[P1] iBook questions

[Joe Jones]

On Friday, Sep 5, 2003, at 00:03 Europe/London, George Slusher wrote:
>
> Agreed. Another major use of FireWire is for video transfer--digital
> camcorders, the better/faster video capture devices, and the like. 
> iMovie
> can actually control my Sony digital camcorder.

Indeed. The firewire bus carries standard machine control signals as 
well as video/audio and timecode data that make it a snap to batch 
digitise using any firewire equipped deck - we use a Sony DSR-11 
professional DVCAM deck for just this purpose with Final Cut Pro 3. 
This is one of the main reasons that DVCAM is catching on in pro video 
circles - it's so much easier to digitise without the need for very 
expensive capture hardware (like Betacam and DigiBetacam). It also 
allows for east integration of consumer cameras into the mix since all 
pro DVCAM decks can read both large and small format DV tapes.

>
> The new G5 Macs have about the ultimate in modern "connectivity"
> technology:
>
> 1 FireWire 800 port
> 2 FireWire 400 ports
> 3 USB 2 ports (plus 2 USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard)
> 10/100/1000T Ethernet
> v.92 modem
> Airport Extreme (optional)
> Bluetooth (optional)
> Optical digital audio in & out (Toslink)*
> Stereo audio in & out minijacks
> Headphone jack
>
> PLUS three PCI slots for whatever comes out next.
>
> * This is a major improvement that I haven't seen touted very much. It
> would seem that Macs should soon be able to import/export full
> surround-sound data.
>
You can carry pro logic data on a standard stereo output (it's encoded 
out of phase in the signal), but 5.1 Dolby Digital or the rival DTS 
isn't possible without either an internal decoder with 6 separate 
outputs or a coax or digital output like this.
The great thing about both SP/DIF in and outputs  on the G5 is that 
I'll be able to connect my MiniDisc deck to it for audio work (and to 
get my massive MD collection into mp3 format without having to use 
analogue in).

Joe