HDV, FCE - firewire speed, powerbook G4
 

I'm editing an HDV project and had to use Final Cut Express b/c Final Cut Pro wouldnt recognize the Sony hdr fx1. Logged the footage but the playback is dropping frames, freezing and skipping.

I tried both firewire 400 and usb 2.0 - Does the speed of the drive matter with HDV? I thought it used roughly the same MB/s (around 24) as DV.

OR is my G4 powerbook, 1Ghz, 1GB RAM is too slow?

Has anyone else been able to edit HDV with that equipment? Or do you recommend I find a G5 somewhere?

Confused... alone... scared... :(
thx.

Re: HDV, FCE - firewire speed, powerbook G4
 

"HDV" on FCE may need more speed than USB and firewire provide because it's not HDV anymore. FCE transcodes HDV into another codec (AppleIntermediateCodec, or AIC) which is up to 5 times the datarate of DV. I would recommend editing from the hard drive.

Your G4 is right at the bottom of the requirement for HDV so I wouldn't be too surprised playback isn't perfect.

I also have a 1ghz powerbook, but haven't tried FCE or HDV. However, the system requirements on Apple's site indicate you're right on the edge of what works http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.htmlYou could also try iMovie HD, but its specs also call for a 1GHz or faster processor.

It's not the FireWire or USB that's the issue. It's the processor. AIC files are smaller than DVCProHD, and DVCProHD is plenty "safe" for editing over FireWire. Zev, I recommend a dual-processor G5.