-
confused!!!!
I am still relatively new to the filming industry and am in the process of setting up a studio at my work. The company has just bought a new Apple mac pro 8 core, dont have all the specks on me right now but its pretty specked to the max. I will be using FCS and Squeeze.
Before i have always uploaded SD footage from the camera straight into FCP and edited then exported via compressor or squeeze depending on what i was requiring.
Now im working for a company i am really confused about some of the gear. I ideally want to have my set up with dual monitors which i can understand how to set up, but i want to also have a HD monitor and a good set of monitor speakers set up to.
I have been researching and have stumbled across matrox??? Im not 100% sure on what it does and am confused but is this the device that i need to link my monitor and also monitor speakers to FCP???
Please any help and explanation on how to get this desired set up would be really helpful.
I hope i make sense, oh i should also mention that i am planning to use a JVC GY-HM700 camera and record in full 1080p to SD cards.
Also can i use a standard SD card reader to import the HD video clips.
many thanks
mike
-
9 Replies
-
Matrox, AJA, Black Magic, and others, make transcoder boxes or breakout boxes for your editing system. They are the interface between your computer and things like decks as well as monitors, and they work in both directions. You can get this done as a card that fits inside the mac tower, or as an external box, but yeah, you really need one, if you want to be able to monitor externally.
It sounds like you’re recording AVCHD to flash memory cards in the JVC camcorder. Hopefully you already know that FInal Cut, in it’s present version anyway, can’t edit this format natively. You would have to first convert the AVCHD format to something like Final Cut’s Pro Res 422 format or the DVCProHD preset. Then Final Cut Studio will be able to edit and do other stuff like make DVD’s and export for the web, etc.
Also, you hopefully spec’d out at least a 2 terabyte RAID array for external AV scratch disk storage, because when you convert the AVCHD files to Pro Res for edit, the files become about 10 times larger in size.
-
Mark has you covered. The only thing I would add is this. Does the company have any legacy equipment like BetaCam SP? If so, look for a box or card that can handle the deck. Some boxes are simply for monitoring and you’ll be kicking yourself later if you need to control a deck that doesn’t have Firewire.
Ed
Avid and FCP Preditor
_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield -
Sorry, just noticed a similar question that will give you more info. It only a couple posts below yours.
Best I/O card for my setup
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/27/859386#859386
-
Everything Mark said is correct about the breakout boxes. I use the AJA Kona 3 and it’s pretty sweet. I monitor on an SD Sony Trinitron and am waiting on the day I can rock an HD monitor, but that card will handle the upgrade when it comes.
Mark did have 1 incorrect fact though.
I just wanted to add that I have the HM700 and it shoots to HCSD cards in native FCP format. Just drag and drop right into the timeline and it’s ready to edit. No converting necessary! 🙂 -
I stand corrected about that camera, and that is great news. I want the AF-100 to be able to do that!
-
We have a near exact setup with FCS on a dual 6-core Mac with the JVC HM700. The nice thing about the HM700 is it records in the Final Cut Pro format in the camera; no transcoding is required. However, if you are going to do a shoot and you know it’ll be used on a system other than Final Cut, you can change the record format in the camera to record in the Sony XDCAM codec. It makes the camera very versatile and and a good bang for the buck.
For monitoring externally. We have the AJA Kona LHi card with breakout box. I use an HP LP2475w computer monitor hooked up through HDMI along with an interlaced monitor hooked up through composite (the interlaced is there to ensure proper field order). It know the HP is just a computer monitor, but we don’t do extreme color grading or correction, it’s just there to see a picture. But we will be upgrading to a professional Panasonic monitor in the coming months. And we use M-Audio speakers hooked up through the audio monitor port on the breakout box.
But this is also so we can connect our analog tape decks. We still use Beta and DVCPRO. If you just need a solution to see a picture on a professional monitor, the Matrox MXO mini will do the trick. It’s inexpensive and provides a professional interface to view video. You can’t use that to connect analog devices. But if you’re just shooting for web or tapeless formats, then the MXO mini with a professional flat panel monitor is what you’ll need.
And the $15 card reader I bought at Staples works great for transferring media.
-
Cheers everyone, im starting to get the idea now on what i need. I kinda want to keep the costs down, so am looking into getting a Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro HDMI Video Capture Card, as main reason is to link my mac to an external HD TV. But would this allow me to link up to a basic sound mixer and SD/HD tape deck?
Or could any one recommend one that could do this and keep the price low??
Im off to the Broadcast video expo in london in a few weeks so will also have a chat to some of the people working for Matrox, AJA, Black magic etc.
Again thanks for your help you have been really helpful.
Mike Lavis
-
oh also i want to add a pair of M-Audio AV40 monitor speakers. Will this card allow this too?
mike
-
Yep. It should do the trick.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up