[Bob Zelin]

this is the answer to your “dead” audio meters.

1) Go to Audio/Video Settings
2) Click on the Capture Presets tab
3) scroll down to whatever capture preset you have selected (checked off).
4) double click on this setting.
5) another window will open with details about this capture preset selection.
6) on the right hand side on the botton (in the audio section) you will see
a button called ADVANCED – click on this
7) when you click on Advanced, another window will open, and you will see on the right hand side it will say SPEAKER – OFF. Make it say SPEAKER – ON.

8) click ok, and get out of these menus. Your meters will now be working.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

this is not a detailed enough answer (I am leaving for NAB tomorrow, and have to go to work now), but 0VU varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and the -14, -18, -20 are all RELATIVE audio levels, and each manufacturer decides on their own setting. All these mean are -14db before clipping, -18db before clipping, and -20db before clipping. All WE care about is WHERE THE HELL IS ZERO, so I can get my equipment to match. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

-14 was originally used by AVID and Digidesign for their zero reference. As the years went on, AVID allowed you to go into the Audio Tool, to change where the zero reference was set (so you could make it say -20 for 0VU for example). And yes, 0VU on an AVID is +4dBu (or +4dBm for you Sony and old guys). Sony has ALWAYS used -20db as their zero reference, however, in the beginning, Panasonic was the big DAT machine manufacturer, and the SV3700 DAT has it’s AES input calibrated for -18dB to indicate zero, so you would try to import tapes from a Panasonic DAT, and everything would look screwey – and everyone said the same thing – WHERE THE HELL IS ZERO.

Professional audio equipment that is manufacturered today USUALLY use +4dBu as their zero point, but you will find that just becuase you unpack a brand new Beta 1800 VTR out of the box, does not mean that it’s going to be critically calibrated to +4dBm. I was shocked to recently discover that the # 1 mixer that I recommend (the Behringer UB2442FXPro, which is only $299) has it’s zero mark at 0dBu, and to get a +4db signal out of it, you have to move the faders up two yellow LED’s, where is is actually silk screened on the metal +4.

So whats the answer – EXTERNAL AUDIO METERS. And yes, they usually cost more than your little audio mixers.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

This is a general response. I have found that the meters and scopes native to any NLE – Final Cut Pro OR AVID are useless, and everyone, including the original developers of AVID, like Eric Peters, urged users to use external scopes for critical measurements.

When you relate to analog levels, calibration can only be done with audio measurement equipment, which can be as simple as a cheap AC voltmeter from Radio Shack. I have recently purchased a Velleman scope, which does audio dBu measurements, and was very surprised at the actual readings when looking at the outputs of mixers set to zero, like Mackie and Behringer. Behringer, from their own product line, would have the UB2442FX mixer have zero VU set for 0dBu, and for the MX3242X mixer, zero VU was set for +4dBu. I can assure you that inexpensive VTR’s, like the UVW1800 Beta machine are all over the place, and they have no nice “preset tweeks” like older BVW-75’s to allow for easy calibration. You will notice on UVW-1800’s (for example) that you may set your level to 0VU, record this level, play it back, and it will come back at a higher level. How do you fix this – you hire a tech to align your machine.

Many people live with these errors, as they are shocked and surprised to see how expensive external scopes and external meters cost. The cheapest SD scope currently is the Videotek VTM-150, and it’s around $4000 US, and the cheapest HD scope is the Videotek VTM-420, which is around $12,000 US. This is the cost of an entire FCP HD system with Blackmagic hardware and storage.
I believe at NAB2005, Astro Systems and Hamlet may be coming out with cheaper HD scopes, but these will still be in the $6 – $7000 range.

As for audio metering, scopes like the Videotek series have built in detailed audio meters, but even simple external audio meters, from companies
like Coleman and Douroughs cost more than any Mackie or Behringer mixer, so most people, like you, just sit there and suffer, and say “how come my meters on my FCP (or AVID) system seem like they are all over the place !

