I need a fully portable DV editing system. Any recommendations? I have my eyes on the Mac Powerbook g4 667 and Final cut pro OR a pc system from sony or dell with premiere. Is there a new 'hotter' powerbook coming out soon? My main concern is the slow hard drives on laptop computers. How long does it take to Render and save 20 min of uncompressed DV (not using to many rendable cuts)in final cut pro or premiere? Is there a portable tape deck that I can use to spare my camera? How do i get it over to Vhs?

Carl, Sweden

-- carl amnert (calle_amnert@hotmail.com), February 02, 2002

Answers

been editing weekly shows with ibook g3 500 640 ram and external drive . . . had minor problems first but with FCP 3.0, all has been great. . .for the money i would not trust anything else

-- john (83151@gulf.net), March 03, 2002.

A Colleague of mine uses a Powerbook G4 with an 80 Gig. external Maxtor Firewire Drive and FCP. The only thing she said was that she had to periodically format the video drive to maintain accuracy and reliability. Other than that she loves it. You can also use Firewire drives on PC machines and save youself some money, or even check out the new IBook it's got a G4 processer with velocity engine just like the last G4 Powerbook.

Rob Rock www.bluewater-media.net

-- Robert Rock (rrock@bluewater-media.net), March 10, 2002.

Here's my 2cents:

Have Avid Xpress DV 3 and Premiere 6.5 on a Compaq Presario - Athlon XP1500 - 512DDR ram - 30Gig drive - XP Home - built-in Firewire - Camera is the JVC GRDV3000u.

Capture cleanly to C: drive with no dropped frames. And as for rendering, depends on your processor. I lean towards PC but that's a preference. I hear all the banter about external second drives, but it works for me with a single and keeps it truly mobile. Not so mobile when you have to carry 10 extra peripherals.

Cheers,

melo

-- Melo (melodramafilmworks@sympatico.ca), March 13, 2003.