Serato Video General Discussion

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 Serato Video General Discussion
Just Bought a New MP....Will run Video with it!
Talk about Serato Video and Video-SL.

Just Bought a New MP....Will run Video with it!

dj hes 6:33 PM - 16 October, 2008
ok ok, so after hours of searching and trying to decide on a MB or a MBP (new or old) I decided to get the New Macbook 2.4 model ($1599) with backlit keyboard, 250gb HD, and upgraded to 4gb ram $150). I liked the idea of pickin up an old MBP for $1350, but I really wanted the latest n greatest.


Pros:
- I like the idea of a 13" "mini-pro", portable is best for me.
- New video card should be more that enuf to handle Serato VSL, people were saying it is better than the video card in the old MBPs even...i will see how good it is soon!
- upgraded to 4gb ram, so integrated video card or not, I should be good.
- New "rat pad" (since its bigger than a mousepad lol) is quite nice! and to edit for photoshop this will be REALLY nice to be able to resize and flip.
- Got $100 off with education, along with a $100 rebate for a wireless printer (costing me $30)
- Easy swap out HD
- Keypad is ugly in black, but well built, just like the aluminum casing!


Cons:
- NO FIREWIRE....super gay, and I will have to rely on my usb for my external drive...not too happy about this and if I get one USB dropout, Im selling this on EBAY!
- new mini-display port, need a svideo adaptor, will come out soon I was told
- no deticated videocard, however, I understand for the MBP, you will have to reboot your Mac and select the deticated video card if you want to use it...and it consumes alot more battery power. and I bet users with a MBP will be using the intergrated card and not even know it...which means the new video card in the MB is probably powerful enuf.
- its not a MBP, which is sad, but I wanted to save the $500.
marknonsense1 9:47 PM - 16 October, 2008
Lol, I got to have the newest and greatest too but they look sick! You'd think the black and aluminum casing would be ugly but they're SICK WIT IT!

The only thing I didn't like is the Mousepad! I hate it. . . Haven't got one yet but played with it @ best buy!
dj hes 10:07 PM - 16 October, 2008
I have to say I actually like the mousepad, took like an hr to get used to, but its very functional, 2 finger tap = a right mouse click, thats easier that holding down the ctrl key and clicking.

I really dig the case tho, and it feels like I got a professional machine, unlike the previous macbooks
Rebelguy 10:13 PM - 16 October, 2008
Good luck.
krazyk 3:44 AM - 19 October, 2008
so how does the MacBook perform with serato running?
BriChi 1:30 AM - 20 October, 2008
Quote:
I understand for the MBP, you will have to reboot your Mac and select the deticated video card if you want to use it...and it consumes alot more battery power. and I bet users with a MBP will be using the intergrated card and not even know it...which means the new video card in the MB is probably powerful enuf.

thats kinda wrong I believe, the mbp actually has 2 dedicated video chips, either way you are running non shared video memory,

it runs the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT with 256MB or 512MB of GDDR3 memory, either way it is dedicated, not shared in the pro model, you have to re login if you want to swith to 9600 chip or vice versa

if you notice on the apple compare page here store.apple.com
the macbook and macbook air say shared memory but the pro's are dedicated
marknonsense1 2:34 AM - 20 October, 2008
DJ Hes, where's our macbook running video review.?
DJ Pimp 6:17 AM - 20 October, 2008
Quote:
DJ Hes, where's our macbook running video review.?


Yeah, bring it on Hes!!
DJ Dub Cowboy 12:40 PM - 20 October, 2008
must be working real good...
dj hes 3:50 PM - 20 October, 2008
Quote:
Quote:
I understand for the MBP, you will have to reboot your Mac and select the deticated video card if you want to use it...and it consumes alot more battery power. and I bet users with a MBP will be using the intergrated card and not even know it...which means the new video card in the MB is probably powerful enuf.

thats kinda wrong I believe, the mbp actually has 2 dedicated video chips, either way you are running non shared video memory,

it runs the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT with 256MB or 512MB of GDDR3 memory, either way it is dedicated, not shared in the pro model, you have to re login if you want to swith to 9600 chip or vice versa

if you notice on the apple compare page here store.apple.com
the macbook and macbook air say shared memory but the pro's are dedicated


If you read up, one video card is the same as on the new macbooks, it is integrated, the MBP's also have the dedicated video card but one is definitely integrated.

In further readings, it is suggested that the old MBP with its dedicated Video Card will be better than the new MB's. When I bought the MB tho the reps were telling me the opposite, that the new MB's video card might be better than the dedicated Video card on the old MBP.
dj hes 4:03 PM - 20 October, 2008
Quote:
Quote:
DJ Hes, where's our macbook running video review.?


Yeah, bring it on Hes!!


