another VJ virgin

[bridla]

Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice. I'm a VJ virgin and I am wondering what kind of hardware and software I need. I have been making visuals and short films for a couple of years now and have always been into VJing but never had the money to get a set up myself. After many many hours of saving I can finally afford a cheapish rig but I need to know what I should get! I have pretty much decided I'm gonna get an iBook G4 (unless anyone out there can persuade me otherwise) but haven't a clue what kind of software I need. Can't afford anything like a V4 on top of the iBook so can do all mixing directly on the G4? What software do I need? Have looked at vdmx and a few others but don't really know where to start. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks very much, Ben.

[lik]

...dunno if you've checked this site out...but audiovisualizers got a nice list of vj software for mac...and almost every soft is reviewed...
http://www.audiovisualizers.com/toolshak/toolshak.html

...make them c...!

[darkshark]

well, im not sure of your rig and lappy integration. N lord knows i aint no PRO at this. But im sworn by Macs, n ive been VJing here in Jamdown for about a YR now, VDMXX is slightly buggy but your best bet for flexibility where creativity is concerned.

Basically where the laptop is concerned, the more powerfull it is, the less youll crash n cry over speed n software handling issues. I dont think your going to enjoy VJing on an iBook, im on a PB G4, 1 GHz, 1 GB Ram, 60 GB HD, n i need twice the speed i got now, using VDMXX especially.

But all the pros will tell you this, download some demos, turn up the music, n MIX out Hell, n then you ll see what you like.

Blessup my yute, n good luck.

DS.

[akira_k]

Originally posted by darkshark
I dont think your going to enjoy VJing on an iBook, im on a PB G4, 1 GHz, 1 GB Ram, 60 GB HD, n i need twice the speed i got now, using VDMXX especially.

Why not?

He didn't specify what he's aiming at, so let's imagine a scenario.

Let's suppose he's trying to decide between a 12" Powerbook G4 1Ghz and a 12" iBook G4 800Mhz. Let's suppose both would have the same ammount of RAM (512MB of it)and HD space (60GB if you want)

What would be the OH SO BIG difference between these two specs?

Here are the differences I see that, to me, make NO difference in performance for VJing.

- L2 cache. 256KB for the iBook, 512KB for the PB. Old PBs have 256KB of L2 as well and I have seen them perform nicely.

- Audio in. Some need the audio in like me. You plonk 60~80 dollars and you get a fabbo Edirol audio interface for all your audio in needs (and you get more outputs as well). This is not absolutely necessary for VJing, me for example have never fed audio to my machine so it automatically responds to it.

- DVI out. I don't need DVI.

- Shitty speakers. What for in VJing? For the rest there's good headphones or your home's amp.



Now from your point what would be the factors that would determine as a MUST to buy a Powerbook instead of an iBook? What would make me plonk ~500 more dollars on a PB that is impossible to do with an iBook? Are the differences mentioned above so important for this task? Is there something I missed? I'm very interested because I'm about to purchase a new mac notebook and after months of wanting the 12" PB I realized I really don't need it, that I can save myself ~500 bucks, get an iBook and be as happy.

If you will consider the gap between 800 and 1Ghz too big, what if you compared the 15" PB 1Ghz to the 14" iBook 1Ghz?

[stylepimp]

as the iBook lacks a built in s-vhs/composite port, you'll probably want/need to get an seperate apple video adapter.

and I don't know if the iBook supports a split screen like the powerbooks, or if it's restricted to mirroring.

[bridla]

first of all thanks very much for the assistance - has really helped. The specs of the ibook I'm looking at are,

1GHz PowerPC G4
256K L2 cache (at 1GHz)
14-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
256MB DDR266 memory
60GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB video memory

and you get the option of upping the memory to 640MB DDR266 SDRAM. Is this worth doing? How would I benefit by doing this?

I've looked at the powerbook too but as kiken said there isn't actually much difference other than the pb has 512K L2 cache to the ibook's 256K. What does L2 cache actually mean and what difference does it make to the system? Also, the pb uses ATI Mobility RADEON 9600 (64MB DDR) while the ibook uses ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32MB video memory. This is the video card yeh? 9600 is just better than 9200?? Sorry for being computer illiterate!!

I would also want to be able to sync audio to the video and I don't think the ibook has a line in. is there any way around this? how would the edirol audio interface help if there's no line into the ibook?

Finally... I have looked at software and would really like to use VDMX so do you think if I went for the extra RAM it would work smoothly? What do you mean about the ibooks being restricted to mirroring and not doing split screen?

Anyway, thanks again, much appreciated, Ben.

[bridla]

sorry, just one other thing.

I'd be running my clips off an external hard drive into the ibook by firewire. does this create any kind of problem or can you just use the external drive as if it was part of the main hard drive of the mac?

cheers

[stylepimp]

ben, with the concept of vjing solely out of a laptop, I'd go for the fastest machine you can afford.

add ram till your creditcard cries, cause video eats precessor speed for breakfast, ram for lunch aand HD space for dinner.

and go for a powerbook, it's got all the necessary ports built in and they just work. no adapters, no usb audio-in devices, etc.

also regarding the fact that the clips you are playing will be prepared on your machine, the faster is always the better.

hth

[darkshark]

Ill Puff n Pass to that S.P. Good one.

[jani]

i just got my ibook g4 933mhz, 640 ram 60g hd.
i've been a light jockey now for over 2 years, and i have a huge passion for it! but now i am really starting to get interested in vjing!
i want to know what are some good programs i can start on? useing my ibook? (for now)

cheers !