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Very Frustrating
I rented out our 1200A to someone for two weeks. Beforehand, I said that it has the firewire card but not the HD-SDI card. I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about. He said it was Varicam footage and they were using Final Cut.
AFter he picked it up, the next day he called and said the client couldn’t connect it to his Kona and said that high-definition couldn’t be transferred over firewire. I said that it could. Then he said the quality would suffer. I explained to him that it would not, and that it’s identical to the format on the tape. Like copying from a disk drive.
The day after that, he called and said he needed to return it and was getting a deck that has SDI because the client wants to edit in uncompressed. I explained that they could use Media Manager to convert it to uncompressed, and the end result would be identical quality. He had already made up his mind and wanted to use his Kona card. I said I have a Kona card too but what makes that deck so great is that I don’t need it for capturing.
Very annoying.
Sean
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6 Replies
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Unfortunately in a high-tech business some of the duties involve customer education. And some of that education is at the elementary level.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
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[Sean ONeil] “The day after that, he called and said he needed to return it and was getting a deck that has SDI because the client wants to edit in uncompressed. I explained that they could use Media Manager to convert it to uncompressed, and the end result would be identical quality.”
Actually, I’m not sure about that.
I own a 1200A as well and would never bring in footage via Firewire and then use Media Manager to convert the footage. If I’m working in Uncompressed, then I use HD-SDI via the Kona 2. If I’m working in DVCPro HD, then I use Firewire.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[Sean ONeil] “he needed to return it {1200a} and was getting a deck that has SDI because the client wants to edit in uncompressed. I explained that they could use Media Manager to convert it to uncompressed, and the end result would be identical quality.”
not in my experience,
Apple’s software conversion of DVCPROHD material is not what it could be and this may actually cause your client some issues for delivery, depending on the material and delivery method.Consider too, some of the conversion functions of the 1200a deck are not active except when both the HDSDI and FW boards are installed. Maybe they needed something that you did not have in your config.
Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA -
Sean,
The drawback to being in the rental business is you have to buy the majority of option cards to fulfill the numerous client requirements which fit their specific workflow not yours.
Consider how much rental income you lost on this job and potential future jobs and weight the cost of the HD-SDI card to see if it would be worth the ROI (return on investment).Not everyone will agree that using firewire for capture will fit their technical specifications.
I personally will not use it for vtr control because it is so slow compared to RS-422 control.
One last note did you check the hours meters before and after the vtr left to verify the client did not use the deck non stop and possibly captured via firewire only to return it complaining that it would not work for their needs in effect getting a free rental. Such a tactic is typical of the “hollywood shuffle”.
Tony Salgado
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[tony salgado] “One last note did you check the hours meters before and after the vtr left to verify the client did not use the deck non stop and possibly captured via firewire only to return it complaining that it would not work for their needs in effect getting a free rental. Such a tactic is typical of the “hollywood shuffle”.”
Excellent point Tony….
one reason I do not rent my gear.
Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA -
Thanks for the responses.
They actually paid for the days that they had it, so it’s no problem there. We’re not really in the rental business. A DP we work with told someone we had that deck and we rented it to them for a good deal. But we’ll definately get the HD-SDI card if we rent it out more.
I don’t quite understand how Final Cut, After Effects, or any other Quicktime app cannot convert DVCPro HD into Uncompressed HD properly and with perfectly lossless quality. And I don’t understand why the 1200A’s SDI board would do a better job.
I understand converting standard-def DV 4:1:1 to Uncompressed 4:2:2 is an issue because of the color resampling. But with DVCPro HD, this is not the case as far as I know. Maybe Gramme can chime in and explain what the deal is.
Sean
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