[Bob Zelin]

you are not giving many details to us here. You are trying to digitize video thru the AJA I/O – what VTR or camera, and what kind of video – SDI, composite, analog component, S-Video ? How are you monitoring your video – composite TV monitor, Apple Cinema display with AJA HDP, analog component inputs on a Plasma display ?

Now, lets say you are coming from a Beta VTR. You go into the EASY SETUPS (do you know where they are), and select something like AJA I/O Beta Component 8 bit uncompressed ( I have no idea of what compression you are working with) – and the Beta machine starts to input into the system.

NOW, if you are doing this, and it doesn’t work, the next thing you do is quit FCP, and launch the AJA Pro I/O control panel. Select the Input Tab, and select COMPONENT (not composite, SDI, or S-Video – it defaults to SDI) – and you should see instantly the Beta VTR thru the AJA I/O.

If this still does not work (and you try composite also, and this does not work) – take the output of the Beta VTR composite output (that is currently going into the Video input of the AJA I/O, and stick a BNC barrel on the end, and put that into the cable that is going to the AJA I/O Composite out cable (that feeds the TV monitor). This will feed the Beta VTR to the TV monitor – if you see no picture, you have a bad BNC cable.

Let me know.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

The least expensive solution is to simply buy the Panasonic BT-LH1700W or the larger Panasonic BT-LH2600W LCD monitors, that have a built in waveform monitor function, that appears in a “quarter screen” overlay on the LCD picture monitor. The quality is not great, but it does work, and is very functional for many people. It will display for SD and HD. This is the least expensive solution.

A better stand alone solution is the Leader LV7700, which is an autosensing SD / HD waveform monitor/vectorscope that uses a VGA monitor to display it’s image. It’s about $7000, and is teriffic, and is the cheapest stand alone HD scope on the market.

If you just need SD (no HD), the cheapest solution is the Videotek VTM-150, which also uses
a VGA montior to display it’s signal. About $4000.

Solutions from Tektronix, and Magni are much more expensive. The new Harris/Videotek line is VERY expensive -HD monitoring starts at over $12,000.

The cheapest Astro systems scope is $9000, and is a piece of crap. And the Hamlet HD scopes are a joke, even though they are only $6000. The resolution is terrible, and their staff seems to have no idea of how to use their own products.

So, what can you get for $2000, that can display an HD signal – NOTHING !!!!!! (see – a product idea for someone out there !).

You will find that when people say “hey, I heard about this product, I heard about that product” – that they are all EXPENSIVE.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

#1 – I ain’t no tech guru. I clean toilets for a living.

The Matrox MXO is a fantastic product, and was one of the main hits at NAB2006. If you are working with FCP on a laptop, it’s great for presentation work. If you are working with DV sources, and need to get your signal out to a VTR, it’s great for that. It also works with the MAC AVID system, because the AVID software can now do full screen out of the DVI port.

BUT, it ain’t no AJA (or Blackmagic) product. It has no software capability – it cant up convert, downconvert, cross convert, and MOST IMPORTANT – you can’t input from ANYTHING except DV. That’s VERY IMPORTANT – if you have a VHS machine, a DVD player, a Beta VTR, a DSR1800, a DSR45, a Digi Beta VTR, a Panasonic HD VTR, a Sony HD VTR – how the HELL are you going to get it into your FCP system with the Matrox MXO. There AINT NO INPUT – it’s output only.

So here is a great application for the MXO. You have your G5 and your Kona 3. And you dump your HD footage at DVCProHD compression codec onto your SATA drives or FW800 drives. You now move them onto your laptop and go to the convention. And now, they want to play back your video on your laptop on the main projector in the conference room, right from your laptop. Pop on your Matrox MXO, and away to you – CAV right out to the projector input.

Here is another application – you are sent to Lebanon to shoot the war with your HDV camera, and you dump into your laptop. You get back to the field office, and have to output to a normal VTR – pop on your Matrox MXO, and you have full output capability to a pro VTR.

But if you are like most of us, that own Beta VTR’s, Digi Beta VTR’s, and the beginning of a HD VTR collection – you need to be able to INPUT your video (and possibly upconvert to HD).
And without AJA products, you just ain’t gonna do it.

But it is a nice product, for what it does. !!!!

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

you will regret getting rid of “easy setups” that you don’t need, because on day soon, some client will walk in and say “can you do S-Video to DVCPro compression ?”. Or something that you never use – you will need it.

It is SO EASY to make your own EASY SETUPS. Use the AJA easy setups, and when you are happy, go to the Audio/Video settings, and call this TomBeta1800, or TomVHS, or TomDSR45.
This way, they will all be in one area in the Easy Setups, and you will never lose anything, and have all the setting you want.

Bob Zelin (everyone is overwhelmed by the number of presets).

[Bob Zelin]

listen, TecNec (distributed by Markertek) sells firewire patch bays. You are OUT OF YOUR MIND if you are going to try to save money by building your own firewire bay/combo RS422 bay. Buy the prebuilt Firewire bay from TecNec at http://www.markertek.com, and everything will be working for you in 2 seconds. I only mention the “build your own” RS422 CAT 5 bay, because the cost difference is about $1000, not $100.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I usually “build my own” for the RS422 bay, which is the TecNec PB8-R4R4
CAT 5 coupler patch bay. Then I use generic CAT 5 cables (real cheap !, and easy to test), and RJ45-9 pin adaptors. I screw the RJ45-9 pin adaptors into the AJA (or AVID), and all the VTR’s, and then I can patch around using generic CAT 5 cables. This works great, and the cables never fail.
You can get RJ45-9 pin adaptors at http://www.milestek.com. This solution is dramatically cheaper than going with an ADC RS422 9 pin patch panel.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I usually build facilities, or more complex rooms (rooms with multiple VTR’s), and setup patch bays or routers along with the FCP system. So I usually install a RS422 patch panel. It is very convenient to simply patch the RS422 VTR control from the AJA Kona into multiple VTR’s via a RS422 patch panel. You simply make the HDV VTR a RS422 device with a $148 dollar adaptor, and then you are never crawling on the floor to disconnect cables.

