Dell UK laptop - feedback for a newbie please :)

[crimesforminds]

Hi All

I am thinking about getting a laptop primarily for digital djing - mix vibes / serato etc..
However I am also curious to experiment with live visuals - from what I can gather the main issue with PC laptops and resolume is to not get an integrated video card - there are a couple of new Dell options wich have a "512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 545v"....

Is this suitable for VJing for a newbie ? I mean is it enough to get going and really get a feel for things, or would it be like trying to walk through quicksand !

What about the output side of things ? Is a simple tv out ok to get up and running ?

Any feedback would be really appreciated - these models have a sale on i think till the 5th may !

And I am sure that this kind of post happens all the time - so please let me know if I am in the wrong place

Thanks

[twitchdoktor]

from one n00b to another, my build is with ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 - 512MB, works pretty flash with avenue, at least for my current needs! keep in mind processor speed and RAM. if you're bottlenecking going from the processor to the graphics card, the gfx speed won't really matter will it? of course, dj programs are pretty demanding for processor/memory too so if you're already meeting or surpassing spec there, you're likely okay.

[crimesforminds]

Thanks for the feedback twitchdoktor, glad to know I was kinda on the right track ! we shall see of course

The DJ side is a lot less demanding that the music production side (not multitracked etc etc), but it seems to be a beefy enough laptop, at least for now.

First few steps will be getting some media, I guess it will be open source at first - I will see what library items are available as well.

Thanks again !

[crimesforminds]

hah, not quite the start I had hoped for "Your videocard has unsufficient spec to run this application"........
512 MB ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 545v

Any ideas ? new drivers maybe ?



Thank goodness new drivers have fixed the issue

[bart]

Thank goodness new drivers have fixed the issue

Pffewww!

[crimesforminds]

Hi All !!

ok - so its the weekend and I am starting to play with Resolume....... I wanted to rip from DVD some small clips and mix / loop / play with them in Resolume

Scuppered at the first hurdle ! - I used http://www.imtoo.com/dvd-ripper.html to rip some small clips as AVI - and by playing with the "Video Codecs" I have progressivly worse results

Mostly I can only only import into Resolume the audio from the track ! No video !

I could not find the codec DXV in the selection to rip with (or is this only for playback in Resolume ! )

Any way - any pointers on workflow to get started would be greatly appreciated !!!

Thanks

[Joris]

Hey Crimesforminds!

This indeed is a codec issue, and converting to DXV should solve it. Some applications cannot find the DXV codec, or simply don't allow you to change settings. After ripping you can use another conversion program to convert the clips to the DXV codec. Personally I use MPEG Streamclip, but a search for conversion programs here or on VJForums.com should yield a lot of them as well.

Joris

[crimesforminds]

Hi goto10 !

Thanks for the tip ! Cant wait to get home from work and give that another shot - thanks for that !

What would you suggest that the initial format that is ripped from dvd should be before encoding to DXV etc ?

Thanks for your helps so far everyone !

Admin - is there a better place for this thread ? a newbie / basic technique section ?

Thanks guys

[Joris]

What would you suggest that the initial format that is ripped from dvd should be before encoding to DXV etc ?

Ideally you'll want to compress it as few times as possible. In most cases, MPEG Streamclip will let you go directly from the DVD to DXV. If that's not an option, most DVD rippers give excellent quality when going to MPEG4 (it's just a shame that MPEG4 is terrible for VJ'ing). Remember that In the end it's about what looks acceptable to you!

Admin - is there a better place for this thread ? a newbie / basic technique section ?

Well, the thread started out as hardware related, so I think we're good here

[crimesforminds]

Many thanks goto10 !!

I am now able to get clips from dvd into resolume Only one slight issue however - I can rip a chapter from dvd into .mov or .avi using Streamclip, but I cannot choose/find the DXV codec..... I have been using an Invideo codec that I installed. What would the name show up as in Streamclip for the DXV codec?

As small issue at the moment as this will allow me to get a feel for things - Many more things to investigate creativly now.

What would you reccomend as a freeware tool for editing clips, for example chopping a 5 min chapter down to 30 sec loop ?

Again thanks !!!