hidden "gotchas", but it can be done. Years ago I posted exactly how to do this based on the G4 powerbook (it's an old post so use the search feature on the forum) and clearly outlines exactly how to do this.

When the HVX was first released in 2005 P2 cards were unavailable with a huge backorder so the only option for HD aquisition was to shoot tethered (the Firestore wasn't yet compatible with the HVX). Several national TV campaigns were shot using the tethered method back then (800 Pro Flowers was one of them).

You don't need to run BootCamp and DV rack to get the same monitoring functionality; FCP has scopes and monitoring built-in and is exactly how we setup our color/gamma during tethered shoots. It's also what was used during any green-screen/keying shoots.

Tethered aquisition is easily possible, just make sure you use my setup guide to get everything from the laptop to the drives setup correctly.

[Kaku Ito]

I've done HPX555 to Mac Book Pro (1st gen) and to LaCie Rugged FW400 drive no problem.

I also have the Duel Adapter for Expresscard 34 and with the new beta driver the posted works fine. The explanation on Panasonic site is wrong, it works better than how it is described there, you don't have to turn off the computer for inserting P2 card in and out from the adapter repeatedly, if you take the adapter off from computer then you probably have to restart the computer.

Only problem is that the adapter is so huge and the cable is not flexible, so sometimes the adapter comes off when you just move the laptop. I think Expresscard 34 is not designed for the cards that sticks out its slot. Bad design.

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Dan Brockett

Benjamin:

Have you done this on paying jobs for clients? If so, you have some large huevos. Macs don't crash often but they do crash and if they do, gulp...then what do you tell the client or interviewee/actors?

"Sorry, we just lost the entire last scene, let's do it again, but wait for me to reboot my laptop, it crashed."

Not a speech I would want to make.

Dan

Me neither; that's why I thoroughly tested this workflow before implementing it on professional gigs.

In addition, I use a backup by sending the S-video & composite line audio to a small DV deck. This has been an acceptable worst-case backup for my SD projects, but I suppose the component outputs to an HD deck would work just as well for high-def shooting.

I've done this with success on many tapings and even without the benefit of Robert's setup guide- though I'll look that up now. But it works for sure.

[Barry Kay]

Cool info and first hand experience. I like the idea of getting a new Macbook Pro rather than paying $695.00 for filming 4-minutes of video, although it's quite clear that it's not the ideal situation; but one step at a time and my initial filming ideas are more sedate that dog sledding or catching skateboarders in mid-air tumbles.

RE: 1920 x 1200 (screen resolution of top-of-line MacBook Pro) being 1080p I just read that 1080p is 1920 x 1080. So I guess that means the MacBook Pro's screen resolution can be used as a high-definition monitor.

[Gunleik Groven]

re: monitor/17"

well, yeah, sorta...

but i suggest you do a search on the fcp forum as to monitoring solutions.

the pixels are the least important aspect of monitoring, the moment colours starts jumping inconsistently all over the place.

personally i prefer the smaller footprint 15" with an external monitor for cuts.

as to colour finishing, that happens over at the edit bay with a broadcast monitor connected.

Gunleik

[Keith Clark]

I do this all the time, it works great and gives me instant access to the clips.
Better then trying to have the FS clipped to your belt or camera, it is nice to have a guy logging clips, I have done it all myself but it slows me down.
#1 recommendation, a long firewire and velcro to attach it to the cam set up to tear away. It all depends an the type of shoot but I have had great results.

[Farishad Latjuba]

Anyone have tried this Capture Magic HD from http://www.bigmugsoftware.com/

or anything like ScopeBox?

Any suggestion?

[David Saraceno]

I use Scopebox to capture the equivalent of 720/24pN.

Even works with a MacBook, not pro

[Farishad Latjuba]

Originally Posted by David Saraceno

I use Scopebox to capture the equivalent of 720/24pN.

Even works with a MacBook, not pro

What about 1080p using the ScopeBox? Does it work well for that resolution?
What is the limit for the firewire cable length without the need of the repeater?

If this kind of software works (of course, not for the run n gun situation), then the alternative for the P2 cards are there in the market already. Considering the price, it's such a good deal for these kind of softwares.