Has anybody seen the AJP laptop 8500PD. It has the highest specs I have seen and has Firewire. and a 15.1" screen I was just wondering how possible it would be to edit on this using Premiere and linking it via USB to a hard-drive stack?
Any comments appreciated
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[But please also ensure you post it here too! Da Mod. Who would point out that there is an option to have email automatically sent to you when someone replies to your posting!]
[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 09-05-99).]
The big problem, I think, is that AJP may not (almost certainly does not) actually support the FireWire connection.
If so, like the FireWire connection on the highly expensive Silicon Graphics 320, workstation that is blocking up my hallway, it cannot be used to capture or playback DV footage - or, indeed, for an FireWire function.
Bob C
According to the blurb that I have got the AJP has an IEEE 1394 Firewire port at 400Mbps for connection this would seem to support DV no?
Check out the specs at ajp.co.uk
I would be interested in using this as a portable option, the Sony Viao has a rather small GFX chipset, and the AJP has a 8mb embedded SG video RAM.
Having a FireWire port means nothing.
Unless, that is, the FireWire port on the PC is properly supported by the maker of the PC and, I suspect, that just like the very expensive doorstop from Silicon Graphics that I've got here, the AJP doesn't yet support the FireWire socket that it carries.
Like all in/out devices, FireWire needs driver support and if it isn't provided by the operating system (which it isn't), then the maker of the PC has to get someone to create drivers. I'll bet that AJP has not done that.
There is, to my knowledge, only one portable that supports FireWire in/out for DV editing - the Sony VAIO 190.
And, this is not really usable for DV editing until you add a much bigger hard disk, which, as best as I can tell at the moment, means buying a CardBus SCSI card (about £140), plus an external fast SCSI disk of at least 9GB. So you need to spend, say, £500 or more - on top of the £3000 you paid for the Sony VAIO itself, before you can do much with it.
You also asked via email:
> Does the sound card/ video card in the Laptop bear a result to the output?
No, only to the monitoring of it whilst you are editing.
The DV signal wraps together the audio and the video, so both travel via the FireWire cable, not via the soundcard - or, in the case (I suspect) of the AJP - they travel nowhere.
Cheers
Bob C
I've just visited the AJP web site, as suggested, and there is NOTHING there that leads me to believe that AJP has any support at all for the FireWire socket it has built into its portable PC!
If you want to double check, then you'll have to contact AJP in person.
My advice, though, is don't take any bets on my being wrong.
Bob C
[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 10-05-99).]
Apparently the AJP does have frivers for the firewire port. the tech guy remarked hat they had loads of enquiries. he admitted the people were thinkin of re-making Star-Wars.
According to him...If you just want top manipulate a few minutes (3-5) of video and audio, then it would be fine, but it is in no way a solution.
He mentioned something about codecs, but I didn't really understand!
I assume that premiere supports firewire with no probs?
Just tell the techie, "I want to edit lots of video footage from a DV camcorder, using Premiere 5".
Then ask, "Will the AJP let me control the camcorder and bring in DV footage from it via FireWire and send it back out to the DV camcorder via FireWire?"
Bob C
Cheers!
He remarked that as is, the pc will take in all the information from firewire, but will not know what to do with it. This, he says is software dependant, and I seem to remember reading that Prem 5 can do it.
What DV control do I need if I digitise the lot, edit and play out. I don't need the cam to 'shuttle' there and back do I?
I don't think Premiere will work without plug-ins specific to the PC.
The only way to check is probably to go along to a shop that sells the product, install Premiere and check if it works with your camcorder.
Bob C