AJA I/O with FCP

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Jim –
You say that you want this system idiot proof, however, it appears that you are not trained on how to use the AJA I/O. Please don’t state that you are a PC person, as ANY new product has different setup menu’s, including the Media 100 844x, as opposed to a standard Media 100i.

First you should not be using a consumer JVC prosumer switcher for this application. You are a pro – with an expensive 844x, so you certainly can afford to purchase either a professional patch bay, or a professional small component video router, from Kramer, Sigma Electronics, or countless others that have BNC connectors on the rear of the unit, and use active electronics to switch the component signal, and not a passive switch.

Second, your problem is not a computer problem, your problem is simply that you need to go into your Audio/Video settings, go to your capture presets tab, and select what input you want. You can also simply click on the highlighted preset (the one with the check mark), and double click on this – in this new menu, you will be able to select between SDI, component, S-Video and composite. The unit is only displaying the SDI signal, because the selection in the Audio/Video Settings>Capture Presets is selected to SDI. Switch to component, and everything will start to work.

There is NOTHING strange about using the DSR-45 in component – this is the way you SHOULD be using it.

You own excellent equipment. You should invest in a small patch system, so you can use your composite signals, like your UVW-1600 Out 2 (Super) to assign this TC window signal to assorted VHS machines, etc. and not use this to go into the AJA I/O for signal routing. I cannot excuse you for the JVC prosumer toy switcher, as you obviously have spend quite a fortune on expensive VTR’s and editing equipment. Finish the job – buy a nice professional component router, and get a freelance editor in there to train YOU on how to setup the AJA I/O, and get used to the menus.

Of course, AJA will be happy to brief you on the Audio/Video settings menus’ as well.

Bob Zelin

[Jim Krause]

Yeah- what he said…

And to go on: If you go to FCP’s Easy Setup, be sure to have “show all” checked in order to see the “AJA NTSC US Betacam” ….to whatever codec you are capturing to or editing with.

Also check to make sure you have your genock/blackburst hooked up correctly. You should be feeding it to your VTRs and AJA IO.

AJA Tech support will surely help. If for some reason you need hands-on guidance , drop me a line. Coincidentally I’ll be through Burlington in mid July.

Best

– Jim

[Jim Sanders]

Thank you Bob for the excellent advice. I do not like to make excuses but I have spent $200K for the on-line suite (setup with (2) Media 100-844x systems) and it was very hard to convince our leadership to acquisition hardware for the MAC G5 that we had kicking around. I had to go low budget purchasing the UVW on e-bay and borrowing the DVD-7400 from a trade show asset (we did purchase the DSR-45 brand new). I will take your advise and purchase an active switcher & Jim Kruse’s advise on genlock /blackburst.
I am extremely busy in the on-line suite and I do not have the training on FCP. the FCP workstation is for sub-contractors (SC) and Interns and I was hoping that one of the SC’s would be an expert but the ones I use only use (1) firewire input.
Nobody nows of an AJA / FCP expert in the New England area (Burlington, Vermont)?

Thank You and I will look at Sigma Ele.& Krammer active switchers.

[Jim Sanders]

Thanks Jim, Could you please e-mail me with your contact info. I would like to talk to you in more detail and maybe scedule a visit while you are in the area. My e-mail address is james.a.sanders@gdatp.com.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

[Steve Covello]

Can I chime in here an whine a little bit? Nothing personal to you, seriously, but as a business owner and video editing professional for the past 15 years, I have grown more and more frustrated by the loss of business due to in-house setups that clients are building to bypass having to go to an outside professional. But then suddenly, these companies realize that operating an editing system ain’t the same as having a dubbing rack in the corner and get pissed off because they spent ‘all this money’ [you could’ve had a fully online capable editing system for about $25k instead of $200k, but that’s another topic] and ‘it doesn’t work’ or it’s too complicated. This is happening even at some of the biggest corporations in the world, like Viacom and their numerous TV channels.

The system you describe is about two steps short of the finish line and you should bring in a consultant a la Bob Zelin to get you squared away. And depending on freelance editors/interns to know how to engineer your system is a high risk I would not be willing to take — the talent pool on that varies greatly. And frankly, it’s a little bit insulting to me as professional to think that someone bought a rather complex editing system and just simply expected an intern or freelancer to be able to drive it. What am I, a monkey?!! Doesn’t anyone value professional video services?

I don’t know when this happened but somehow hiring an outside professional video editing editing is curiously not considered as vital as hiring a good plumber, electrician, surgeon, dentist, whatever when those services are needed. Is it because you CAN buy this equipment right off the shelf from one of the dozens of duplicate catalogs I’m sure you get in the mail every week? I would bet a nickel that most in-house editing systems are bloody mess that no one wants to deal with and are mostly in a technical shamble with old project junk piling up in every corner and hard drive, and that no one wants to take responsibility for it.

Well call me a sourpuss but I have no sympathy. For $250k plus all the freelance fees you’ve spent, you could’ve probably sustained one or two or more small editing businesses in your area without the headache or overhead costs. The work would be better {presumably} and you would’ve helped sustain a viable professional lifestyle for a few people. But now you have to spend MORE money and you STILL reluctantly have figure out how to use the system. Again, this is not a personal criticism, but a comment on a trend that I see more often these past few years and it’s killing the industry, and I’m using your situation merely as an example.

Alright, I’m done. That was one ugly rant that I’m not proud of but I felt breached a taboo subject that needs to be voiced.

steve covello
double wide post – ny

[Jim Sanders]

Steve, I respect your point of view and agree with you (a little). My situation is very complicated and without saying much (and taking an hour of everybodies time), some of the complications are bureaucracy, politics, 2nd and third party middlemen (sub-contracted engineering). Believe me I understand 100% what your are talking about.

One of the most important things I forgot to mention is that the system has worked for over three months and out of haste & having no time to trouble shoot the system thoroughly I posted the initial help request (not thinking I would stir up a hornets nest – I am a new humbled Creative Cow user).
I have now brought the system back on-line and it is working fine with the hardware I have.

I have been in the corporate world for over ten years and I designed the $200K suite and it is very useful for the productions we create (We have never sub-contracted post-production work until just recently). We have had an in-house system for over 30 years.
I do feel I have to address this… “The work would be better {presumably} and you would’ve helped sustain a viable professional lifestyle for a few people”.
The video commuinty in our area is thriving and I send a lot of professionals out on some very high end budget shoots. There is nobody complaining around here.

I will not call you a sourpuss because, I respect your views from the outside looking in But, when you look in here you will see over 50 years experience between some very talented producers and post-production professionals and not what you described as bundles of old equipment kicking around and buying stuff out of catalogs.

Peace Out