At The Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, FL, Duffin McGee works as a prime contractor to Boeing (under his company “Indyne”), where he uses the Mobile Studios MS7-DV system to produce videos about the international space station. These videos are shared with NASA personnel around country. He also uses it to document space shuttle launches. McGee says the system has been ideal for training videos and capturing executives in their office. He typically uses two JVC DYV-5000 cameras and sometimes a third Canon XL-1 with the system, which he says has saved his staff hours of time in production. “We don’t have to waste time digitizing footage into the computer’s hard drive,” says McGee. “With the MS7-DV, we capture native DV directly into the computer and output it (via FireWire connection) to one of four edit systems-two Final Cut Pro and two Adobe Premiere—and edit on the fly.”

McGee says the system’s price helps keep costs down, especially when he considers what the cost of renting or purchasing separate pieces of gear might be. Based on the regularity of his work, he thinks he’s paid for it in a little under a year. He also says that by opting for a pre-configured system, he’s eliminated a lot of the problems that come with setting up a traditional studio piece by piece.