Bob Zelin
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Forum Replies Created
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if you are using the SR5500 and want full 4:4:4 res with dual link, you should
only be using this BMD card –
Bob ZelinDeckLink HD Pro 4:4:4
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Lee is correct – your split screen is the vertical sync bar, which is a bar that splits the screen on top, and on bottom, with the image not in the right place.
Use an inexpensive NTSC black generator (and if you don’t have one handy, use a Camera composite video output for now) – feed the video signal into the VTR REF Vid In, and loop that into the AJA I/O Reference In, and terminate the I/O Ref input. Go into the AJA I/O Control Panel under control and select external reference in, not Free Run. The split screen will go away. -
the PVM-20L1 is a crappy monitor – so the generic composite output of the I/O will be just fine for your application, as no matter what you do, the 20L1 will only look so good.
Bob Zelin
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Hi Chris –
do not extend the cables between the Kona 2 and the K Box. The K box is designed for rear rack mount. Many people don’t have this capability, so if you are in a 19″ rack box with no rear support, buy Middle Atlantic rack rail, and screw it into your 19″ box, to rear mount your K Box. There always is a way to jury rig a rear mount for the K box.Many people use KVM extenders, like the Gefen CAT 5 5000HD, which allow you to do what Walter described – put all the CPU, drives, K box, etc. in one area out of the room near your VTR’s, and use CAT 5 cables to drive your DVI monitors, and USB keyboard/mouse. This keeps your audio/video cable runs short as well.
bob Zelin
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The Mojo is the product used by real men that know that analog is the only way to go – who needs serial digital video – analog has a warmer feel anyway, and has that distortion with a warmer look. This really applies with those great unbalanced audio inputs – nothing like taking a +4dBu signal from a Beta machine right into those Mojo inputs – it’s like listening to Van Halen when you play back dialog.
The Adrenaline is for people that couldn’t afford the Meridian systems, or who were born too late. The Adrenaline accepts SDI, but real men know that they can do the same thing with a Mojo – who needs digital anyway – and what does HD mean ? Can I get the Adrenaline HD card to work in my ABVB system ?
The Nitris – that’s easy. That’s what Paris Hilton edits on.
Bob Zelin
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Alan said this very well. You can generalize by saying that “features” will use the best quality, and corporate will use DV25, iPod, etc., but this is not the case. Reality TV shows on major networks often use DV25, and here in Orlando, LMG – a convention rental company – does HI END HD production for their “happy face videos” for major corporations – many would assume that they could “get away” with a DV Camcorder and a FCP laptop. So it depends who your clients are. This is the difference between the “HD is not good enough, we must shoot in 35mm, and transfer to a SR5500 at 4:4:4”, vs. “I can’t justify the $199 for a black generator”. It’s your job to find the right clients.
There are drivers that drive with NASCAR and INDY, and there are drivers that drive a taxi cab. Which one do you want to be?
Bob Zelin
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And I thought that I was childish ! It is MOST interesting to observe that whoever gives the best support makes the best card. In the US, AJA has the best support – I have no idea of how you may (or may not) suffer with a problamatic AJA card in Europe. I am sure that Blackmagic support is teriffic in Australia.
I primarily use AJA products, however there is nothing wrong with Blackmagic products, as Walter has pointed out. To state that Blackmagic cards work, and AJA cards do not, is pure and simple ignorance.
Making comparisions like “the Decklink that does 4:4:4 is $1000 is cheaper) is so insane, as anyone that can afford a Sony SR5500 VTR, and doing a 4:4:4 job, is not worried about one thousand dollars (that’s the first hour of the film transfer) – and you can’t use $1000 of storage for 4:4:4 HD material anyway.
This forum is pro AJA, and I put a HELL of a lot of AJA Kona 2 cards in – no one complains, and they work wonderfully. But Blackmagic is good too. Want to suffer – buy an AVID Adrenaline HD, and see what support is like for this product. Then you will have something to complain about.
Bob Zelin
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do not monitor the audio output from your MAC G5 audio out (your soundsticks). Monitor the output from the output of your Blackmagic card.
The Edirol MA10DBK speakers cost all of $129, and have a nice SPDIF input that can be used to monitor the output of your Blackmagic card’s SPDIF output. Before you start crying, the AJA product line works the exact same way – and both product lines offer alternate products to monitor analog audio. Either way – throw out those Sound Sticks – you won’t find these in any professional environment – I don’t even see soundsticks in graphics rooms anymore, that only use the audio for scratch monitoring.
there are many other ways to monitor the audio output, but this is one of the cheapest ways, with no aggrivation.
Bob Zelin
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I just had to add this. I have been approached by MANY large company IT departments, that can’t understand why their company 100baseT servers can’t act as a shared storage enviornment for the video media. And these IT guys know a HELL of alot more than I do about networking. Everyone expects something for free. Only Blackmagic delivers on that.
Bob Zelin
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Decklink’s pricepoint is amazing. You would be surprised at how many people believe that if they spend $12,995 for Apple XServe RAID, they can instantly have the ability to do shared storage. When XSAN came out (for $995), I was asked by countless numbers of people, that if they bought XSAN for each of their G5’s, could they simply plug the G5’s into the single XServe RAID to do shared storage. All of these people did not think that $13,000 was cheap at all, and had a hard time believing that you need ALL THIS STUFF to do shared storage with uncompressed video.
Don’t worry – 10Gig ethernet will change all of this. Just wait.
bob Zelin