Ben Holmes
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Kendal
Kudos for the reply. I think you may have stumbled across the biggest problem you face in your particular job – your audience are video pros, who love to criticise, erm, video.
I spend a great portion of my time editing interviews with sports/showbiz types, and have worked with many many reporters – some great, some awful. This puts me in a group that may be considered ‘tough to impress’. I hope my (somewhat glib, after a beer) comments might be taken constructively.
One thing to note is that ANY interview benefits from basic research. A brief chat with the rep before the interview (and yes, I know how busy NAB is) or a look at the datasheet or web (where we all read about it) would have certainly helped. It never ceases to amaze me how informed reporters have to be. And yes, your mic technique was bad – you were moving the mic over before you finished your questions. Most reporters have at least one bad mic habit. At least you know what yours is now.
As I said, I thought some of the other video pieces were fine – and you were the only place I have seen the Apple demos, which I am grateful for. I just wish someone had posted the Apple press event – although I am sure video crews were not welcome. One final note – I thought the intro to your NAB pieces, although nicely put together was over long, at around a minute. I would have thought few hour long doco’s have a title sequence over 30 seconds.
Other than that – oh, eye contact is important – keep it up. You have a nice manner speaking to camera, and a good voice. That’s pretty much all you need to go forward.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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Ah yes. Reread product page. Confusing as it mentions PCI-Express technology, but only PCI cards.
Why can’t you make a version of this product that supports PCI-E? I thought that Expresscard gave you access to the full bandwidth of the PCI bus? Presumably the bus in a MBP is not as wide as the Mac Pro. Is it possible for one card only to work – like an older Kona 2?
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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There’s always this option:
If you can get to New York.
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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Depending on the bitrate of the QTs, they won’t play well via USB. Yes, I know USB2 has a faster transfer rate than standard firewire, but it doesn’t transfer data in the sustained manner that is required for pro video.
If you just want to transfer data to the PC I would consider an ethernet connection.
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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[dan cooper] “The studio digitises the footage from the beta tape with the original timecode using their facility (i think they use liquid blue)”
NO. This will not work.
From memory, your footage is on Betacam SX, right? Go and buy the cheapest Blackmagic card at around $300 (last time I looked) and rent a deck for the day.
Your Mac can handle uncompressed 10-bit SD well enough, but you will need (at a minimum) a good fw800 array like the G-Tech G-Raid to capture to. Capture at home, edit at home with nice crisp keys, and rent the deck again for the day to master.
And no nasty post house charges neither.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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[angel breath] “I know it seems like a hassle.. but i’d rather save 3.000 dollars..”
Depends how you value the machine time in rendering and workflow interruptions. It’s not a nice solution by any means.
Do you really want to have two cameras working in different frame rates and standards on every project? If you’re pretty self contained, why not sell your PAL camera, and pick up two NTSC ones in the US. At least you could edit the entire project in an NTSC format, and just convert the final output. On the other hand, you’d need an PAL/NTSC monitor….
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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[Johnny White] “How do I capture my HDV footage as DVCproHD in real time?”
Via a card like the Kona 3 or LH that has a component HD input like the HDV decks have. Because you are not capturing a long-gop format like HDV (which is also horrible for rendering and RT use) you will see a remarkable difference in post.
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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lol
Funny, some of the other stuff is quite well done – the Color demo is nice enough. Probably worth doing a little research before the interview on this one….
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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Nice to see the NAB demos, shame Apple didn’t post the keynote as video so we could all see it.
BTW, if you want a laugh, take a look at the same site’s IO-HD video. Dumbest questions (as reporter reads spec off card on stand): “this does uncompressed SD?” or my personal favourite “what’s the weight on that?”
The look on the AJA rep’s face? Priceless.
😉Ben
PS – reporter Kendel, try a) to keep the mic under your mouth until you have finished your question and b) try to occasionally look at the interviewee. And yes, I know it’s a portable product, so the weight might me relevent – it’s just the way it’s asked…
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.
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Got to agree with David. Offlining is SOOO last year. Either use the excellent DVCProHD codec or if you can wait a few weeks, and don’t mind being a pioneer, wait for FCP6 and use ProRes, which is 10-bit rather than 8-bit. The drive space needed IS larger than DV, but still not expensive, and more than compensated for by the money you will save not having to recapture as Uncompressed 10-bit HD (which I guess is what you plan for your HDCAM footage).
How good is DVCProHD? Really good. I recently switch from uncompressed to DVCProHD mid-way through a prestigious live broadcast, because I had concerns about the SCSI array I was using. The engineers in the truck couldn’t spot the difference on grade 1 monitors. Many many people are mastering in this format. I suspect that ProRes (which is full raster and 10-bit) will raise the game even further, for a small amount of extra storage space. Really, there’s no reason to offline at lower res unless you want to try effects heavy sequences out on a lower powered system. If you are cutting for editorial, and adding gfx (which will now be the correct size etc) then you will be amazed how easy it is to work with a compressed HD format.
Ben
Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd
EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.
OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.