Portable Hardware Questions/Suggestion

[ender94117]

Hello everyone. Basically I need to get some portable hardware for video projections I create for various clubs and events in San Francisco. I currently drag around a PC tower w/ a 15 monitor with cables and periphs. The great thing about my system is I have an old Perception Video Recorder that is capable of recording and capturing video in realtime at 720x480 through composite, s-video, and component. I'm fed up with dragging around my system so, I need to get a portable system.

I'm looking into getting a Powerbook G4 800 with 1 gig RAM. I know it doesn't have the recording and capturing capabilites as my PC system I've been reading that you can export DV through Firewire and a camcorder or coverter box.

The work I usually create is pre-rendered clips at 720x480 on my PC and then stored on the Perception for realtime NTSC playback.

My question is can I do realtime DV playback of pre-rendered clips on the Powerbook G4 through Final Cut Pro or similar program? Is the Powerbook the way to go or is there a better alternative?

All help is very much appreciated!

-Frank

[burstingfist]

Well, that Perception card sounds really sweet. If it is the same one I looked at, it is a really big card. It might fit into the gBox (http://www.exoticpc.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=EPC&Product_Code=S868&Product_Count=1&Category_Code=E-BB). This is a nice little unit that accepts a P4 2.4 Ghz 400Mhz FSB. It has one AGP 8x slot and one PCI slot. Built in USB 2.0 & IEEE1394. This box will give you great portability and may allow you to keep your Perception hardware. The only other issue is finding a more reasonable monitor. I currently use one of those 5 inch Playstation LCD monitors. You might want to go bigger though if you fiddle with the computer a lot . I never fiddle with the operating system once I am rolling, so I don't even use my monitor, I just go off the projection screen.

[sleepytom]

to maintain your current broadcast quality I'd get a lunchbox pc (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=lunchbox+pc) and stick your perception card in there - then buy a copy of VJamm Pro (http://www.vjammpro.com) the only VJ software to support direct output from the PVR (with full scratching and chop functions)

powerbooks seem to be very bad value at the moment with no mac VJ software at all that supports fullframe video (as far as i know please correct me if i'm wrong) you could of course use finalcut or premiere to output DV but you'll find much worse latency than in VJamm Pro / PVR system.

look out for lunchboxes secondhand - you can pick them up dead cheap sometimes

[ender94117]

Thanks for the suggestions. If I don't get the laptop I'm probably going to build up my PC in small case w/ handles and get a 15" LCD so I don't have to lug a monitor around.

As far as the Powerbook G4 goes I have another question. If I got a really fast 7200 RPM firewire drive would this help with video latency? If all my clips are pre-rendered I should be able to get realtime playback through Final Cut?

I really appreciate the replies I have gotten so far. They have helped immensely!

-Frank

[BrainStove]

Burstingfist are you sure that amazing box have a PCI slot?
According the scarce info on the site and judging by the photo, I think maybe you are assuming that because the 2nd slot space showed on the case image (perhaps reserved to put the built in Firewire connectors access)

Anyway I hardly can resist the temptation to buy 2 of them RIGHT NOW... at least wait a little bit more just to bundle these with a couple of 8x AGP new ATI AllinWonder Radeon 9700 video cards or some new 8x DualHead Matrox and a couple of 7200/10000 RPM 100MB ATA100 HDs, even so maybe I can save some buck$$$ to buy a cup of coffee from buying a new high end laptop instead.

Just some warning advice about OSs & memory handle limitations:
Make sure to test/select first the most powerful/reliable VJapp/OS combination you are happy with to avoid some surprises as follow:
1.- Win9x series have problems in systems with more of 512MB RAM
2.- Win2k series have problems in systems with more of 1GB RAM
I?m not 100% sure, but I think the WinXP memory limit is 4GB RAM

Thanks a lot for that tip/link Burst!! :)