Sandisk Extreme Firewire Reader with Laptop??
 

Anyone come up with any safe, reliable convenient solutions..

Being that this reader requires a 6 or 9 Pin powered firewire outlet, and most laptops contain a 4 Pin. I also tried an expresscard (on 3 laptops) and while that seems to solve the 6 Pin issue, it still does not appear to provide the power required to power the Reader.

Do I need to power the Expresscard with a DC outlet, kinda defeats the whole mobile thing...

Am I missing something? Anyone have any alternatives?

Edit..

If I just read correctly, you can use the MRC1K to transfer the video file directly to your laptop via firewire, in essence eliminating the need for a card reader. Can anyone verify the accuracy of that statement and if its possible, what speeds can be expected by transferring files via this method? Would it be comparable to a firewire card reader?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, Thanks

I ran into the same problem but with a self powered firewire external hard drive. The express card needed to be plugged to an AC power supply which defeated the portability. Ended up going usb. I've noticed that usb or firewire is slower on laptop than a desktop. Mac pro laptops have powered firewire but of course come with a much higher price tag.

You can certainly go in via FW and the MRC's cradle to transfer your files (but that needs some form of power as well, and as you've proabbly seen in the manual they recommend using an [optional] AC adapter). But I'm wondering if one of these would work better:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Computer Accessories,Card Readers,ExpressCard slot,Yes

But that leads to another question: Are you planning on editing HDV on a laptop? Suggest you head over to the editing forums and read about why that's likely to be a frustrating experience.