REAL newbie...

cmoore.2002_ · Post by **cmoore.2002_** » Tue Dec 24, 2002 23:04

hello! a few questions...

currently I'm involved with a group in LA that hosts events. I'm responsible for the visuals, which, up to this point, has involved little more than some pre-rendered mpegs and a little shareware program called Light Alloy that allows me to create video playlists. We're ready to take the next step...we want to set up a live video production.

SO! I've been doing some research and resolume seems to be a great product for getting started.

NOW! My question (finally). I'm going to purchase a laptop, and I'm wondering if there is a particular video card that will be better than others? From what I've learned so far, it seems that most video set-ups require a couple of video cards...one to run the interface/controls, and one to take care of the output. Am I off base on this? What is the best configuration for a laptop? (PC, more than likely a Dell, lots of RAM). Do I need a fast hard drive as well? Will it require a SCSI drive? Sorry...I'm just coming at this from the very beginning...

Next...I've also been looking into getting a vidoe mixer...maybe a Roland...are any of these better than others? Any advice would be appreciated...

Looking forward to seeing what you guys use...

cmoore.2002
http://www.prototypelife.com

electric_ · Post by **electric_** » Thu Dec 26, 2002 15:06

hardrive speed is essential. i use an external firewire hd.
i use one video card (radeon) with twin monitor and tv out this seems to work fine.

kat_ · Post by **kat_** » Fri Dec 27, 2002 20:26

Videonics MX-Pro for video mixer works great for us. We mix on it's preview out, that way you can see what your doing in Resolume

Hard Drive performace is the biggest factor with Resolume, IMO. Most computers now have great graphics cards, so that is usually not a problem. Just use the S-video out to the MX-Pro.

All of our stuff is 640x480. Laptops would have a hard time running those clips. We use Ultra160 drives, and they are pushed to the max from the moment we start.

Laptops are great for portability, but when you're loading in screens, projectors, cables, etc - what dif does a tower and keyboard make?

naive_ · Post by **naive_** » Sun Jan 26, 2003 23:12

Im using a dell inspiron 8200 with a gf4 graphics card.
with laptops you'll have to look at what kinda graphics you'll get(seems u know this already as you zoomed in on dell). I'm running resolume with great results as long as i keep my comp. hygine, that is keeping my harddrive only semi-full and de-fraged(i'm getting a usb 2. harddrive for storage).

If i were to buy one today i wouldnt get a gf4 card. The performance is great but it gives u a black border around the s-vid output. this is really disturbing. check out radeon cards.
good luck!

ohh and for mixers check out rewiews on vjcentral.com if ya havent.

brett chila_ · Post by **brett chila_** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 02:51

couldnt agree more with what naive said,,, my radeon card works great. It has a great feature called theatre mode which will allow resolume & some media players to show only the video window on the seconday display & still see the interface on the primary display..