[Andrew Stone]

Thanks Chris! That is a huge help.

Guess I will be ordering a 6 to 8 pin molex cable today to have at the ready should the power supply be short on cabling.

That thread is also a cautionary tale to check the specs on the power supply before you buy it. Most online computer places will list the number and type of molex and/or PCI-E connectors.

I’m getting a 1050w Corsair power supply that is obviously designed for the extreme gamer types that would have a array of heavy duty graphic cards, so it has lots of power cables coming out of it. I will still need to buy a 6 to 8 pin cable though.

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Hi Mike,

That is great news. I parked my ATI 5770 last summer when I moved to an old GeForce 8800 GT that runs CUDA to get PP CS 5.5 to work with Mercury Playback.

Sounds like I will be able to use the 5770 again in my Mac Pro 2.66 (version 1,1) which it sounds like this is the machine you have. Too bad there is a caveat though.

Thanks!

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Thanks Erik for the reply. I am asking if someone who has an ATI 5770 and Premiere Pro CS6 installed has tried to text file change that allows a bunch of uncertified Quadro cards and now some ATI cards to work with Mercury Playback Engine.

Not looking for editorial comments at this point.

Thanks.

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Scott,

How are you hooking into the unit? Are you using the HD-SDI port or otherwise. Please be specific.

There have been other complaints of dropped frames. The developers need to have specifics to track down problems. CPU over utilization seems like it could be the issue but not necessarily and it could be one of several issues causing the dropped frames.

Can you drop down to 32 bit mode on your Windows machine? I wonder if the 64 bit operation is contributing to the problem.

So far I haven’t had dropped frames but I haven’t been doing long transcodes and my input is always via HD-SDI. My target machine is a Mac.

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Right tool for the job says this is a Steadicam job. Full stop.

You should pony up the dough and hire a local Steadicam Operator who is either in film school or just out. You want one with a rig that can hold 10 to 15 pounds.

You should pay them at least $1200 probably close to $1500 per day for a rig that can hold a package of that weight (regardless of whether it is a rehearsal or shoot day). Don’t ask them to do it for pizza. It’s an expensive trade and takes a lot of training & skill to do it.

Tips, be super organized with your shot list. Then listen to the Operator’s suggestions as they will have a more instinctive understanding of how to move out of different camera modes than someone who doesn’t operate a Steadicam.

I would suggest using as light a camera as possible. Forget about dressing up the camera with rails, mattebox, etc… unless you absolutely have to. 3 to 4 extra pounds on a rig for that long of a shot will kill the Operator. EX3 is doable on it’s own.

I’ve seen people with older Sony Z1U and an HVX200 on Steadicam Pilot rigs who can comfortably shoot for hours on end but the lighter the rig the more “flighty” it gets.

You could go the Canon 7D or 5DmkII route as far as weight goes but that has inherent workflow issues which I am sure you know about.

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Here are the links to the beta versions for Macintosh of the apps with the links “fixed”.

Desktop Video (beta as of August 10th):
https://seeds.blackmagic-design.com/H264ProRecorder/DesktopVideo_8.2.1rc3.dmg.zip

Media Express (beta as of August 10th):
https://seeds.blackmagic-design.com/H264ProRecorder/MediaExpress_2.4rc45.dmg.zip

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Yes Mac versions of the apps please!

-Andrew
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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Guess I am going to have to phone tech support to get on this “beta list”. Really shouldn’t have to do this… simply post beta builds on the support website, in my view.

One thing that struck me as soon as I began using the Media Express app is fixed sizing of the UI into the compact or full screen size which actually into full screen as it goes “off screen” on 15″ laptops. The fixed sizing of the UI particularly the preview size destines the app to be a resource hog. It seems to me there is NO reason why the user shouldn’t have the ability to resize the preview. I understand the reasoning behind not being able to disable it as there is no proof positive indicator that things are recording as they should, however, if it is known the preview is sucking up CPU cycles and the app is far from optimized why aren’t you allowing the ability to get the preview down to a postage stamp size to free up the CPU for the actual encoding or decoding?

-Andrew

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Markertek has a whole whack of unbalanced to balanced audio converters. Musicians use what they call DI boxes.

Here is one that is good bang for the buck. Good thing to have in your arsenal…

https://www.markertek.com/Audio-Equipment/Audio-Processing/Audio-Hum-Noise-Eliminators/Applied-Research-Technology/CLEANBOX-PRO.xhtml?ART-CLEANBOXPRO

If you want more choice here is a search listing from the same site…

https://audio-video-supply.markertek.com/broadcasting/Balanced%20To%20Unbalanced%20Audio%20Converter

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Steadicam & Camera Operator

[Andrew Stone]

Thanks again for your input Dennis.

I have built many a PC over the past 15 years with exception of the last 4 when I made a conscious decision to spend more time using creative tools than being singularly obsessed with the underlying technology and trying out every Linux and BSD distribution that is out there. So my preference would be building a PC but I am out of the loop on the Intel i7 processors and the requisite motherboards required. Also being a Final Cut/Apple Color user until 5 weeks ago I was oblivious to the CUDA technology and the NVIDIA offerings in this area.

I’ve used largely ASUS mobos but I’ve used some others from other manufacturers.

Generally speaking I don’t cheap out on motherboards as, in the scheme of things and considering what they achieve computationally, I think they are a downright bargain. I have poked around a couple of times looking for ones that have incorporated the Thunderbolt (Light Peak) technology that Intel pioneered with Apple but have yet to find any decent ones, other than bolt-on/afterthought ones that utilize a PCI… slot rather than having a direct fat pipeline to the processor. Not sure if that has changed yet. Also looking for a board that will be compatible with Blackmagic Design’s Ultrascope and unfortunately they have been extremely lax in keeping up with blessing new motherboards since they released this product a couple of years ago. It seems graphics cards and USB 3 is the big sticking point but not sure if there is a particular USB 3 chip set that is required. Just throwing that out there in case you have run into this.

I know the retired NVIDIA GTX285 is Premiere/CUDA compliant and there are a few others.

Presently I am using a Mac Pro 2.66 quad core machine with an ATI 5770 card. Apparently it can use the 1st gen of the GTX285 but not the second generation one. I’m not looking to turn this into a Windows box. I figure it is time to carve out a new one and building it would be my first option as Apple’s decision on FCP requires me to not only get new computers but new software which will easily cost 10 grand in the next year.

-Andrew
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Steadicam & Camera Operator