Minimum laptop (Mac) specs to PLAY DVCPROHD? at DVinfo.net

Giovanni Speranza · July 29th, 2007, 09:54 AM

Hi,
i've not enough budget for an F100, so i'm opting for a portable Mac to which i will copy the P2 data from my HVX200. To veryfy the footage, the laptop should be able at least to playback the DVCPRO HD footage.

So is a simple iBook enough to playback a DVCPRO HD footage from internal HD (5400 RPM) or should i use a PowerBook?
Thanks

Jamie Allan · August 10th, 2007, 02:41 AM

Depends on which resolution and data rate its at, but I'd never EVER trust a 5400 to do anything with video...I'd say its doubtfull, get a small external FW800 or esata drive to go with the book.

Dean Harrington · August 27th, 2007, 07:49 AM

You should be looking at an intel laptop 2.4 CPU with 1900 X 1200 screen and internal 200 gigger , 7200 spin cycle hard drive ~ 4 gigs of ram. Add one firewire 800 200 gig external hard drive. shoot, edit or playback. That should do the trick!

Kevin Shaw · August 27th, 2007, 08:00 AM

Technically an iBook might be adequate but a Macbook Pro would be preferable for several reasons. As far as hard drives are concerned, a 5400 RPM drive should be able to play a single layer of DVCProHD footage if the drive is kept defragmented and there isn't anything else bottlenecking the system. The maximum bandwidth of DVCProHD is about 12.5 MB/sec, which is well within the throughput capacity of almost any modern hard drive.

TingSern Wong · September 28th, 2007, 09:16 AM

I haven't seen a P2 software that plays DVCPRO-HD video at full frame rate and full resolution. Panasonic software either plays video at half frame rate OR half resolution at full screen.

Nate Weaver · September 28th, 2007, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TingSern Wong

I haven't seen a P2 software that plays DVCPRO-HD video at full frame rate and full resolution. Panasonic software either plays video at half frame rate OR half resolution at full screen.

I have. Quicktime Pro. FCP. DVCPRO HD is generally pretty easy for these, with a halfway recent machine.

An old iBook would have trouble with DVCPRO HD, especially a G4. A G5 iBook would probably be ok. A Macbook would work fine.

July 29th, 2007, 09:54 AM	#1
Giovanni Speranza Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Lugano, Switzerland Posts: 149	Minimum laptop (Mac) specs to PLAY DVCPROHD? Hi, i've not enough budget for an F100, so i'm opting for a portable Mac to which i will copy the P2 data from my HVX200. To veryfy the footage, the laptop should be able at least to playback the DVCPRO HD footage. So is a simple iBook enough to playback a DVCPRO HD footage from internal HD (5400 RPM) or should i use a PowerBook? Thanks

August 27th, 2007, 07:49 AM	#3
Dean Harrington Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Tokyo Posts: 898	HD recording ... You should be looking at an intel laptop 2.4 CPU with 1900 X 1200 screen and internal 200 gigger , 7200 spin cycle hard drive ~ 4 gigs of ram. Add one firewire 800 200 gig external hard drive. shoot, edit or playback. That should do the trick!

August 10th, 2007, 02:41 AM	#2
Jamie Allan Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Notts, UK Posts: 101	Depends on which resolution and data rate its at, but I'd never EVER trust a 5400 to do anything with video...I'd say its doubtfull, get a small external FW800 or esata drive to go with the book.

August 27th, 2007, 08:00 AM	#4
Kevin Shaw Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,488	Technically an iBook might be adequate but a Macbook Pro would be preferable for several reasons. As far as hard drives are concerned, a 5400 RPM drive should be able to play a single layer of DVCProHD footage if the drive is kept defragmented and there isn't anything else bottlenecking the system. The maximum bandwidth of DVCProHD is about 12.5 MB/sec, which is well within the throughput capacity of almost any modern hard drive.

September 28th, 2007, 09:16 AM	#5
TingSern Wong Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Singapore, Rep of SINGAPORE Posts: 749	I haven't seen a P2 software that plays DVCPRO-HD video at full frame rate and full resolution. Panasonic software either plays video at half frame rate OR half resolution at full screen.