[Bob Cole]

[David Roth Weiss] ” I’ll bet you a hundred bucks it doesn’t take 20-hours to do the crunching, no matter what the countdown says. “

You’re doing a lot of betting these days, Weiss. Are you just compensating for not being at NAB?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

I can’t remember a more undramatic Monday night of NAB.

Okay, I’m not in the market for any particular gear at the moment, and I’m not as technically astute as many of you, but still — doesn’t this seem unusually quiet?

Right — “TOO quiet.”

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks! I’ll try Cyberduck.

Andy, I do use an FTP site (have used yousendit, attachmore, but currently using GoDaddy’s Online File Folder for its slight personalization) for simple file sharing. This is for a satellite uplink company which hands out its own ftp address for uploads.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Rafael. I’d seen that before but I’d completely forgotten. Three remaining issues, perhaps non-issues:

Audio bit rate; recommended is 384 kbps, but I can’t find any reference to audio data rate inside Compressor’s MPEG2 settings or FCP. Probably not a big deal.

I can’t hear any audio when I try to play the MPEG2 files in FCP. Is that anything to be concerned about? (I can hear the audio when I use Quicktime Player & MPEG Streamclip.)

GOP Pattern: I can find something close in Compressor but it isn’t identical to the specs.
Specs: IPBBPBBPBP …/15
Compressor (closest is GOP Structure IBBP: Closed): IBBPBBPBBPBBPBP

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill here?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Good thread.

I’m looking at the various 17″ monitors for field work, including the FSI monitors advertised here on the COW. At 1366×768 pixels, the Flanders Scientific 17″ monitor lacks pixel-for-pixel monitoring for 1080i cameras.

How important is having that one-to-one pixel relationship in a field monitor?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

My capture card is the Kona LHe; my own camera is a Sony Z1 but I sometimes receive material from P2 sources as well as legacy sources like Beta SP and DVCPro (SD) as well.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Dennis, I thought you were going to respond about the light meter.

I’ve wanted to ask this for awhile, and this is as good an opportunity as any, because I can ask Richard too:

I haven’t used my old Spectra light meter since film days, except for early on when I set up green screens. (and now, I tend to use zebras in the camera for that too). Dennis, do you eschew (like that?) a light meter because you have a good enough eye and experience not to need it? Would you recommend a light meter for someone with less skill/experience? Richard, in what circumstances do you find a light meter helpful, and why?

[Bob Cole]

[Michael Palmer] “These lights get frikken hot and they WILL set off fire sprnklers and they can start fires when set to close to ceilings or walls. “

I work with a producer who must have had a memorable experience with that. If one of my lights is within five feet of a sprinkler I have to gaffer tape a styrofoam cup around the sprinkler head.

Just one more darn thing to remember to REMOVE when I leave….

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

I still think you should seek out hands-on instruction. If you can’t afford to pay for it, Dennis made an excellent suggestion to barter for use of the kit with an established expert.

Okay, here’s my Debbie Downer routine:

If you have to learn on your own, focus on safety. It’s a great kit, but you and others can get severely burned, blinded, etc. by exploding bulbs, light stands falling over, etc. Use all precaution, gloves, sandbags, safety harnesses, safety screens, etc., and assume something will go wrong because it certainly will if you do this long enough.

Consider delamping before putting this kit on an airplane, especially with open face fixtures (and when you relamp, obviously don’t touch the lamps with your hands).

bob

[Bob Cole]

[Sam Mallery] “If anyone has advice I’d love to hear it. “

Best way to learn the kit is to hire the best lighting person (be he/she a DP, grip, gaffer, whatever) in your area to set up your kit, show you around its features, and help you figure out a list of the little things you need to add. In fact, you could reasonably ask this person to bring a few accessories to your session. If you’re planning to shoot interviews, make sure you line up a suitable person to sit in for your practice session.

I’ve seen an audio guy make the transition to a camera guy before. It can happen, but it isn’t automatic.

Good luck!

Bob C