Andrew Rendell
Forum Replies Created
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Can I just interject with a clarification.
Panasonic’s “AVC Intra” is a subset of h.264 where the GOP is one frame, so the biggest problem with editing h.264, i.e., the long GOP stucture, doesn’t apply (and I believe Panasonic supply a plug in for AVC Intra that allows FCP to edit it without transcoding first although I haven’t used it yet myself).
AVCHD is another form of H.264 which does have the long GOP structure (and therefore isn’t easily editable).
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One of my clients uses Drobos for backups. I’ve only copied media between one that was already formatted and my editing raid (haven’t done any formatting or maintenance myself) but I’m told that Drobo have their own formatting utility (which is very good) and you shouldn’t ever use disk utility with them.
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Yeah.
The alternative to an external recorder would be to record sound on the camera and to do that you’d have to install something like Magic Lantern software to turn off the AGC, then use a Juicedlink or Beachtek mic preamp.
TBH as long as you do a sync clap, syncing up the sound from an external recorder isn’t a big deal, and there isn’t a huge difference in price between using an external recorder and an external mic preamp (until you look at the bigger, more versatile recorders, which is rather moot at the kind of budget you’ve posted).
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Basically the chips (of whatever variety) aren’t perfectly sensitive across the whole colour spectrum, so the channels need slightly different amounts of gain to get a properly colour balanced picture. The chips will also produce a certain amount of thermal noise, which is not related to the light that’s falling on them, so the channel which has the most gain in the camera will show the most noise.
There are a few places to get technical info. Digging into the Tektronix website is a good place to go (lots of useful techy stuff on there if you have a hunt), Quantel’s digital factbook has been a good glossary of terms for many years (google for it) but light on in-depth details.
Also google for “ITU-R bt.709”, which is the international spec for HD video (I believe the ITU is paywalled, but you can find pretty much everything you need to know without paying if you’re persistent). TBH, wikipedia has some good pages but (as with everything on wiki) it’s worth following up the external references as the wiki pages themselves are generally somewhat simplified.
If you’re really nerdy (in the best sense of the word) this place has many interesting diversions
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/papers/index.shtml and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/(don’t know why the first one isn’t coming up as a link – should be ok to copy &paste)
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It’s an inherent problem with frame based cutting. To avoid clicks completely you’d have to cut where the signal is at zero, not above or below it. That’s easy with sound editors that have sample accuracy cutting, but the chances are that the audio cutting point in any video editing software is at a “zero crossing point” is relatively slim.
Key framing the level with the pen tool is the best way around it, but it’s usually quicker to just throw a 1 frame dissolve on every audio cut.
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My 1st reaction is that using an SD monitor (even if it is a Grade 1) to assess an HD feed is relatively pointless. Not only is the resolution a quarter of an HD screen, you’d be looking at a down converted (processed) feed, not the actual source picture.
Also, have the monitors been aligned recently? Even slight variations in the set up can make an image look more or less noisy in the blacks.
I’d look up the Tektronix manuals for how to measure noise (there’s info on their web site if you haven’t got the books to hand). I think it varies depending on which scope(s) you’ve got.
[N.B. I wouldn’t say that “most” noise is in the blue channel but it is usually a bit worse in the blue channel than the others because the blue will have more gain in the camera head. But that’s a slighly pedantic point – paying particular attention to the blue channel is valid.]
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Have a read through the 1202’s manual. If you haven’t got one you can find it here https://www.mackie.com/pdf/archive/ms1202_om.pdf
The mic inputs are indeed mono. To achieve what I think you want, I would swap the mini-jack to XLR cable for a mini-jack to 2 x TRS one and connect the computer’s output to line input 5/6, which is a stereo input (if you have to use the XLR mic inputs you can pan the two inputs hard left and right and set the levels independently). Get a pair of mini-jack to 2 x phono cables and connect the PCM-D50 via the tape input and tape output on the 1202.
I would do some tests to make sure that the signal level going to the recorder worked properly without causing any distortion at the recorder’s input. (It’s possible that the mixer’s tape output might be too high for the recorder and you’ll need to adjust it somehow – you can buy attenuators if you need to.)
Connect the speakers to the main outputs of the 1202 by a pair of stereo jack cables [1/4″ TRS at each end or 1/4″ TRS to XLR] and set the volume control on the speakers for your preferred level.
This isn’t the only way you can wire up the 1202, but it’s probably the simplest way to do what you’re asking.
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+1 to everything Shane writes.
I’ve delivered files over the last couple of years for a similar thing (my client makes several different versions on a PC) and what has worked well has been H.264 video, but stepping into the settings and putting the quality up to highest, and .aac at 384kbps for the audio. Recodes for that to make flash (for the web), standard def DVDs, etc, have been fine.
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I’ve never really got on with trackballs, but I do like a tablet/pen in combination with keyboard shortcuts.
Back in the linear days I far preferred the qwerty keyboard over the “dedicated” kind for the Sony 9000/9100 controllers.
Paltex Elite – aaaaaargh….
Typing command lines in RT11 to manipulate an EDL – noooooooooooo….
In the earlier days of Avid they had a chunk of Steenbeck controller in a box which was nice, but TBH I thought that I was faster with a mouse in my right hand and my left hand doing keyboard commands so I didn’t use it much.