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Premier CS3 with AJA Xena… please help.
Hello
Is anybody successfully using Premier CS3 with an AJA Xena card??
My system freezes up repeatedly. I installed an AJA update about two weeks back. No luck.
I had the QuickTime update to 7.5.5 cause problems on other systems… perhaps premier too? This isnt as likely though because I tried using windows-based codecs also with no luck.
I have been using Premier at work for over two years now because my employer refuses to build a Mac network so I can run a better app (Media100HD)
My goal is to be able to edit HDV 720p material in Premier, and be able to get live preview/output via the Xena. Occasionally I have had
capture issues when the Windows system fails to recognize my JVC HDV tape deck despite making all of the correct settings. So it would be a good thing if I could faithfully use the Xena for capture.Anyone have any ideas I should be trying?
thanks a lot,
Max Federman
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5 Replies
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I came to Premiere from M100…I doubt you’re giving up much, if anything as far as “the app” goes. Currently, PPro is tough to beat for multiple formats I/O and available editing formats…
Anyway…
Keep in mind that the AJA Xena (HD? LH? 2K?) would need to ingest the HDV via analog component or SDI and transcode to handle the stuff “natively”. It’s not an HDV system. PPro has that by itself.
what exactly is your workflow and what particular step is making it crash? I use an LH everyday…it’s one of the more solid pieces of hardware I’ve ever used…
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,CPO, Digieffects
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Thank you very much for responding.
While I understand that the Xena product (in this case LH) is designed for HD-SDI and component analog capture; the AJA presets includes HDV presets which I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) are designed to facilitate live playback of the Program Timeline from Premier over either HD-SDI, component, live conversion to SD, etc.
As you may know , the above-mentioned competitor you had experience with is now an AJA-based system and allows you to output multiple streams with selectable resolution and aspect ratio. Please let me know if the same arrangement can be set up with Xena and Premier.
Premier worked like a charm before we began shooting HDV 720. As an SD system Premier by itself (without AJA) ran great and provided no cause for complaint.
The issue may be related to the HDV 720 format in general rather than a Premier or Xena problem, but here goes:
I have never been able to capture HDV material over firewire into Premier without the app freezing up at the end of capture. Then I am forced to close Premier with a “Program not Responding” dialog. Then I open the project again, and import the file from the capture bin, hoping that it isn’t a corrupt file. Even succesfully captured files take several minutes to import into the Project bin.
I am using an internally configured RAID in a 4-core Windows XP workstation with 8GB memory and 2TB storage.
CS3, Windows XP, and AJA updates are all current (unless AJA has made an update release in the past two weeks). I have carefully examined my deck settings and firmware updates are current.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post.
I really appreciate it.
Max Federman
However, these problems occur on another CS3 system that hads standard internal drives and no Xena card. -
Yes, the Xena cards work similarly in most applications as far as I know. I use the card for multiple outputs of HD/SD…analog and SDI…it works well for exactly that sort of work.
…and yes, it works for me that way in Premiere Pro.
I would say that if you’re experiencing the same issues with your camera on another non-Xena system, then you’ve eliminated the Xena from the possible cause list.
Does your camera work as an HDV ingest source under any circumstances?
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,CPO, Digieffects
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Max
Are you on XP 32? If so 8 gb of RAM is too much. Do a search on 3 gbs switch. -
Just for clarification,
…as you mentioned above, AJA is not an HDV system.
Unlike DV, HDV 720p does not allow for “round-trip” live playback from the NLE back into the HDV device via firewire. You can execute “Export to Tape” commands, but you must first go through a re-coding process before export. This is an HDV-format related flaw, rather than a PPro problem.
However, and please correct me if I’m wrong, the AJA HDV presets are designed to provide live playback (HD-SDI, SDI, Analog) of HDV Programs; but first you must import the HDV files, which are captured using standard PPro HDV capture.(?)
It appears the crashes were likely the product of a Windows OS-related problem. Once the issue is resolved I will be able to configure this system properly.
It would be very helpful to be able to live-output converted HDV 720p to Beta, GrassValley SDI server, hardware-based DVD-R deck, etc…
…in real time.Thank you for your help
Max
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