Cineform and Geforce 8700M GT
 

I've been reading about incompatibilities between Cineform and the new Geforce cards but am not crystal clear on exactly what the problem is. Is the only problem that the card can't do the overlay that would go to a second monitor (at least without some tweaking)?

The reason I ask: I'm looking to get a Dell XPS M1730 laptop which has the Geforce 8700M GT. I'm planning to attach a Magma Expressbox with a Blackmagic Intensity Pro in it to capture some video from my Canon HV20 (I so wish there was an ExpressCard version of the Intensity - I'd pay dearly for it!).

Should this setup be okay for capturing and some editing as long as I don't have a second monitor?

- Rick

Rick, I just read somewhere about a new unit that was announced by Asus (I think) at CES that does exactly that. Runs TWO graphics cards externally, using the ExpressCard input on a laptop (or whatever). It's worth hunting down, because that is exactly what you're looking for.

Stephen -

I found what you were talking about. It's called the Asus XG Station and it holds a graphics card plus, it looks like, a sound card. It then plugs into and ExpressCard slot.

For those interested, here's a link to the Wikipedia article (which has links to other articles):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XG_Station

It looks like a beefed up Expressbox. One article says it comes with a graphics card and will go for 499 US$, which is certainly cheaper than the Expressbox. The article also says it will be released in April.

For me, that may be a bit too late as I wanted to shoot my stuff in March and April. There's also no guarantee that it'll work the the Intensity,

Nevertheless, it's something very interesting to keep our eyes on. It's not the holy grail of the Intensity ExpressCard, but it's hundreds less than the Expressbox and if the Intensity works with it, that'll be a good thing.

- Rick