MOJO & Betacam

[Murlee]

Hi, one of the remarkable changes that Avid has made with the mojo is the ability to input and output true component video. You will need an Avid approved cable for that…. This happens with a combination of Composite and S-Video connectors. And for DVC PRO input/Output, you will need to upgrade to the Avid Xpress Pro HD family. HTH

Dear David and other newcomers to this forum…. You have a facility to search posts that you could propably try and use before posting any new query… it helps in not clogging up space… All of us use that… HYUnderstand!

[Shane Ross]

This happens to be my BIG stumbling block with Xpress pro and Mojo.

How can it claim to get COMPONENT video into the system by the use of a cable that takes the component signal and passes it thru an s-video and Composite cable? Doesn’t that just convert the true component signal into a composite or s-video signal? Doesn’t that make a Mojo box, that costs $1700, a HUGELY overpriced ADVC-110? I mean, besides the realtime effects it adds to Xpress pro…

Just curious…been having a tough time with that darn cable and claim…

[Jon Zanone]

I don’t know that it necessarily ‘converts’ the signal to SVideo – after all, SVideo IS a form of component video. There was an explanation here when mojo came out, and I don’t remember the details (I’ve slept since then), but the bottom line was the yellow cable carried an important part of the signal and as a whole, it’s truly is component.

I do think Avid marketing missed the boat by insisting on consumer level connections to the mojo. They’d sell a boatload of Mojo’s if they’d add BNC and XLR connectors. How about SDI? Be still my beating heart….

Jon

[Kc Cardinal]

I have tried to find out as much info on this as possible, including a cow search, because I too have problems producing broadcast video through an s-video and composite cable. I did find on Avids web site a diagram of how to make a cable and what signal goes where. Although I would just buy Avids cable. It looks like true component video.

Can anyone who uses this format tell me how good it looks compared to a Adrenaline?

I do have another question dealing with MOJO. Not that I have a problem upgrading to AVXpro HD but how does the system even know that I am using Beta or DVCPRO going through an analogue cable. Would my best bet be to go out firewire?

Thanks for your help this is the best place in the world.

BTW The MOJO is perfect for Avid, it pushes clients to buy the Adrenaline. If Pro had better inputs they would sell less higher end products.

Have a great weekend,
David

[Icenitv]

You are right, is true component video in to Avid Pro thru Mojo. And for the cost it is a great quality editor. But it isn’t an online.

We have a suite hooked up to Beta SP and Digi decks. When you perform a digital cut using the component cables the signal to tape is affected by the Mojo. Blacks become dark green.

Digitising the footage back in and offering it up against the original video it is obvious that Avid Pro is not an online suite.

Having posted on Avid and elsewhere, the responses I have got range from ‘is the video out set to component(!)’ to ‘you have to ask yourself…can you live with it.’

It seems the green hue is a fault with Pro and Mojo, if you want to play out to SP or Digi component then adrenaline it is. Unless anyone here knows something I dont…

You ask whether to come out firewire – if you do then your video will be compressed 5:1 DV. But if you are mastering to DVCPRO then DV is the best quality you can get to the tape anyway and going through the analogue cable just puts more components in the way of the signal.

Andi

iceni | UK corporate video production and DVD design |

[Murlee]

Hi,
Avid does deliver broadcast quality output thro’ the mojo. And many stations around the world use mojo to output broadcast video. Yes., there is a slight difference in the picture quality between the source and the output from Mojo. But you do have the waveform and vectorscope monitors to analyse and correct the signal levels. It is indeed very nice to compare the Mojo with the Adrenaline, but it is not fair to do so with SO much of a cost difference. Hey guys! how often do you always get exceptionally good source material? The output naturally depends on that.

And, Realtime effects does matter and every one upgrades to a feature that allows that by paying extra.

Anyway., now that Avid has released the HDV support, lets go and check it out.

[Icenitv]

This is not an adrenaline does this, mojo does that rant – we use both.

I am just a bit disappointed that, when cutting and doing a simple grade the mojo outputs to calibrated monitor lovely uncompressed pictures. Then when you play out to tape, what you have on the timeline is not what comes out of the mojo box. The blacks have changed to dark greens. I can’t see anyway of using the internal scopes or waveform monitors to stop this, because it is only happening on digital cut.

Tweaking the edit deck is not an option either – what if this is an intermittent fault – what happens when we playout from a different suite?

Mojo and avid pro is not a cheap editor, and it is advertised as capable of 1:1 SD single stream cutting – which it does well if you take in to account extra time for rendering things like lower thirds and dissolves. I am surprised that there is so little about this major fault in the forums – i think it is a key feature of any editor that when ou play out the programme goes to tape as you have cut it, with no random colour treatment from the BOB.

Anyone experienced this problem?

iceni | UK corporate video production and DVD design |

https://www.iceni-tv.co.uk