Posted by firenze_italia on 09/02/05 18:12

Hello all

I am thinking of purchasing a portable FCP editing setup for standard
def, hopefully with the ability to expand to HD when needed. I want to
be able to edit footage from Beta, miniDV and DVCAM. These are the most
common SD formats; any others like DVCPro or DigiBeta, I could rent a
deck as needed.

Here is how I have it configured currently:

Powerbook 17", 1GB SDRAM, 100GB HD w/ Superdrive
AJA Io LA to convert analog footage to uncompressed digital
Sony PVM14L1 14" NTSC studio monitor
ProMax dvBox Pro 500GB Firewire 800 RAID drive
Harman/Kardon Sound Sticks II
Sony UVW-1800 Beta SP deck (already own this)
my Sony TRV-900 camcorder to use (temporarily) for miniDV footage;
eventually I would acquire a Sony DVCAM/miniDV deck since it's not wise
to put too much wear and tear on a camcorder deck

Two questions:

1) Anyone want to recommend any substitutions here? For instance,
could I get by with an iBook G4 14" instead of the Powerbook?

2) It appears the ProMax storage is sealed; I would rather have a
500GB unit where I could swap out drives. Any recommendations?

The idea here is to be able to offer mobile video editing. Of course I
would also need cables, a hard case for transport, and maybe rack
mounting for the Aja/monitor/VTR decks for use with medium to long term
projects.

Thanks in advance for advice before I make the purchase.

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