On multicam shoots where we're shooting continuously, I've done exactly that.
Definitely on a macbook pro, but reviews are mixed on it running on the macbook itself.

I strongly recommend anyone with an intel mac to do the file transfer in the PC side anyway. The mac OS (or PCMCIA driver or whatever) can introduce tiny glitches when transferring cards, but on the PC it's flawless, so I recommend a PC laptop for field work but if you're going to use a Mac laptop you'll find it more reliable to use the PC side (at least until Apple or Panasonic fixes whatever glitch exists in the process!)

We have had no problems with the 17" PB on location....
Most of our work is done for producers editing with FCP.
Having the ability to rough edit as we go has been invaluable....
I also have an Edius set-up on the PC but hardly anyone I know
uses that. Plus when we edit projects we output OMF files for
the audio studio...I do not know if Edius will do that... I am sure
some flavors of AVID will but that is a debate for another thread....

thanks Barry
I've also been doing everything on the mac side and have not had any problem so far. Can you give a bit more details on those tiny glitches you talked about.
I'm curious cause I talked last week with Mike Fryer from Dual System (the makers of the PCMCIA to Express Card host adapter) he also mention problems with the mac drivers. By the way the card is in it's final Beta testing and will be available before the end of the year.

We use regular old powerbooks.....I could see where the Intel Macs might have some problems. We also carry a PC laptop on location for tele-prompting, script re-writes and various other PC duties.......
We have played around with recording direct to both laptops but I hate
being connected to something else.....

Ever seen a DV tape dropout? The little squares of corruption that pop up at five or six random spots throughout a frame? That's what can happen when offloading a card on a Mac (and only on a Mac). I don't know why, but it isn't 100% reliable in all cases.

The footage is fine on the cards, and it's fine when offloaded to a PC, but sometimes you can get a random "hit" when offloading to a Mac.

It's not FCP's fault; we've done hundreds of cards to a PC laptop->external drive, and then brought that external drive to a Mac and imported the footage off it, and it's always been fine. It's something about importing directly off the card, or finder-copying the card. And I can't tell whether it happens from using just the card directly in the slot, or using the P2 Store, or importing the card onto the Mac using the camera as a card reader. I don't know what circumstances cause it, only thing I know is that it happens on the Mac and not the PC, and it sure would be nice if Apple and Panasonic would figure out what it is that needs fixing and fix it.

I copy all cards to another drive first...don't ever have the time to load directly from the P2 card to FCP....hundreds of cards copied from P2 to Mac....I have used a few different HVX's and have used 4 different 4 gig P2 cards and dozens of other rental P2 cards and I have never seen that problem.

I recommend using PC laptops as well. Macs require restarts as they often have hardware issues after "waking up."



ash =o)

same here. Done many backups on the mac side, never saw that problem before.
In any case, it sounds like it could be specific to a particular mac computer, maybe something running in the background while copying? I think if it was happening generally on the mac side, I'm sure we would have seen more postings about it.

I don't know anyone who's seen it on a Mac but I have told people to never import into FCP from the card.
Always copy the card to a Hard Disk then import to FCP.
I never import from the Camera either, but just because its inconvenient.


I don't cut this stuff though I just send it off. I would hear if something was bad though.

I agree with Eric about turning off anything that could run in the background. I have 2 user log-ins. One for "capture" and one for everything else.
I admit though that I usually only use the "capture" one if I'm using "capture now" in FCP I usually copy cards in a my regular set-up. maybe I should be more careful.
I'd like to hear if anyone else has seen Barry's problem.

Barry have you heard this from a lot of people, or is it just your experience? Mostly you work with PC's right?

I was PC only until I started shooting with the HVX....I really tried to make Vegas work with Raylight....not the greatest experience....I do have Edius but find the interface and tools - lacking.....FCP may not be everyones cup of tea but most PA's I hire have some working knowledge of FCP.
Plus, throw in LiveType and DVD SP.....

+ who really have the time to import directly in FCP during the shoot? thanks to this thread I'm now using P2 genie instead of just copying the P2 content into a folder, combined with the firewire 5 slot drive, it works quite well on the mac side. What Barry was saying is that the glitch problem might also happened on Finder copy. So if anyone out there did experienced those glitches, please jump in.
In my understanding, it is better to keep the MXF files as your masters once your project is done, right?? what I haven't tested yet is how the workflow works when you need to go back to an old project.
I'm sorry I should post this in new thread :)

It never happens on the PC, only on the Mac.

thanks barry,
I hope we can get more details on under which context those glitches are happening.
e.