Adam Levine
Forum Replies Created
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[Fongaboo] “Some of them still have FCP 3 on them and Apple doesnt offer FCP 4.x in any form as an upgrade or standalone AFAIK.”
Try ebay
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If you’re looking at the k3 box, then maybe you should think about the Multibridge Extreme:
https://www.blackmagic-design.net/products/multibridge/
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[drollo] “softwares like Final Touch will work better with Kona3.”
Why do you say that?
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You’re welcome, and good luck with the purchase. Honestly, I think you good either way you go.
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[Jim Gregware] “Are you really getting simultaneous HD and downconverted SD output from the unit?”
Yes, all outputs operate at the same time. You can only choose one set (A+V) of inputs, however (e.g., SDI A+V; SDI V + AES A; etc.). I have my box set to output both HD and SD anamorphic simultaneously. The downconvert quality is excellent
[Jim Gregware] “Also are you using the DVI connector to monitor your HD output?”
Yes, looks great on both consumer monitors I’ve tried (Panasonic plasma 720 and Sony CRT 1080). Clients like the big plasma, even though the picture is much better on the CRT IMO. The CRT is in my living room now, gloriously TiVo-ing away. But it is not a solution for HD color correction, which should be done idealy on an HD reference CRT, which would cost more than the whole rest of the studio :(. Personally, I don’t like color correcting on a downconverted signal (into my Sony PVM-20L2), though strictly speaking at can be done.
[Jim Gregware] “Final question, does the MBE have any real time effects acceleration as well as Open GL acceleration?”
It uses is the same RT as FCP for most things, but the RT effects which BM designed pre-FCP 4 are still available. This is a much more limited set than the FCP ones, but I like the RT quality of BM’s color correction better, so I use the BM FX for that (easily changed through a setting in FCP)
[Jim Gregware] “I’m finding it very difficult to get good, accurate info on this unit. It bothers me that Black Magic sends me to local resellers in NYC for product info. They really have no idea what the MBE does. The “most reputable” of which told me it’s only an interface box which needs to be coupled with one of their capture cards to work.”
Oi. We have the same problem here in LA — I do a lot of research before I make large purchases and I invariably know more than the salesman I talk to, so I’ve just started ordering online and putting it together myself. I can only recommend you try Digital FilmTree here in LA, where you will usually get the straigt dope. Your guys in NYC were refering to the old Multibridge (i.e., not “Extreme”) which was a standalone convertor that could also hook up to the BM line of cards via its SDI in. The MBE can also be used that way, if you don’t hook up the PCIe card (it has a really neato-looking interface as a standalone that I’ve never used).
AFA tech support goes, I am on my 3rd BM product (original DL, DL Pro, MBE), and I have yet to have a problem with BMD hardware/software that stopped me from working. That being said, if you watch the boards here, the biggest problems these days seem to come from 1) Windows users; 2) Configuration problems (i.e. user error); 3) MBEs with pre-5.5 drivers (not an issue anymore). BMD seems pretty quick to respond to tech issues here at the Cow (though them being many time zomes away doesn’t always help), as well as jumping on established bugs quickly. My biggest problem in the past was trying to utilize all the digital audio outputs on my DL Pro last year, which was a bit of a sticky wicket. No one at BMD could fully answer my question, but one of the other Cow-boys here helped me out.
One final note towards how I use it: I’m working right now on a museum installation (multi-screen HD). The source material ranges from archival material to recent footge, and the range of formats has been everything from VHS to Panasonic Varicam HD and pretty much everything in between. Moreover, we’re onlining to Sony SR 444 RGB. So far, every deck I’ve brought in has hooked up with not problems
Anyway, the MBE does everything I would like it to do and then some. That being said, the Kona 3 with the breakout also seems like a great solution. Both companies make great products, IMO. I choose BM just because I’ve had great experiences with them since Jan 2002
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Can’t speak to the Kona, but I am delieriously happy with the MBE, which I’ve only had up and running a couple of weeks now. Well worth the money, given the profusion of formats I’ve had to deal with increasingly. Just this last 2 weeks, I had Beta SP, DigiBeta, HDCam and Sony SR CineAlta decks hooked up, working in everything from 8 bit NTSC to 10 bit 444 1080. Freaky.
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I went through the same issue a while back with my DL Pro, and the best solution I could come up with without chewing up a ton of dough was the Tascam TM-D1000 Digital Mixer, with the necessary upgrade board that adds extra digital inputs (+2 SPDIF for 3 total, +2 AES for 3 total, +1 TDIF for 2 total). It hasn’t been manufactured in a few of years, but I think I paid around $350 for the whole deal on EBay. Right now mine is hooked up to my new MBE, via 8-channel AES through a IF-AE8 (around $100 on eBay), and I use the SPDIF for my MBox I/O.
Same issue here: N American mixes on 1+2, M&Es on 3+4. With this setup, you can input 6 channels from your SPDIF, and switch monitoring between 3 sets of stereo outputs (6 channels total), which are analogue, or out 2 stereo pairs of either SPDIF or AES (4 channels total), or out either TDIF to some other device (16 channels total).
It’s totally overkill, but they’re pretty inexpensive, and it is like an audio swiss army knife. Read about it here:
https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?univpostid=751360&forumid=124&postid=751360&pview=t&archive=T
https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?univpostid=748202&forumid=124&postid=748614&pview=t&archive=T -
Precompose the sequence, then take it DOWN one pixel (i.e., +1; this will take care of both your footage and the gfx at once).
In the future, cut on a DV timeline, then Media Manage using the “Recompress” option (or recap via SDI). This will turn the media into the correct frame size, codec and placement
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All good here:
G5 Quad, OS X.46, MBE 5.51, FCS 5.1,
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[ellaella] “This would mean I’d have to go into each clip and change the motion settings one by one. To avoid that, could I export an FCP movie out of the 720×486 sequence, reimport it, and then bump the whole movie up by 1 y-axis pixel?”
Or just put the entire sequence in and change the motion setting on the sequence