[Ben Shoemaker]

I forgot to mention that there’s a fourth converter that I’ve looked in to…

Sony made a card chassis with a bunch of different converter cards. The different chassis models could hold anywhere from 1 to 14 cards. The chassis is the PFV-D10/D20/D50/D50A/D100/D100A/D200/D200A/D300/HD50A/HD300.

One of the available cards was the BKPF-021. It is a serial composite to serial component converter.

—TL;DR—

Does anyone know of any other transcoder that would also do the job? Or does anyone in this thread want to get rid of their transcoder that is collecting dust?

Thanks,
Ben

[Ben Shoemaker]

Bob,
I have spent weeks searching the internet for a converter. Many websites list them but they are not in stock. That is why I have reached out to this community. To see if there is an alternative converter that I don’t know about or to see if anyone has one that they aren’t using and would be willing to sell.

As for chilling out and slowing down…yes…you can. When you just blast through things you gloss over details.

I get that companies want to spend the least possible to get the job done. That is off topic and not relevant to this thread.

I will respond by saying that if I was in that situation, I would have asked the client how much their time was worth? If they go with the $200 prosumer UPS vs the $2k enterprise unit, can you afford to have your $25k edit station go down? The $200 unit will let garbage through that an enterprise double conversion won’t. Can you afford to have your edit station down for days as parts are exchanged? Can you afford to lose a client because you can’t finish their job? If they still say that they want the $200 unit, I’d at least offer a refurbished $800 professional unit as an option. And if they STILL want the $200 unit, you’ve done all that you can do. Just take good notes on their current system so that when that $200 unit blows up and takes something else out in the process, you’ll be ready to help them as quickly as possible.

I have a DVR-10. But even if it was a DVR-20, I’d still be in the same boat. The DVR-20 has a SDI out option but it is still composite out, not component out. So I’d still need a transcoder.

This is also just a personal project. Something that I’m playing with at home. I’ve got a pile of D2 tapes from when I used to TD that I’m looking to capture. So far I’ve spent $15 on a AJA C10PS serializer. My goal is to see if i can get the SDI capture working for under $100.

Thanks,
Ben

[Ben Shoemaker]

Hi Bob,
Please slow down and read this thread and my original post. I explained exactly what I’m trying to do. What you may have forgotten is that current SDI is component SDI and only component SDI. In the D2/D1 days, SDI could be either serial composite or serial component. By using the C10PS (yes, I made a typo in my original post), I’ve converted the parallel composite to serial composite. No modern equipment with a SDI input understands a serial composite (143Mbps) signal. They are all looking for a serial component (270Mbps) signal. Just like in the analog world, you can’t run a composite signal in to a component input. That is why I’m reaching out to the CreativeCow community for a digital composite to component transcoder.

Why am I trying to convert a D2 deck’s digital output and capture it via SDI? Because I’m a dork and it just something that I want to do. Why capture analog composite when I can at least capture a digital version of it? Yes, capturing analog composite would be the fastest/cheapest way of doing it. But if I can get the gear to convert it for practically free off of eBay, why not?

As for the RAID stuff… You’re breaking forum protocol by responding to a different thread in this thread. Again, chill Bob, slow down and do it right. I’ve always worked for companies that have been the companies that rescue the customer from a company that does it the fast/wrong way. You get what you pay for. Here’s the thread if other want to see what Bob is referencing…
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/381/1251

Regarding my signature… WOW, Bob…chill…please chill. It’s just a goofy signature. Yes, I went to school to become a broadcast engineer. I have friends who are broadcast engineers. Yes, in an alternate universe where local TV stations aren’t dying and broadcast engineer pay isn’t terrible, I’d like to be a broadcast engineer. That all being said, the modern broadcast engineer has become a “computer guy”. For the exact reasons that you mentioned.

Thanks,
Ben

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Ben Shoemaker]

I’m guessing that you’ve already moved it but I figure that I’d chime in with my $0.02.

I’ve got to disagree with Bob. I’d never transport a NAS with the drives installed. The SATA/SAS connectors on the backplane aren’t meant to take a shock. A shock probably won’t break the connector completely off but it could weaken/crack the solder joint and cause weird failures down the road. (If NAS’s were meant to take a shock, the HDD’s would be mounted on rubber isolators and the SATA/SAS connector would be on a ribbon cable going to the backplane.)

I also transport my drives with the connector end facing down. That is the park position for the drive’s heads. Even if you hit some massive pothole, the heads aren’t going to move around, or worst case become unparked and smash in to the platters.

If you can, use a nice foam multiple hard drive shipping box. I keep a couple around from past HDD purchases but if you can’t find one, I’ve seen them on eBay. Yeah, you might have to remove the HDD caddies to get them in the box but it will be worth it.

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Ben Shoemaker]

Hi Mike,
Read the fine print of the manual for the TV. I use a Samsung TV to run a demo video for conventions. Its requirements could be a little weird depending on video format. You really have to watch your bitrate too. The processors in those TV’s are really weak. If you try to push too high of a bitrate, they will lock up or eventually overheat. I test my videos by having it play overnight (looped).

Double check your file format too. I wonder if you are running in to some 2GB/4GB file size limit with your current FAT32 file system and that TV. Sometimes they like exFAT better.

The only other thing that I thought about but haven’t is getting an Intel Compute Stick. But that would require us sending out a wireless mouse/keyboard (that would get lost) and training a user to log in, play the video, set the repeat settings, etc. At least with the Samsung TV, it’s just a matter of turning it on, selecting the media source and hitting play.

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Ben Shoemaker]

B&O makes great audio equipment but I’ve never heard their name come up in headphone comparisons. Typically it’s going to be Sennheiser, Bowers and Wilkins, AudioQuest, and HiFi Man.

What are you editing? What is driving the headphones(laptop, audio mixer, dedicated headphone DAC and amp)? What is your editing area like? Is it soundproof or are you dealing with background noise that you need to block out?

I prefer closed back headphones for editing. They let me concentrate and catch any little annoying sounds that need to be filtered out. The Sony MDR-7506 headphones have closed backs, they are bulletproof, sound great, and are under $100.

For critical listening, I have a set of Sennheiser HD 600 headphones with a dedicated DAC and headphone amplifier. But they are open back so I have to be careful about background noise negating the benefits of a better headphone.

If you currently don’t have any headphones, give the Sony set a try first. Also, don’t buy the most expensive headphones either thinking they will be better just because of the price.

Also, if you go to an audio store to test some out, bring something that you’ve listened to 1,000 times before. Don’t just listen to whatever demo that they have playing.

I hope that helps.

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Ben Shoemaker]

Hi Everyone,
I’ve managed to resurrect a D2 deck and I’m looking to capture via SDI. I’ve read everything in this post and from a few other threads. I understand that I need to convert the signal from composite to component and from parallel to serial. I already picked up an AJA CP10PS from eBay so I’ve got the parallel to serial part. From this and other forums, I know that I now need a transcoder like one of the following…

Sony DFX-2100
InnoVision DX210
Accom D-Bridge 221

I’ve been trolling eBay for a while and haven’t seen anything come up.

Does anyone know of any other transcoder that would also do the job? Or does anyone in this thread want to get rid of their transcoder that is collecting dust? I’m a former service tech so even if it’s dead, I might be able to get it working.

Thanks for you time and for any info.

Ben

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –