Bill Marcellus
Forum Replies Created
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I second Walter’s recommendation of Colorista. We were using Final Touch for the better part of two years and Colorista does about 90% of the same things…for $200!
I especially appreciate the keyframeable masks for secondary corrections. It offers real time previews and the renders are insanely fast. Probably the best $200 I have ever spent for any software.
Bill
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Lupin,
I don’t know if there is an appreciable difference in quality between the analog or SDI conversion boxes. I chose the HDConnect LE simply to avoid the extra analog conversion step and remain digital all the way. But, as a fan (and user) of Aja products I am sure that their converter delivers pristine video, too.
Besides, you are starting with HDV so the quality isn’t that outstanding to begin with.
Bill
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Or you can use the Convergent Design HD-Connect LE to capture your footage in the DVCPro HD codec through your Kona. This box takes the Firewire outputting HDV from your HDV deck and converts it to DVCPro HD via HD-SDI out. And it offers RS-422 deck control. And, most importantly, it works.
I have only one client shooting in HDV and this solution makes everything much easier to deal with in post. I got my box off of Ebay for $500 (list is $1495).
Bill
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I have both the PVM-14l5 and the BT-LH-1700WP and use them side-by-side on a daily basis. I am running the PVM from the component outputs of the Kona. The LH-1700 is driven via one of the SDI outputs of the Kona.
The color rendition of the PVM is perfect but the LH-1700 does an excellent job as well. I was prepared to be unimpressed with the image quality and color reproduction of the Panny but have been very plaesantly surprised from the first moment I fired it up. Although I edit in HD, the inevitable downconvert to SD for broadcast is a daily fact of life. Amazingly, the Panny delivers a PERFECT display of SD material with none of the jagglies on graphics, etc. that we have become accustomed to when viewing SD material on a LCD or Plasma monitor. It is interesting to see SD properly displayed on an LCD monitor.
My advice would be to go with the PVM first to be assured of color accuracy. Get one while/if you can!
If you can afford it, the Panny is an excellent second monitor and would be more than acceptable as your primary grading monitor. Obviously, the blacks aren’t truly black but they are pretty close- much closer than on any other LCD I have seen. And the onscreen waveform overlay on the LH-1700 is a useful addition to the daily workflow.
That’s my two cents worth.
Bill
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I didn’t mention but we are shooting 24pN.
This is a puzzling issue and has now occurred with two different P2 cards several months apart. Initially I had thought that this was an isolated issue confined to one slightly defective card. Having now experienced the same issue with a different card I thought that perhaps others had dealt with this.
Thanks to all for your input.
Bill
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To answer the several questions that have been asked:
We are not importing directly from P2 cards- we are going through the P2 store, copying to a hard drive, then importing to FCP via MacBook Pro to check the footage on set.
We ARE seeing the digital breakup when playing back in the camera.
The shots are very slow dollies so the speed of the move should not be a factor.
We are using a professional dolly/track, i.e. rubber wheels, grounded track, etc.
We have not seen this problem when operating handheld or via Steadicam.
For what it is worth we are seeing this problem occurring on only one of our P2 cards. We believe that the P2 card has somehow gone “bad”. We did have a similar issue a couple of months ago and got another card from our rental house which seemingly solved the problem.
At this point I guess the answer is that P2 cards can go bad- seemingly for no reason?
Thanks for everyone’s help. Still interested if anyone else has encountered this issue?
Bill
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We are recording to P2 cards. And I am not referring to skipped frames. The image is partially breaking up into digital noise at random times during each take.
Still scratching our heads?
Bill
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It would be nice to be able to disable the on camera microphone when using exteranl mics. Perhaps our DP and sound guy have just missed it but they swear they have checked the manual and the camera and have found no way to turn the on camera mic off. Meanwhile, I am stuck in post deleting the 2 extra tracks of unusable audio.
Also, lens markings would be very nice for follow focus.
Bill
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Yes, you can shoot interviews in 24pn with sound- and you will get much more record time per P2 card- approximately 2.5 minutes per gigabyte.
Bill
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Try P2 Log. Here is the link: https://www.imagineproducts.com/P2log.htm
Of course, you could also load FCP onto the laptops…which would simplify your entire workflow.
Bill Marcellus