[WaterTower]

Hey all, I will be traveling the world (Australia, Asia, etc)living out of a backpack for the next several months (starting in November) and I want to record movies and burn dvd's to send to friends and family back home, without having to apologize for dropped frames, out-of-sync audio, jaggies, etc. Simple enough, right?

Every $40 dollar spent on this mobile studio is another day I must trim from my trip, so I beg to ask...

Computer: $1799 on MacConnection.com
12" Rev C 1.33 GHz PB, 60 GB 4200 rpm HD, Superdrive, 768 MB RAM

Camera:$535 Buydig.com
Panasonic PV-GS120 3-CCD Mini-DV Camcorder

Software: Free
iLife '04

Is this gonna do the trick? I Want To Believe....

[Axo1ot1]

I've never seen the video that comes out of that camera, but it seems like a three chip camera for under $1k is wishful thinking. Either way, if you are confident in that camera I recommend you go through a reputable dealer (like B&H). These super-low price online merchnats may seem like a good deal, but they have a lot of drawbacks. I talk to people all the time about buying video gear because I buy a fair amount of video gear and I have bought it through no-name places like that and it just isn't worth it. B&H is generally the cheapest dealer that isn't sketchy. If you buy it through a company like that you might get a great deal and a good camera or you might wait a month and receive a gray marked camera with no serial number and then the company will disappear or stop taking your phone calls.

[WaterTower]

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
I've never seen the video that comes out of that camera, but it seems like a three chip camera for under $1k is wishful thinking.

Thanks for the concern...my choice of camera is based on the following (presumably reliable) websites:
dvspot.com
http://www.dvspot.com/reviews/panaso...ew/index.shtml
camcorderinfo.com
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/arc...php/f-110.html

I don't expect it to compete with the Canon GL/XL big boys, but for a compact first camera...

As for the price, it is $599.95 from B&H, which I deem comparable, and perhaps worth $70 for peace of mind.

Whaddya think of the mobile studio...does it have the specs I'll need?

[Axo1ot1]

the only thing I see as a potential issue is drive space/speed. For DV it's usually best to go with at least 5400 RPM on your hard drive. depending on how much video you shoot 60 could be enough, but you might be surprised at how quickly that fills up. I have 400 GB of offline storage that is totally filled up with basically 4 projects.

[WaterTower]

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
the only thing I see as a potential issue is drive space/speed. For DV it's usually best to go with at least 5400 RPM on your hard drive. depending on how much video you shoot 60 could be enough, but you might be surprised at how quickly that fills up. I have 400 GB of offline storage that is totally filled up with basically 4 projects.

I considered that, and its a downside to not building my own PB specs through apple, but the cost savings are aroun $600 so I just couldn't.

Instead, I am hoping to tinker for a couple months, then buy an external HD from LaCie or the like (60 GB, 5400 rpm, Fireware & USB 2.0, http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10023

Am I playing with fire expecting to use an external harddrive for all this?

[k2director]

I'd say:

1) The PowerBook is definitely nicer, but you can save $300 by going for an iBook, and it would handle video editing just fine. But the $300 is well spent on the PowerBook.

2) While a 5400 rpm drive is nice, it's not really required for DV editing on a fast machine. I did tons of editing recently on a Powerbook with a standard 4200 rpm drive. If you start adding a lot of real time effects in Final Cut, a faster drive could help, but it's not essential for editing.

3) I don't know a thing about that camera, but most cameras in that $$ range have totally crap mics. If sound is important to you, consider getting an additional mic (maybe $80-$100) which would attach to the hot shoe on the camera (assuming it has one), and drag power from the camera's battery.

4) Make sure to keep your tapes well labeled! On a laptop hard drive, you'll run out of space and have to delete older projects after you've burned them to DVD. But you may want to go back to the source footage later, and having a good labelling system for your tapes is essential.

Have fun!

[MountainMac]

Originally posted by k2director:
4) Make sure to keep your tapes well labeled! On a laptop hard drive, you'll run out of space and have to delete older projects after you've burned them to DVD. But you may want to go back to the source footage later, and having a good labelling system for your tapes is essential.

k2's right; I don't think you can overestimate the importance of organizing your tapes well, esp. if you're living out of a backpack. That having been said, you might be well served by buying a copy of Final Cut Express--with only 60 GB of HD space, you've got about 4 hours worth of storage space, once you factor in the space needed for apps and all that other stuff. The huge advantage of FCE over iMovie is that you can take footage offline but still retain the edits in your project file.

Also, make sure you don't turn FileVault on in your home directory, b/c I've had some serious problems capturing dv to my Docs folder with it on.

I also don't know anything about the specific camera you quoted, but I've found that you can't go wrong with either Sony or Canon. I've seen some footage shot on a 1-chip Canon Elura and was blown away by the quality of footage from such a low-cost camera.

MM

[k_munic]

60 gigs of hd space seems to me very small, just a very simple calculation:

your system is 1 gig big.
your prg folder is another gig big.
for burning a dvd it needs 15 - 20 gig of free hd space.
an hour of dv is 12 gigs
you want to edit this material - another 10 gigs.
probably you're making some photos on your trip (btw: pure envy )? ... add some gigs here.

so, from my pov, you have to be very disciplined and edit every single hour of tape right on time, then erase everything on your hd....

and: as a bagpacker you're buying a 3 ccd camcorder? i would look for a light wighted one...

don't forget the powerpacks