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Nitris VS Adrenaline for HDV
I have a customer who purchased a Media Composer Nitris system a month ago. It works great for SD via component analog and HD via SDI but it has endless trouble with HDV via Firewire (1394). Originally it would not see see video and audio from the deck (Sony HVR-M25U). We solved the issue by hard setting the deck to HDV (instead of automatic), manually creating a deck control profile in composer and flushing the DV registers in the computer.
While they are finally getting signal, they still have capture issues. Every 3rd capture or so the audio disappears and the capture tool has to be re-started. Also, they often get invalid media errors on long captures.
The reseller says that this is the first Nitris system sold that is being used for HDV. I find this hard to believe.
Is anyone else having similar issues? Would changing to Adrenaline hardware solve these issues? If so, do new drives have to be installed for the different hardware?
Chris Paul
POV -
7 Replies
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I’m pretty sure that Symphony Nitris originally did not at all support capture over FireWire.
If one was to do it on Adrenaline, personally, I’d disconnect the BOB, and use the software as standalone and capture over FireWire.
After that, you should be fine on both, although the earlier versions of Symphony Nitris did not officially support thin raster formats.
I don’t think HDV is a fun codec to be working in. General consensus seem to be to either capture over (HD)SDI (from a HVR1500 deck) or transcode after FW capture. -
For the record, when I refer to Nitris, I mean classic Nitris, not DX.
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No the Symphony Nitris didn’t suport firewire.
get a Miranda’s HD-Bridge or one of the other boxes and just
go HD-SDI.Scott Cumbo
Editor
Broadway Video, NYC -
I think it’s safe to assume that Chris means Nitris DX because he said “purchased a Media Composer Nitris”. Media Composer was never meant to work with the Nitris BOB used with DS and Symphony.
Regarding the work flow I agree with Job ter Burg, run the signal down a HD-SDI pipe and capture using the DNxHD codec. HDV is a poor choice for editing.
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Adrenaline can’t play HD as funny as that sounds.
You can edit in low qiality mode and then export it to a tape as data if a glutten for punishment.
FCP handles it fine. So does premiere pro for that matter lol.I purchased adrenaline because it was advertised as being HDV native 3 years ago. To daye, it still is not.
This is why Avid is no longer the cream of the crop. They willingly passed that position down to apple.
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[Gary Hazen] “I think it’s safe to assume that Chris means Nitris DX because he said “purchased a Media Composer Nitris”. Media Composer was never meant to work with the Nitris BOB used with DS and Symphony.
Yes, it is a Nitris system
Regarding the work flow I agree with Job ter Burg, run the signal down a HD-SDI pipe and capture using the DNxHD codec. HDV is a poor choice for editing”
We were using a HDMI to SDI converter originally. We changed to native HDV because timecode in that configuration was erratic. We tried both the converter’s firewire to 422 deck control conversion as well as firewire deck control in both HDV and HDV to DV down convert modes with no success. The deck would often overrun it’s in point, even when the deck search speed was set to shuttlemax instead of FF/RW.
We were planning on editing in uncompressed timelines, just using HDV as a capture source. We are also bringing in SD footage into the same timellines.
We could buy an HDV deck with SDI and RS-422 but that is an extra $6,000. It has taken years to convince the system owner to upgrade to the Nitris- selling the extra expense to him would be tough, especially after the difficulties with a system that was supposed to be at least as reliable as his old Meridian.Chris Paul
POV -
Deck control over firewire is oftentimes unreliable. This isn’t specifically an Avid issue, I’ve worked with the HVR-M25 on FCP systems and had issues as well – the problem is the firewire protocol. From the posts above the 2 problems you seem to have are no RS-422 machine control and lack of an HD-SDI output from the deck. IMO, it would be worth renting a HVR-1500, which has RS-422 and HD-SDI out. Do a test to see if it resolves the problems. From there your client can determine if it’s feasible to rent a deck to handle ingest or if purchasing is worth another look. It sounds like you’re between a rock and a hard place with your client.
I haven’t had much time to sit down and really beat up the Nitris DX, but the time I have spent on the system I must say it is very fast. I’d say the response time is as fast or faster that the Meridien – which were very solid systems. Regarding stability, I don’t know yet. I need to sit down and push it hard for a few days to see if it hacks up a lung. We’ll see. Overall I think MC using Nitris DX is an outstanding editor. Miles ahead of the Adrenaline.
What’s driving the decision to edit uncompressed HD? I think Avid’s new hardware is optimized for DNxHD. Which is fine with me because it looks great and takes up the same amount of drive space as uncompressed SD.
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