Sorry guys, I have been busy! I have done some testing, nothing crazy yet, I am hoping on using this live thursday night if I can find a VGA to Svideo adaptor.

So far, I have successfully used this at home, connected with my external 500gb HD through USB. I checked the video effects and it appears that ALL of the effects are available and look crisp! There were some on my old macbook that just didnt work, not the case with the new MB. I only got to run videos for about an hour, and I didnt have any usb dropouts, but the true test will be when I spin at the club.

Also, i am not sure on what settings I should be testing for this performance. The only thing I tried was the usb buffer moved all the way to the left. I didnt notice any performance difference either way.

The Videos took a sec to load, almost seemed a little slower than my old set up, but this could be because it was the first time I loaded the videos to this setup. (I didnt copy my scratch live folder over, I am trying to start from scratch (no pun) because of all the issues I have had with videos in itunes wont read the bpms.

I plan on running all of the videos external on this set up. more testing to come, but so far, runs great with no lag and all video effect options available.
itchie 1:14 AM - 21 October, 2008
if your running an external harddrive your gonna want to reformat it from fat32 (pc & mac) to Journal (mac only). You should probably buy a new external and format it to Journal then copy your videos to the new Journaled external. Fat32 and mac have been having some issues with load times and such. Loading, backups, and all that, are much quicker after reformating my harddrive to Journal. And as far as settings set your output quality to mid-high and throw on the melt transition. That seems to be point where you can see how far you can push it. If that's solid move of to high. With my mbp I can set it to mid-high with the melt transition and all is good, but if I set it to the highest output quality setting things aren't as smooth. Just a thought.
dj hes 3:14 PM - 21 October, 2008
Quote:
if your running an external harddrive your gonna want to reformat it from fat32 (pc & mac) to Journal (mac only). You should probably buy a new external and format it to Journal then copy your videos to the new Journaled external. Fat32 and mac have been having some issues with load times and such. Loading, backups, and all that, are much quicker after reformating my harddrive to Journal. And as far as settings set your output quality to mid-high and throw on the melt transition. That seems to be point where you can see how far you can push it. If that's solid move of to high. With my mbp I can set it to mid-high with the melt transition and all is good, but if I set it to the highest output quality setting things aren't as smooth. Just a thought.


Thats some pretty good advice itchie! I dont know much about formatting External Drives but Ill look into it. I have 2 externals right now, thinking about getting a new one, maybe even a self powered one like the little 320gb WD ones, just to have it.

Ill check the video settings like you suggested and see how it reacts. Currently I am trying to resort all my videos by genre and just keep em out of itunes.
FDW 3:28 PM - 21 October, 2008
FAT and Mac OS 10.5 are working great. There are only some problems with NTFS. So if you want to exchange Files between Mac and Windows, FAT is the best choice. If not, use the Mac-Filesystem!
e.rich 1:01 AM - 10 November, 2008
i just picked up the video sl and installed it on my new macbook (same one hes has) and it has been working flawlessly. i was using an external usb powered drive and had my audio buffer at 2 and video quality at the highest setting.

now i just have to learn how to play with videos ;-)
BriChi 1:27 AM - 10 November, 2008
nice e.rich, what are you using to output video, just trying to see the outcome of peoples video ins

I have the minidisplay to vga, and then a vga to s-video/composite box
FDW 3:09 AM - 10 November, 2008
I got the 2.0GHz version with only 2GB of RAM. Its OK, but not what I expected. Did not have that much time to test/tweak... I hope 4GB will push it a bit.
dj hes 7:21 PM - 10 November, 2008
Quote:
i just picked up the video sl and installed it on my new macbook (same one hes has) and it has been working flawlessly. i was using an external usb powered drive and had my audio buffer at 2 and video quality at the highest setting.

now i just have to learn how to play with videos ;-)


Niiiice man!
e.rich 8:33 PM - 13 November, 2008
minidisplay to VGA. looks fine. haven't had the courage to roll with it live @ my friday night spot--they only have a composite video input on the stage where i spin.
BriChi 9:50 PM - 13 November, 2008
i just did a couple of live gigs with the new macbook and video, worked great and looked good, i used mini display to vga and then used this box www.svideo.com to go to s-video
FDW 11:44 PM - 16 November, 2008
MacBook oder MacBook Pro?
FDW 11:44 PM - 16 November, 2008
"or" not "oder" ;)
marknonsense1 1:56 AM - 27 November, 2008
Yo hes. . . BTW I just got my projector last night and re-installed everything, even Leopard. . . Seems to work with s video like you said. . . I don't know why it wouldn't b4 but It's all good ( whatever ) I may of just had to much sh** on the HD.
dj hes 2:46 AM - 28 November, 2008
Good man! im glad you could get it to work ok...