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Ryan35  
#1 Posted : Saturday, September 26, 2015 8:45:31 PM(UTC)
Ryan35

Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 9/26/2015(UTC)
Posts: 1

Hello all!

Will a laptop's onboard firewire port in conjunction with an express-card firewire port work for a 2-camera HDV setup recording at 720p @ 30fps? I've had much success with my desktop running 3 cameras, but want to be more mobile.

I am looking to purchase this laptop:

It's a Lenovo Thinkpad T520
-128gb SSD
-Dual Core i5-2520M 2.5GHz
-Intel HD 3000 graphics
-6gb RAM
-1600x900 Resolution

LINK HERE:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/...=item567be85651#viTabs_0

I will also buy an express-card (old technology I know) with a firewire port built into it (they typically come with 2 ports but I will only use one).

LINK HERE:
http://tinyurl.com/nqtekm3

Should this be compatible for a 2-camera HDV setup? According to the minimum specifications for VMix it should be fine. However, I'm curious if both the express-card firewire running with the on-board firewire port would cause any issues.

Anyone have experience using an express-card in conjunction with the onboard firewire port successfully or know if this is a possible setup? HDV is still perfect for what I'm doing; keeps the budget low, and footage still looks great. Thanks!



-Ryan
IceStream  
#2 Posted : Monday, September 28, 2015 8:38:31 PM(UTC)
IceStream

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@ Ryan35

I can confirm that I have used a 'firewire' express card to capture a second firewire camera into a laptop, albeit it was SD as I have always had difficulty using HDV over firewire.
In my case it would seem that the firewire port and the express card port on the laptop did not share the same bus so there were no issues or conflicts with the cameras.
The biggest issue for me was that my laptop just wasn't powerful enough to do everything (Play/Record/Stream) reliably, but it worked (Intel Centrino Duo).
Your specs look considerably better than mine were, although the integrated graphics (Intel HD 3000) might be one of the weakest links for you (I believe vMix references Intel HD 4000 series):

http://www.vmix.com/soft.../supported-hardware.aspx

If you have no difficulty connecting HDV over 'Firewire' on your laptop I would think the express card should work fine for you.
Certainly worth a try as long as you are aware of potential performance issues if you stress out the laptop too much with effects, replays, videos, streaming and recording.


Ice
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