Firewire

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Level 1

16 points

Firewire

I have an iMac with Final Cut Pro Studio 2 and Avid Media Compser 3.5. I would like to be able to capture video from analog and digital formats, and to be able to playback HD to an HD monitor via firewire. Right now I capture MiniDV via firewire. Which Aja or other product would give me this capability with an iMac via firewire?

iMac 2.8GHZ INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 4GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM

Posted on Mar 30, 2009 7:17 AM

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Answer 1

Zebulun

Level 5

6,749 points

Mar 30, 2009 7:41 AM in response to D10S

The Aja IO HD. But then you're up against the woefully inadequate expansion capabilities of the iMac as you'll lose a storage avenue as the IO HD will require the full firewire bus for itself.

Depending upon your iMac, you may be able to use the Matrox MXO for a work around for hd viewing. I would urge you to investigate your iMac capabilities and match those to the MXO.

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Answer 2

D10S Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 30, 2009 8:01 AM in response to Zebulun

And I suppose you can't daisy chain the hard drives with an Aja so they can all use the one 800 firewire?

Would the Sony J-30 be an option? You can capture beta and digibeta footage via firewire. I don't think you'd need an Aja IO or such.

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Answer 3

Zebulun

Level 5

6,749 points

Mar 30, 2009 8:12 AM in response to D10S

You mentioned high definition in your first post. Beta and dbeta are not high definition. Yes, you could monitor via a J30 but only standard definition video.

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Answer 4

Mar 30, 2009 8:56 AM in response to D10S

I have a J-30 but I don't use it through Firewire because it only outputs DV in this mode. And if it's only going to output DV, you may as well pay a fraction of the cost for a DV deck.

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Answer 5

D10S Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 30, 2009 9:07 AM in response to Jon Chappell

I would be using SD and HD video for different projects. I mentioned the J30 as a solution for getting timecoded footage from beta and digibeta into the iMac. So that I could have deck control.

I will also for different projects be editing with possible HD footage. That is a separate issue. There I was wondering about how to best view the footage on and HD monitor using the iMac firewire 800.

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