Panasonic AJ-D93 and AJD95 DVCPRO50 tape decks

[Jerry Murrel]

I have a Panasonic SDX-900 camera with the SDI option, and am using Final Cut Studio

on a Macintosh G5 (last generation Power PC).

 

Several Panasonic DVCPRO50 Standard Def NTSC tape decks are being offered on eBay

with the SDI option included, but without IEEE 1394 (Firewire) Output.

 

If I were to buy one, what additional equipment would I need to connect the deck

to my PowerPC Mac G5? Is there a reasonably priced breakout box avaiable to interface

the deck with a Mac G5? Or am I better off finding a deck with the Firewire output

option included?

 

I will eventually purchase an AJA Ki Pro, but want the DVCPRO50 tape deck for archival

purposes.

 

-Jerry Murrel

DP, Little Rock

[Saul Rodgar]

The biggest problem you will have is that the more affordable SDI-ready break out boxes are PCI based. However, the G5s have the older PCI kind, while Mac Pros have the new kind, called PCIe, which is incompatible with older PCI technology. Obviously, AJA, Matrox, Blackmagic Design, et al, are now using PCIe for all their (post 2006) PCI-based products.

 

So that leaves you with very limited options for your G5, like choosing an older, used PCI card version of a mid-level AJA Kona LHe or similar I/O card or buying a more expensive Firewire 800 based box (Kona IO HD) or obviously, upgrading to a newer PCIe tower.

 

I'd say you could get a USB3 based capture card, like the new Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Pro system, but that would necessitate finding a non PCIe USB3 card for your tower, which sounds unlikely, even if it were compatible with your tower's older version of OSX, Power PC computers reach the OS glass ceiling at 10.4.4 or something like that.

 

Or maybe you can wait until Mac computers are coming out with USB3 ports, sometime next year maybe?

 

I'm seriously considering getting a PC tower and Premiere / lower end Avid or something similar at this point and ditching Apple, or at the very least owning an HD ready tower PC in addition to my Apple computers. On the plus side, Premiere handles anything from MXF to RED files natively.

 

Quite honestly, while I appreciate their hardware / software stability, on the flip side, I am definitely and finally getting sick and tired of Apple's "walled garden" approach to building and designing computers.

[Saul Rodgar]

 

 

I'd say you could get a USB3 based capture card, like the new Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Pro system, but that would necessitate finding a non PCIe USB3 card for your tower, which sounds unlikely, even if it were compatible with your tower's older version of OSX, Power PC computers reach the OS glass ceiling at 10.4.4 or something like that.

 

 

 

Actually, because there aren't any USB3 MACS released as of yet, the UltraStudio Pro is only available for Windows.