Wish I had a better quick answer for you, and perhaps someone else does.

I am certainly not the last word on the software scopes for FCP.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

dual link is for fully uncompressed signals, (4:4:4) like when you use the insanely expensive Sony SR series HD VTR’s, that cost around $100,000. And yes, BMD has this as well.

Qrez is an AJA feature only, which has yet to be released.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi –
I have just setup ANOTHER FCP HD system today for Bramm Films in Tampa.
They too are using the Panasonic Varicam with DVCProHD, and the Panasonic
AJ-HD1200A HD VTR.

I have once again used an AJA Kona 2 card, with nothing else but what you have – a Lacie Firewire 800 PCI card, and a Lacie d2Extreme Firewire 800
500 Gig hard drive. It works with the AJA DVCProHD compression codec with ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS AND IT LOOKS GREAT.

DO NOT RENT A MONITOR – buy the following and you will be VERY HAPPY.
Buy an AJA HDP (with the DWP power supply), and get a Sony SDM-P234b 23″
monitor. This combination lets you see the HD signal, and the image is INCREDIBLE. The monitor only costs $2000, and it will give you a better looking image than the EXPENSIVE NEW SONY LUMA series monitors, that only display 1280×768.

YOU STATE –

I believe Bob Z was testing the setup and had good results but its still being tested for when the drives are full.

MY REPLY – My results are not conclusive, and I will not make further comments until after NAB, but I have some amazing stuff to tell you, once I am confident about all of this. The basic config. is the new Sonnet Tempo
eSATA card with 8 SATA drives, but there is more to it. Until then, if you only need DVCProHD compression (if you are working in 720p with the Panasonic Varicam), you will be very happy with the drives you own – the Lacie d2 Extreme.

I am leaving for NAB on Tuesday the 12th, but will try to keep checking this site to give you more info.

The AJA Kona 2 and the AJA I/O are the most important products in the post production industry today.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

please describe your HD source (or SDI source) VTR, and exactly how you are monitoring the output of the Kona 2 – do you have an HD monitor, or are you using a YRB component monitor ?

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I am not surprised by your results. These are just Firewire800 drives, just like the Lacie. They do 8 bit uncompressed (which is fine for “broadcast quality”), and DVCPro50 and DVCProHD.

Be happy – it’s cheap.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Both products are excellent, and I also have a preference towards AJA, but let me ask you a question. You are going to purchase a $3000 MAC G5, more in RAM, one or two Cinema displays at $2000 each, lots of storage for HD, which doesn’t include a host controller, an HD monitoring setup which will cost you several thousand dollars, a sync generator, and an HD VTR that will cost you at least $27,000. Why are you basing your decision on a $500 difference for the HD capture card?

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

This is certainly a big question for me. The REAL answer is that they are being put into a beta site tomorrow, and we will see what happens when they start to get full. It’s one thing to run AJA System Test on an empty drive array, it’s another thing to have hours of 1080i HD uncompressed footage on the array, and see what really happens.

I will keep you up to date. If it actually works, I will give you all the details. I don’t want to make a complete fool of myself yet (unless I already have !).

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

David –
This is another one of my offensive posts. Are you trying to say that you would have the money to buy ($70,000) or rent ($1100 per day) a VTR like the
Sony HDW-F500, specifically so you can RECORD BACK AT 23.98, and you are trying to figure out how to get around getting a $3000 Ensemble Designs tri level sync generator? Are you kidding me?

As I stated before, if you are doing normal 59.94 work, the HD VTR’s will do the pulldown for you, so you can keep using your cheap Horita (for example) black generator, and still do your 24p work. But when you record back to tape, it’s at a TV frame rate. But now, you are shooting a FEATURE FILM, that will match back to 24p,and you need to be able to record your EXPENSIVE
footage back to a $70,000 VTR, and you can’t buy or rent a tri level sync gen?

Come on.

Bob Zelin