Best option for live capture
 

Hi all.
For wedding same day edit:

My plan is: Put my laptop into a backpack and connect it to my camera. Now, what's the best way to do it? How can I do that?

Thanks a lot.

OnLocation.

Since you plan to put the laptop in a backpack, there's little point in getting any software that provides visual cues as to what is being recorded. You simply need a program that can start and stop when your camcorder starts and stops.

Most camcorders do not send a signal via FireWire to indicate that the Record/Standby button has been pressed. Most software that detects start/stop requires a tape be in the camcorder and use changes in timecode or transport state as a trigger.

Personally, I would use tape - even if only for backup. Without any visual cues, you won't have a clue what's going on inside your backpack. You won't have any way to tell if the recording is proceeding or not.

One option to consider: have two camcorders on hand. Record to tape with one and, when you change tapes, use the other camcorder for capturing to disk the full tape. Put the second camcorder and laptop in a central/suitable location and just walk about with the first camcorder. At the end of the event, all but one tapes will have been captured.

Four-pin firewire connections have a reputation for not staying connected, so if you can't see what your laptop is recording because it is in your backpack, you can't be sure that you are actually still connected and recording.

if your problem is to avoid recapturing video from tape to computer, there are many portable devices able to record transparently to disk. Sony, firestore etc...
they are not cheap, but they do what they claim. anything funny like a laptop in a backpack smells like a planned disaster. (over heating, disconnected cables, shaken hardisk, computer crash, battery exhausted )