[Chris Poisson]

For track mattes with solids I use “travel matte luma.” I use this A LOT, it is very flexible and easy to keep track of by using a specified color matte for each layer, a little trick I found. That way you can quickly tell which matte you need to move.

I usually just use the matte generator and the crop sliders. it is a very fast and clean workflow.

DH Box is very good, but I don’t think it’s as quick as dragging things in the canvas. Render times are probably a wash.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Bob,

You are the guy who threatened to kill me a couple of years ago if I didn’t get a BB generator to solve some of my Kona woes, and I did, and I’m still alive, so something must’ve gone right.

I’m NOT looking for a $295 solution or any specific dollar amount to spend, because I think whatever the initial price for these things, while fair, will ALWAYS come down with competition in as little as 6 months in many cases.

So, I am just fishing for info on viable alternative products for my laptop which are at a good price. The Eclipse isn’t one of them, I was trying to find out if BM had a FireWire option in the works.

The FW capable decks you mention are a nice option, thanks, I can rent any of them here. But I want an in-house system solution, like the AJA iO HD, only cheaper, that’s as simple as I can make it.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

As always, thanks Dave.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Maybe I don’t have my terminology straight, I have what’s called surge protectors and they were around 60 bucks I think. Is that what you mean by conditioner?

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Hi Walter,

No, I don’t have an APS or conditioner, but I do have a dedicated 20 amp line to the system. Like I said, the BM on the same line and same system never did this, and all my other equipment just hums right along, so I don’t think it’s power related.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

I would add that my first video card was a BM DeckLink SP, which aside from paying full boat before they did a major price break, never gave me a lick of concern. It is still humming away on my old G4, it is a rock-solid little SD station.

I have worked on a Multibridge Extreme at another post house for several weeks on different jobs and must say it is rock-solid too. Tell you what, If I could plug one of these babies into my MacBook Pro, I’d buy one in a heartbeat.

I do like the BM control panels very well and the ease with which it will play to your broadcast monitor as part of your desktop, which while an option on my Kona LH, has never worked properly.

Not to knock my Kona, but the fact that their support people are close by and accessible has been fortunate, as I have had no less than 5 system failures with it in a bit less than two years. It has been less than ideal, although their people have helped me through the failures on two occasions and even replaced the whole card once for free. Just two weeks ago, I was working on some spots late one day and shut everything down, only to be denied the next day when I went to make dubs. It periodically just decides to shut down and not pass a full signal on to the monitor or deck. Solution is usually to disconnect everything and re-connect, which is one big pain in the ass, especially when a client is harping me for the dubs.

I am still a big fan of Kona though, I have always gotten through, but it’s sort of like owning a ’60’s vintage English sports car with their attendant electrical woes, you never know when the damn thing won’t start, but you love it nonetheless. I am probably pretty alone with this problem, although my BM card in the same system with the same cables and same decks NEVER did this.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Yes, and yes, if you render it with an alpha channel. That leaves you with the Animation codec, I don’t know of any other that can do this.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Well,

About the only way you can just do one is to do it huge with no fields, but then, you still have frame rates to deal with.

What I do in AE is make the thing 1080 and center it, then you can nest (precompose) that into any format comp you want, change the frame rate, render with fields etc. So all you’re really doing is re-rendering the darn thing.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Walter,

You tested an Eclipse and you didn’t like it? Why?

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Poisson]

Boy a day later, I’ve got these into 8 bit and also Motion Jpeg, both have a lot of pixelization in anything moving, really terrible. Any fix for this?

Have a wonderful day.