[Bob Cole]

I got “rain” with a donation to a local volunteer fire department.

I like your idea of combining some actual water with some post-produced effects. That works well for “snow.”

[Bob Cole]

[Kevin Sio] “I purchased a Lastolite blue/green 6 x 7 collapsible from B & H.”

I’m interested in a portable screen too. I’ve always shied away from the small screens because they need to be placed so close to the subject, and therefore will be harder to light separately from the subject, more prone to shadows from the subject’s key, and impossible to throw out of focus for surface imperfections.

Could you please let us know how this one works, both for surface texture and size?

Thanks!

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[maestro1208] “Now if someone will just help me with my 16:9 aspect problems when burning DVD’s in Encore I would be a happy camper.”

If the MPEG file has the wrong aspect ratio (4:3) you can “re-flag” the file to 16:9 with ReStream.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

You were correct. Although the files on the DLT are exactly the same as on the DVD-R, the replicator insists on a DDP, if I submit a DLT.

The new plan is to use Encore’s Disc tab to add the contents of the eDVD-generated Image folder, and make a DLT Master from that. As a test, I made an image file and burned a DVD-R, which works fine.

Thanks for your help.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Tobin, check out the epson refurb store online — you can get a refurbed R300 for $70 shipped — little more than the price of the inks, and it includes the CD tray I believe.

[Bob Cole]

thank you very much.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

I just used the Windows XP backup utility. I put all the necessary files (=the Video_TS folder + the contents of the eDVD-generated “image” folder) into one new folder, and backed up the contents of that folder onto the DLT tape. The replicator has the DLT and I’ll report as to whether it worked in case that’s of any interest.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[David Roth Weiss] “Buy yourself an Epson R220 printer for $88”

David, I’ve had two Epson R300 printers, mainly for printing DVDs, along with several replacement DVD trays, and I’ve found them to be very cranky at accepting the tray. I have to “encourage” the tray to go into the printer. Is the R220 any better, or have I gotten two lemons in a row? (one more and I get a jackpot, right?)

One thing I have tried with some (limited) success is replacing the trays fairly frequently. A replacement CD tray for the Epson R300 printer is available from http://www.compassmicro.com; the product number is 1274077.

[Bob Cole]

Even though hard drives are probably not as likely to fail as things like power supplies, they seem to get our attention, don’t they? And given DRW’s comment about FCP’s problem with recaptures, and for me at least, a lot of After Effects comps with long render times, hard drive failure is scary.

I would like to know what people think about the various options for serious backup devices or RAIDS. Does anyone here use backup devices instead of/in addition to redundant RAIDs? With cheap drive arrays such as the one DRW suggests, I’m wondering whether two of those in RAID-0, along with a strict twice-a-day backup regimen, would be better than a RAID-1. I’d like to be able to backup not just my media drives, but a “ghost” copy of my system drive too. Total security blanket.

Plusses and minusses of RAID-1/3 or backups?

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[walter biscardi] “the lights go IN FRONT of your system.”

How about a new drive tower design: the Lava Lamp Drive Array. The faster the editing goes, the hotter it gets and the more it moves.

— Bob C