Laptop as monitor???

Ken Hodson · October 17th, 2006, 11:59 PM

2gig P-M is really scraping the bottom for this app. Yes dual-core (AMD or Intel) will help a lot. Also make absolutely sure it has ATi or Nvidia GFX, don't go for anything else regardless of how cheap. And the faster the better. I also recomend turning off all of the HDVrack racks that you do not need. There is also a huge amount of speed to be gained by reducing the mpeg2 level. I frames only ect.. It really helps, and your still getting great rez compared to most field monitors. De-frag your drives! And preferably use a 2.5" 7200rpm external(fully USB powered).
VideoLan's VLC player is a freeware product that does stream capture. Its a great zero budget laptop monitor solution and capture. Woks on all platforms.

Greg Corke · October 18th, 2006, 12:48 AM

Hi Eric,

Well your setup certainly sounds like it souldn't present a problem for The Rack software. I will be interested to hear your results when you upgrade but as you said I can't imagine that making a significant difference. Although it would be great to get the HDV signal I do have a tv tuner module for my laptop and I'm now wondering if I could just get a signal into that via s/video. Component would be better of course but to get componenet in I would imagine I would need a hardware bridge of somekind (Kona/Blackmagic) which I believe are pretty expensive. Anyone familiar with this stuff

Regards Greg

Ken Hodson · October 18th, 2006, 02:03 PM

You can use your svideo in as a TV-tunner monitor, but it will be in SD of course. But if you really need real time, that will work.

Brian Luce · October 19th, 2006, 01:17 AM

no one has ever given a satisfactory explanation of what dv rack does that most nle's can't. I used edius 4 for live capture. seemed to do everything dv rack can do. I tried using dv rack's monitor and it was really hard t calibrate.

Malcolm Jackson · October 20th, 2006, 02:30 PM

Daniel, Please do share WHY you feel using a laptop to try and monitor is a bad idea, I am exploring setup options for an upcoming shoot and have been considering a computer monitor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Patton

Using a laptop to try and monitor is a bad idea, keep looking. Just an opionion, but you asked. ;)

Daniel Patton · October 20th, 2006, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malcolm Jackson

Daniel, Please do share WHY you feel using a laptop to try and monitor is a bad idea, I am exploring setup options for an upcoming shoot and have been considering a computer monitor.

Malcom,
It's only an opinion and personal preference. My experiences have just not been as consistant going that route. We tend to try everything first using existing tools, so I know where you are coming from. And we have some beefy laptops so we went that route for a short while. A lot of guys around here use HDVRack with good results, just not for us.

In a pinch, with nothing other than the cameras view finder or LCD to monitor from, I might use HDV Rack. But if I could carry only one, a laptop or an LCD with component inputs, I'll take the pixel for pixel monitoring of the component device any day. I have had both the joy and frustration of editing enough of my own footage to know what provides me with the type of feedback for the best results consistently (that being the key word). Besides, when the shoot dictates my not using a good source for monitoring (say via component), more times than not the laptop is equally unfitting.

Sorry, I know it's not always easy to compare everything first hand before you invest in one route or another, but I feel that this is one of those type of things that you should experience first hand, in order to make a decision that works best for you.

Remember to share your findings, you may go a different route with a whole new set of preferences. ;)

John Mitchell · October 22nd, 2006, 02:19 AM

The biggest problem with using a laptop and HDV rack is the lag. Besides the normal firewire delay there is a minimum 2 GOP delay in decoding and presenting the MPEG2 stream to the screen. On the JVC that's 2 x 6frames or half a second. On the sony that's 30frames.

The feedback on this forum seems to be that HDv rack is a great tool for capturing and lighting and setting levels (including audio), but as a "live" monitor for tracking action and pulling focus it would not be usable in HDV.

In standard DV I believe it is purely the firewire delay.

October 17th, 2006, 11:59 PM	#16
Ken Hodson Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver BC Canada Posts: 1,315	2gig P-M is really scraping the bottom for this app. Yes dual-core (AMD or Intel) will help a lot. Also make absolutely sure it has ATi or Nvidia GFX, don't go for anything else regardless of how cheap. And the faster the better. I also recomend turning off all of the HDVrack racks that you do not need. There is also a huge amount of speed to be gained by reducing the mpeg2 level. I frames only ect.. It really helps, and your still getting great rez compared to most field monitors. De-frag your drives! And preferably use a 2.5" 7200rpm external(fully USB powered). VideoLan's VLC player is a freeware product that does stream capture. Its a great zero budget laptop monitor solution and capture. Woks on all platforms. __________________ Damnit Jim, I'm a film maker not a sysytems tech.

October 18th, 2006, 02:03 PM	#18
Ken Hodson Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver BC Canada Posts: 1,315	You can use your svideo in as a TV-tunner monitor, but it will be in SD of course. But if you really need real time, that will work. __________________ Damnit Jim, I'm a film maker not a sysytems tech.

October 18th, 2006, 12:48 AM	#17
Greg Corke Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 245	Hi Eric, Well your setup certainly sounds like it souldn't present a problem for The Rack software. I will be interested to hear your results when you upgrade but as you said I can't imagine that making a significant difference. Although it would be great to get the HDV signal I do have a tv tuner module for my laptop and I'm now wondering if I could just get a signal into that via s/video. Component would be better of course but to get componenet in I would imagine I would need a hardware bridge of somekind (Kona/Blackmagic) which I believe are pretty expensive. Anyone familiar with this stuff Regards Greg

October 19th, 2006, 01:17 AM	#19
Brian Luce Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,290	no one has ever given a satisfactory explanation of what dv rack does that most nle's can't. I used edius 4 for live capture. seemed to do everything dv rack can do. I tried using dv rack's monitor and it was really hard t calibrate.

October 22nd, 2006, 02:19 AM	#22
John Mitchell Contributor Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 873	The biggest problem with using a laptop and HDV rack is the lag. Besides the normal firewire delay there is a minimum 2 GOP delay in decoding and presenting the MPEG2 stream to the screen. On the JVC that's 2 x 6frames or half a second. On the sony that's 30frames. The feedback on this forum seems to be that HDv rack is a great tool for capturing and lighting and setting levels (including audio), but as a "live" monitor for tracking action and pulling focus it would not be usable in HDV. In standard DV I believe it is purely the firewire delay.