ONTRACK Equine Software - Make a sound decision

EQUIPMENT

ONTRACKEQUINE uses standard digital technology, namely, miniDV camcoders and computers.

Your laptop or desktop computer must have a firewire port (4 pin or 6 pin) in order to use the built in video capture function using your digital camcorder. When choosing a camcorder make sure it is miniDV format with a DV out (firewire) port. Look for the miniDV logo.

Technical Notice - 2009
We have found that JVC cameras do not operate with our capture function when ONTRACKEQUINE is running on Windows Vista. No problem when same camera is used on Windows XP. Presently we have found no difficulties with other makes. If buying a new camcorder, please feel free to contact ONTRACK for advice.

The latest DVD or hard drive cameras are not currently suitable for use with the ONTRACK capture function. You can however import clips from a DVD (select *.VOB file).

Regards the specification of your laptop, of course, the faster the processor (e.g. core duo etc) and the more RAM (1GB, 2GB) the better. The ONTRACK software will run easily on any mid range laptop, for example, Windows XP: 1.5 GHz processor and above: 512MB RAM: 60GB hard drive: Firewire port. Problems with older laptops with less powerful processors will be during video capture and the playback of large video files. There is no minimum hard drive specification, the bigger the drive the more video files can be stored before you have to backup your files.

The software uses the QuickTime format (installed as standard within all versions of Microsoft Windows) for video playback and capture is performed via standard firewire connection.

ONTRACKEQUINE automatically adjusts its interface depending on the size of screen (including wide screens) it is displayed on. Screen heights of resolution 800 pixels and above are recommended although the software will fit into a 1024x768 screen. The bigger the screen the more thumbnails will be displayed.

If you are thinking of buying a new laptop for use with ONTRACKEQUINE and are unsure what to buy, please feel free to contact us on info@ontrackequine.com and we will advise you on what we have found to be the best make of laptops for the job.