Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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Determining how large a computer (screen size) you want to lug around may help your choice. I have both a newer MacBook Pro (13″) and Dell XPS (15″). Both have i5 or i7 processors with 8GBs RAM. Neither one is optimal for editiong PP without external monitors. If you really wanted to go this route, and were going to spend most time at a desk and a little time elsewhere with it, then maybe even getting a laptop with a bigger screen would be worthwhile. For me, portability was key, and I use a desktop for most of my primary workstation work.When home, I usually fire up a desktop to work.
The good news is that whatever you want, you can get in today’s world with Adobe really at parity on both Mac and Windows. Windows support of eSata and Apples lack of support of USB 3 makes me use Windows more often than the Mac. There still seem to be more third party tools available for Mac though that’s changing fast.
I would look at Lenovo first, as their keyboards are really superb, and they are well engineered machines. HP is a close second, and Dell is ok, but I don’t think I’d buy a Dell laptop again as first choice. I’ve had a couple of problems with mine but Dell has done a great job repairing them.
Al
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A huge range of choices Sean. To adequately choose, you should do a lot of research. The Canon T2i or T3i is great, since this is a Canon forum, we are a bit biased. But I also have seen great stuff shot with a GH2. Sony’s new little cameras are also getting rave reviews.
Understand your goal and things will be easier. For example, if you need true camcorder ability (clean zoom and long running times) then a Panasonic or Canon camcorder is the better deal.
If you want to have interchangeable lenses, great depth of field, then go for the HDSLRs.
have fun.
Al
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Nigel, you might only have to do this for a few weeks while you see if it actually changes anything. Or if you have a second, identical card you can insert in your system, try that.
As to your question, I’ve been only using the built in multicamera editor. i didn’t want to change too many variables at once.
If this actually is an issue, and I’m not yet saying it for sure, then it normally means that Sony needs to figure out. Usually, they will need to actually reproduce this in their labs, and then take the results and find out who’s code is actually causing it.
It might be that the nvidia software isn’t meant to drive two monitors at once under these conditions, and if so, maybe it’s just as simple as Sony saying that the proper configuration for two monitors is two graphics cards, both the same make and model.
But to be clear, Apple handles this just fine in their OS, and I bet other software vendors (anyone having this happen on the same machine with Premiere?) also do.
It does make sense to use two graphics cards to drive two monitors. I just never thought that it was an issue as my card happily supports all the other functions of my dual monitors without crashes, for over a year now.
Al
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No. I don’t. Never have. Master audio track. four or five tracks of video.
Al
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Cole, you may be confusing two issues, maybe not. Motion tracking as a feature is only added as an add on from someone like Boris (I do believe there is nothing I can find in Vegas 11 that does it). I don’t have my copy of Premiere with me but I don’t believe that any of the major packages that edit actually ship that feature standard. So your comment about not liking AE is sort of a different thing than not liking Premiere or Vegas, for example. You can use AE to do motion tracking, or you can use a third party add on in Vegas or for that matter any other NLE. Either way, you buy something to get the job done, beyond the price of the core editing tool. If you already have Vegas, and don’t like trying to master AE (a very advanced tool), then look at buying Boris or one of those add on companies. If you are a student, there may be student pricing if you check with the company who’s addons you want to buy.
Al
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So make sure your project settings are right, and then try rendering to the “standard” Main Concept render engine. I’ve heard from others and experienced it myself sometime, that rendering to Windows Media Player is not a good option, though WMP can play the MP4 files that Vegas produces through M.C. just fine.
You might want to make sure you have the latest Windows Media Player installed. Just like with Quicktime, different versions of the player can give different results. Which is why it’s better to just output to mp4, IMHO. At least to start with.
You also didn’t mention if you are rendering to your C (OS) drive. Choppiness can occur as your computer tries to play a media file from the OS drive. Always render your stuff (or at least play it) from a secondary drive, so you don’t end up competing with the OS, which is doing all sorts of communication most of the time with the drive you have it loaded on (usually C). I have a 1 TB D drive that I render all videos to. I then move them to other RAID storage for safe keeping.
Your system by and large seems adequate, so perhaps it’s just finding the right combination of physical drive locations and the right codec. Good luck.
Al
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Thanks Roger. I’ll pass that onto Mark. He’s the consummate musician, having sung harmony since before he was 18 with the Brothers Four. It really shows. I’ve only heard a few bluegrass bands do as good with harmony.
We’ve gone through a lot of changes on his work in the last 18 months. From a simple single camera video taping of him in his cabin, to a full blown multi camera shoot with sound engineering in a theater setting, it has been great to have him as a client. He has been willing to experiment and work to make things better. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Al
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True enough. Especally when you add the issue of colored spots, like we had on this shoot. It will be interesting to see how the recent shoots with two xf305s went.
Al
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Jorge, I don’t understand and maybe the Sony MXF is somehow different. I shoot Canon MXF and I routinely go to the folder where my flles are, and dig down into the folder structure to them. They come in fine. Remember, MXF (on Canon anyway) has a folder for each file, and you dig into that to see the individual files.
On Canon, I can use a tool from Canon,called XFUtility, and EXPORT to MXF and it strips all the non essential files out and just dumps the MXF video files into one directory of my choosing. I assume that Sony has a utility that can do the same.
So does that clarify it? Are you going deep enough into the folder structure to see the actual video file?
By the way, I play Brazilian Choro music, and have a number of videos from performances by some of your countrymen, like Dudu Maia, up here at workshops outside Seattle. Check out https://vimeo.com/34117278
We love choro music up here! Tenha uma boa noite! (if my translation is right)
Al
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I think the answer isn’t necessarily “get better cameras” but “get the same camera”. The eye is very sensitive to these color shifts, and the best way to handle it is to get the same sensor shooting the same format of compression. Or at least that’s my take after trying a wide variety of gear and shooting environments. But…it’s all about budget, and what the client wants. There are always ways to work around it, let the client understand that at the price point, you’ll do the best you can. When it’s for a small format window on the Internet,you can get away with a lot more than on a bigger screen.
Al