Bob Zelin
7
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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I use Behringer everything – Behringer mixers, speakers, microphones, headphone amps, etc. AND this converter is cool and cheap, AND the Flying Cow is cool and cheap.
HOWEVER !!!!!! – if you just get the damn AJA K-Box (which you really should get if you get the AJA Kona 2) – it has the D/A built in for analog monitoring, so you don’t need to spend ANY extra money. And since all you are using this for is analog monitoring into your “Behringer” mixer – the RCA outputs are just fine and dandy.Bob Zelin
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The SATA host controller cards you need are the Sonnet Tempo X eSATA 8 port, or the Highpoint RocketRaid 1820A. You need to use ALL EIGHT DRIVES to be able to get uncompressed HD to work.
Bob Zelin
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The HDW-M2000/1 can be genlocked to 59.94 or 23.98 (I think it can be locked to 24 as well). You must READ THE MANUAL, and go into the menus of the HDW-M2000/1 and set the reference standard. Once you change the standard, you must TURN OFF THE HDW, (power it off) and turn it back on, for it to accept the change. If you are using a standard NTSC or PAL black
generator right now, and you have a flashing blue stop light, the VTR is set for 23.98, and unless you use a tri level sync generator, it’s not going to stop flashing until you reset the reference of the VTR.It requires a lot of button pushing, so I just can’t say “go to menu 014, and change it to 59.94” – you need a manual in front of you.
Bob Zelin
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Rob –
I am going to strangle you. You just can’t say “it looked much better- it had much more chroma” – what does that mean? You can’t magically add or subtract chroma from this stuff – it’s supposed to be ALL DIGITAL, and all “cloned” – with no level changes, no matter what you do. YOU NEED A SCOPE to monitor what you are doing – and there are no excuses here, becuase you have the $$$ for a Sony HD VTR, a Panasonic HD VTR, a Sony HD monitor, and an XServe RAID – so you are not some starving student that can’t get the right gear. You must work with color bars, and critically observe on a scope your original source material, and what happens on the output of the Kona when you digitize in with HD-SDI, and with Firewire. You just can’t say “gee, it looks warmer and has more chroma when I use Firewire” – this is unacceptable. Firewire and HD-SDI should be identical- it’s all digital.Bob Zelin
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I use this configuration with the HD-SDI from the AJ-HD1200A right into the Kona 2’s K Box HD Input 1, for DVCProHD – in countless locations in Florida now, with no problems. As you can see, Walter is using the FW input, and has no issues as well.
The usual questions – are you running OS-X 10.4.2, what drives are you recording to?
Bob Zelin
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I know why the AVID 7.1 ABVB system is being used – I have seen this over and over again. There are many “older” editors (I am almost 50, so I am old) out there, that learned on Quadra 950 or ABVB systems. They got their “settings files” on a floppy disk (now burned to CD), and even if they wind up on a newer Meridian system, or God forbid an AVID Adrenaline system – be it a MAC or PC – they CANNOT WORK unless they have their “AVID User Settings” from the V7.1 system loaded into the AVID system. It is these very “editors” that “can only work on the V7.1 system”. This is no different than the child that can only play on “their piano”. They obviously have been editing for a while, know the creative craft of editing, but DO NOT KNOW THE EQUIPMENT OR SOFTWARE – even after YEARS of working on it. They don’t want to learn anything new, and WILL NOT learn anything new. They paid $80,000 for the ABVB AVID, and DAMN IT – they are going to keep it until it drops dead. This is NO DIFFERENT than the old school film editors that insisted that the only way to cut a show was on a KEM, Steenbeck, or God help you – a Moviola Upright. There are younger editors reading this post, thinking that I am kidding, but I KNEW THESE GUYS.
There is only one thing to do with people like this – SHOOT THEM.
bob Zelin
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Hi Paul –
so here we are, me and Walter recommending AJA hardware. What happens when
Apple releases the new Intel chip set MAC’s. What if they have a fight with
AJA, or just decide that they don’t want to deal with companeis like AJA and Blackmagic. We are ALL SCREWED – including AJA. No one knows what it going to happen. I certainly don’t go out and say “gee, how can I screw my clients so they can hate me”. NO ONE – not even John Apt has ANY IDEA of what is in the mind of Steve Jobs, so ALL OF US can get screwed with ANY recomendation that we make. That’s just the business that we live in. Thank God for companies like AJA, that don’t charge $15,000 for their products.Bob Zelin
ps – I work with churches that have NO MONEY that have old AVID systems, and that HAVE gotten screwed with outdated Meridian systems. I know exactly what happens. -
Michael –
Sony has discontinued the entire line of Beta VTR’s. I realize that this seems impossible, as everyone has a Beta VTR at their shop, but this is a fact. I can’t imagine that any manufacturer of edit systems is going to start writing new code for a VTR that is no longer manufacturered. This is not something that Blackmagic is doing to punish you. NO MANUFACTURER – not AJA, not Digital Voodoo, not Aurora, not Sony, not Leitch, not Aacom, not AVID – NO ONE is writing for RS232 VTR protocol.Companies like Keyspan and Addenda make RS232 to RS422 converters, but they are not designed to give edit function to Sony VTR’s with RS232 ports, so there is limited function. People complain about newer products, like the new Sony HDV VTR’s that use LANC as their VTR communication port – not RS422. Companies like Addenda make LANC to RS422 adaptors, but EVEN ON THESE NEW VTR’s, their performance is marginal compared to PROFESSIONAL VTR’s. This is not a limitation of the edit manufacturers – it is a limitation of the VTR’s. You can’t expect Blackmagic to put a LANC port on the next generation of cards – and even if they did, the performance of shuttling, scrubbing and cueing of a LANC controlled VTR will NOT equal that of a professional VTR that uses RS422 control.
I know that this is not what you want to hear, but it’s reality.
Blame Sony.
Bob Zelin
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Hi Paul –
I have installed Digital Voodoo cards and original AJA Kona cards in Churches that have a lot less money than your “not for profit” organizations. And you know what they did with their $3000 outdated cards?
They UPGRADED. If you bought ANY OTHER PRODUCT from Pinnacle, AVID, Aacom, etc, you would have spent a LIFETIME of upgrade money for the cost of ANY of these FCP products. It will take you MANY DECADES into the future to buy the equivalent # of AJA products that would have cost what ONE AVID would cost you.Your “not for profit” organization will be required to send out NEW TAPE FORMATS or new encoded formats into the near future. If you think that your current crop of VHS and Beta VTR’s will be ok for delivery 3-4 years from now, you are dreaming. And these new VTR’s, or MPEG encoders will cost a LOT MORE MONEY than a new AJA card.
Buy the Kona 2, and be happy that you will get several good years out of it, while your organization makes wonderful videos, and get prepared to spend LOTS OF MONEY on new computers, new VTR’s, new encoders, and new training for ALL KINDS of new technology that is coming out.
Bob Zelin
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the Decklink Extreme has analog audio outputs, that are balanced, and will feed your professional VTR’s. They are excellent quality, and you have to purchase nothing but the Decklink Extreme.
Bob Zelin