Sony VAIO Desktop as editing suite

[Mike Mellis]

Hi all,
I'm new to digital editing but have some experience in analog editing from the late '80's and early '90's. Now I'm teaching myself the digital world and am happy to have found these forums. My system is listed below with what I hope are all the relevant facts needed to help get answers for my question which follows.

VAIO Digital Studio™ PCV-RZ36G Desktop (search this model at www.sonystyle.com for more specifics if need be)
Pentium4 3.0 GHz
1.0GB RAM
160GB (7200rpm) HDD
DVD+-RW / CD-RW
GeForce FX5200 Ultra 128MB VRAM
"Giga Pocket"TM MPEG2 Realtime Encoder/Decoder board with TV Tuner
Stereo speakers with sub-woofer
VAIO Creation Suite PLUS package software

Inputs:
2 S-video jacks
2 sets of composite audio/video
1 coaxial input
1 4-pin i.Link port
1 6-pin i.Link port

Relevant software:
Adobe Premier LE (which I have since upgraded to Premeir Pro)
Sony's "Gigapocket" software which act as my capture program and TV recorder.

My question: I don't know and can not find a straight answer from any Sony reps as to what type/quality of capture card/device is in my system? It works as both a TV tuner and has the listed inputs for getting my source footage (Hi-8 currently but will be going with an XL-1s soon) in to the "giga pocket" PVR program. From there I can get it into Premeir Pro. It's working for me so far to get my footage on the harddrive. I don't know however if I should get or need to get a dedicated capture card for my future editing. Will I be loosing out on overall video/audio quality if I keep what I have? Or is there a general benefit to having a seperate or "better" capture card?

Also, is the Sony "i.Link" port the same thing as a "firewire" port?

Forgive my noobishness.

Looking forward to hearing from anybody with an opinion.

[Rob Lohman]

Yes your i.link port is the same thing as a firewire port. So I would
definitely get digital firewire connected equipment in the future!

Then you don't need an analog capture board, basically. It could
come in handy for analog capture, but your XL1S can do that as
well (in a second pass process) and there are special boxes like
the Canopus ADVC100 (if I remember the model number correctly)
that can convert an analog source to DV and vice versa.

I'm not familiair with your PC so I cannot comment on what kind
of "capture" board is in there. I highly doubt it will be of a very
good quality. It will almost certainly be an MJPEG compatible board.

Personally I would save my money for a capture board and put
that towards the XL1S and extra equipment you'll need. You
have everything in the firewire (i.link) port you will need for basic
work without quality degredation!

[Mike Mellis]

Thanks Rob.