Best reference book for serious HD?

[Jeremy Garchow]

Read your NLE manual.

Then read all the manuals for all of your video gear.

That should keep you busy 😉

Jeremy

[Jean-christophe Boulay]

That’s pretty much a description of my nights at home these days.

Sony sure know how to write a boring manual. Maybe the original Japanese is better?

Thanks for the suggestion, throw ’em at me if you have more.

JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com

[Fred Jodry]

The Author and Teacher, Peter Utz might have written an HD book before he retired. His previous books were just right for most people. Good at hopping between the technical stuff and the other world. His e- mail is something like, putz (at) att.net? You can look him up on the internet.

[Bob Zelin]

no matter how wonderful Mr. Utz is, this will not teach you how to work with an AJA Kona product.
And if you are an expert at AJA products, you will not be an expert at Blackmagic products, or MOTU, or Matrox. And if you become an expert at all 4 of these products, and Final Cut Pro, you will STILL not be an expert at all the different Sony VTR’s, as they all have a different menu structure. And then, you will have to learn how to import P2 footage, and then XDCam EX footage, and then RED footage. And NONE of this will be in any book from Mr. Utz or anyone else.

Everyone – every expert on every list has to READ THE MANUALS of all of these pieces of equipment to learn how to use them. And yes, you will make lots of mistakes, and fight your way out of these mistakes Then you will learn, and be an expert. I recently got asked to assist in building a ASI/MPEG2 encode and decode system for a TV station. This involves equipment from Harris and Tandberg. I dont’ even know what the letters ASI stand for – and I have been doing this for 30 years. So just like you, I will get the manuals of this equipement, and READ THEM, and make mistakes in the installation, and figure it out, suffering every step of the way. I am sick of reading new manuals, but this is part of the business, and it’s NEVER going to stop. Digital and HD is not making things easier for video professionals, and the learning process will be the same as it always has. Open the damn manual, and read it.

Bob Zelin

[Maurice Jansen]

Yes

RTFM is always a wise thing to start with. 😉
but for good background info you already mentioned a name
John Watkinson
i have a few books from him and some whitepapers.
the man is good but is going fast sometime’s.
and expect you to be of some competence.
next to that i have video dymistified from Keith Jack
very good reference book
and start browsing to Tektronix they have very good whitepapers.
and Quantel and surge for their handbook this is a good glossary.

greet
Maurice

People saying they don’t make mistake’s often make nothing at all!

[Mark Spano]

Amen. You make me want to print this out and stick it up on the fridge. This is the way I’ve learned anything I’ve ever learned, and the only surefire way to proceed in this business.

[Fred Jodry]

This is a little tongue in cheek but it tends to be true:
When not at work you tend to read and have the book, at work the manual. So wait, if you need a manual try going to a Hamfest and see if you can find one or one that`s similar. The same result for visiting TV stations. What I hate is when the manual is in the Library, the broken or unlearned equipment is on location, and the electricity and lighting crew doesn`t feel like going to location until there`s production activity. Recipe for doing things the slow way. Unfortunately it occured to me last night that it takes around 50 pieces of equipment to move latent vision, sound, and story from where it`s at to “between the headphones and behind the window”. It`s no wonder that someone is going to call me today over a piece of gear and ask, “$700?” and my answer will be, “No, much too much.” Not unless it`s glued on top of the seat of a 1923 Renault Model T or an International fire truck worth much more than it. Digital has made TV production go from easier than Radio to harder than Radio. Everywhere you have some analog equipment sucking it in you have to have an analog to digital converter next to it as well as a “cmos or bios” that tells a computer what it is, as well as a digital to analog converter to monitor or play it back. We know the rest. This stuff, especially the cmos, keeps us from easily building the endless equipment we need to get past the equipment storage. Try and find a piece of computer equipment that runs without software in an Operating System computer age. My Oscode Midi Box 2! Hi!

[Jean-christophe Boulay]

Words of wisdom, Bob. That’s basically how I developed my expertise in audio systems, so it’s no big change, then. I’ve been reading manual after manual and setting up some video equipment obstacle courses for myself and learning plenty. The VTR manual has been assimilated, the Kona’s is next and my girlfriend is starting to think I’m way too enthusiastic about this stuff.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, I now have a good reading queue.

JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com