The same applies to all video decks, where you bring up your video cabling to a patch panel. You certainly can crawl behind the equipment, and uncable every time you want to plug in a different VTR – but how much is this worth for your time and aggrivation. If you are a “home editor”, with one Beta VTR and one HDV VTR, then I would crawl around the equipment too, but if you are in a professional enviornment, where you have banks of equipment, it seems pretty silly to drop to your knees, where the G5 is, get a flashlight, unplug the firewire cable and plug in the HDV VTR, when you can simply move one patch cord.

Even if you were in a FIREWIRE only environment (HDV, DSR11, AJ-HD1200A), it makes sense to get a Tecnec Firewire patch panel, rather than to keep disconnecting cables all the time (and the associated audio and video cables to your audio and video monitoring system).

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

if you have an older Panasonic DVCPro VTR, you will need a software patch from AJA.
You MUST call AJA support to get it.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

We are putting together our first Graphics HD Workstation (we have several AVid HD systems) using the Decklink Multibridge. The things we are discussing with our engineering crew is sync, and monitoring. We need “Tri-Level Sync” to do HD, but we also want to switch between HD and SD (one of the benefits of the multibridge or extreme HD). It’s been explained that we need 2 different sync sources to switch back and forth.

1) What is tri-level sync, and how does it differ from standard sync?

REPLY
Tri Level sync is a simple pulse that for most peoples uses, operate at varying frame rates – like 23.98 or 59.94 (which is the normal frame rate). Standard sync (in the 80’s, 90’s and this century) is also known as composite black, which operates at 29.97 in the US. As far as you are concerned, standard sync (29.97) is the same as 59.94 for doing 720p and 1080i projects at normal frame rates.

2- Why do we need to switch sync to go back and forth, and with that being the case how do you set up the separate sync sources with the decklink products mentioned.

REPLY – If your system is doing a 23.98 project, your VTR and your Blackmagic card cannot “sync” or genlock to a framerate that is running at 29.97. So, if you are operating at 23.98, you will need a sync gen (tri level sync gen) that runs at 23.98. There are many companies that make tri level sync gens, but one of the most popular is the Evertz 7750, which is a card that goes into a frame that Evertz makes. Ensemble, Astro Systems, NVision, Tektronix, Leitch, Ensemble Designs, Sigma Electronics and others make tri level sync generators as well. They start at about $3000 (which is a crime).

HOWEVER – you do not need to switch back and forth if you are doing a project for TV. If you let your VTR do a 2:3 pulldown (like the Sony J-H3 VTR or the Pansonic AJ-HD1200A, which both do 2:3 pulldown), the 23.98 video signal will be converted to 59.94. At this frame rate, everything runs standard, and you can continue to use your cheap Horita Black Generator to sync everything together. I see little reason to operate at 23.98 while editing unless you are finishing for a feature film, which will release at 24 fps.

The easiest way to switch back and forth is to bring up the genlock (or Ref Video) inputs to a patch bay, and patch in your tri level sync, or standard black into the reference inputs. The AVID Adrenaline HD has a seperate input for HD sync in (tri level sync).

Finally, The multibride has a DVI Dual link connection to allow HD monitoring on a LCD Screen. Is anyone using this, and what are you feelings about the LCD Monitoring vs traditional (and much more expensive) CRT?

REPLY –
The Multibridge DVI output is WONDERFUL. ALL of Sony and Panasonics new monitors are LCD monitors, and not CRT monitors. If you look at the new Sony Luma monitors (LDM-232, for example), or the Panasonic BT-LH2600W, these are LCD monitors, and they work great. But Blackmagic gives you a DVI output, so instead of spending a lot of money for these, you can get an Apple Cinema display, or Dell 2407FPW 24″ LCD monitor, and see the same picture, at excellent resolution. Almost NO ONE is willing to spend $35,000 for a Sony HD CRT monitor, and most people have given up on using CRT monitors for HD monitoring, since no client will
ever own a CRT HD monitor. A hi end alternative on LCD is the eCinema 23″ LCD monitor, which is about $15,000 – I have no opinion on this product.

If you get the Multibridge Extreme, it can drive a 30″ Apple Cinema display, which will make you very happy for editing.

JUST FOR THE RECORD – the AVID DS and AVID Nitris require tri level sync for HD editing, however the AVID Adrenaline HD DOES NOT require tri level sync when operating at 59.95 frame rates – either at 720p or 1080i. A cheapo black generator will work just fine. Just remember to let your VTR do the 2:3 pulldown to 59.94 if your source tapes are shot at 23.98.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

you are doing a “clean” crash recording which somehow works with Firewire only (as Walter has discussed in the past on this forum). There are no flying erase heads on a AJ-SD93 or a
AJ-HD1200A. Crash recording is not assemble editing, no matter how clean it looks. This is like saying “I don’t care if it’s DV-25 or uncompressed 10 bit – the picture looks pretty good to me, and to my client” – what the hell does this mean ?????

Bob Zelin