[Craig Alan]

Phantom
power will not adversely effect the UEM81S as long as batteries are installed. If batteries are
not installed and phantom power is engaged, you may experience frequency loss in the bass
frequencies and higher self noise.
Avoid plugging or unplugging the microphone from a PA system unless the channel is muted or the
volume of the system is turned down. Failure to do so may result in a loud “popping” noise

this is from user manual. seems like a lot of things can damage this low end mike.

try cleaning the battery connections. https://www.samash.com/p/CAIG_CAIG%20ProGold%20Contact%20Spray_-49969742

will help oxidation. the rest of claims are hype but that it does well.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I’m facing exactly this situation. I want copies of FCP X, FCP 7 and AVID MC 6 on the same computer. You are saying you have all three installed on one lion partition and no problems? They all use the same version quicktime? No conflicts? So install a clean version of Lion then all three apps and we should be good to go?

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Not too many choices. In the menu HDV is 60 i which is 60 fields per second interlaced. This is the default. It will play fine on a TV. Cams with small lenses will not be great in low light. So learn to use the EXP control in P mode. You can also try HDV PF30 which is progressive but in an interlaced wrapper. That has its pros and cons over interlaced. Do a search for progressive vs interlaced. However keep in mind its not 60 fps progressive. Or better try the same scene in both and complete what ever post you normally would with your footage and compare the two. HDV PF24 is a lower frame rate 24 frames per second. It is the “film” look because traditional film cams used 24 frames per second. Handheld with a small cam 24 would most likely not be a good idea since at 24 you introduce motion blur and if you add the shake of hand held it most likely will be messy, Again the best thing to do is try it. There is no best. But if you don’t feel like experimenting just leave it on the default. Great image for a small cam at this price point. You want to up your game then use good lighting and get yourself a tripod.

You can also go HDMI out directly to a video recorder which will capture in the codec of the recorder. A cool feature for a small cam. But so far the recorders are way more than your cam cost. Not only will it record in a higher less compressed codec but this will be file based and in an editing codec. HDV is not the best for editing.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Well it’s been that way for a long time. But it’s getting very competitive in the camcorder market. When we record to the Ki Pro we get much better sound. The headphone amp still is horrible but the recorded sound is better than our cams. I just think it’s an obvious move to give a cam a competitive edge. On the professional level things are becoming modular and maybe one level of that could be quality audio. Just makes sense. On the other hand, software is becoming very good at syncing up sound. And maybe we will follow Hollywood’s lead in using ADR and foley. On location sound is always difficult even with good audio equipment. It’s hard to tell the world “quiet on the set.”

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[Richard Crowley] “It is assumed that if you are using them for something more serious than the 11pm local news, you will be using double-system sound and serious audio equipment.”

That might be the reasoning but it’s rather arbitrary. Historically I think it was because the good picture quality was the flashy thing that consumers wanted. And because video cams began with really poor picture quality.

But there are more and more folks using and becoming skilled at using prosumer level gear. They are often one-person bands and/or low budget and the need for camcorders with professional quality audio is there.

Do you remember the outcry when the Sony pd150/vx2000 line (the next gen of the vx1000 which began the whole video revolution) had noisy audio? Do you notice that a lot of reviewers comment that although DSL’s used as camcorders have great video that the need for double system is a point against them over traditional form factor camcorders?

If for an additional amount you could get higher end audio components in a prosumer level camcorder, I bet the large majority of folks would ante up. Most of these cams come in two packages one with xlr and the other with miniplugs. That certainly implies some folks want pro level audio and are not recording double system.

Richard I agree with you that given the state of things any one who is serious about recording high quality artistic videos will record double system but not usually out of choice.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

This is such a common need: getting a proper feed from a house mixer to our cams. It would be great to have a wireless system designed for this purpose. On the other hand, the mix from house boards are not usually set well for the house never mind for a cam.

However, what if you went from the house mixer xlr out to a SD 302 mixer. Adjust the inputs on the 302 depending on the type of signal.

Then could you output mic level from the 302 into handheld transmitter of the G2/G3 kit? Of for that matter skip some of the workarounds from the above posts and just use the G2 handheld transmitter. It does not provide phantom. And it is designed for xlr.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

If you are a one-man band and want to up your audio quality I would recommend the mixpre-D from sound devices. Gives you two professional inputs, professional monitoring, and with one hand to the side of your cam you can ride the levels. It attaches under the cam. If you are not a one man band then the sad 302 is a step up in that it has 3 inputs not 2 and two stages of adjusting the input sound levels which makes it really easy to adjust the levels for each input.

Here’s hoping that when we all finish moving to 4k or 3D 4k or whatever is more real than real that manufacturers will start paying as much attention to audio quality as they do visual resolution. Hollywood has decided that not only can you fix it in post you can do it in post (when it comes to sound). That’s great for the fat cats but for the rest of us it would be great to have high quality sound built in both in terms of components and ergonomics. Little things like 3-7 thousand dollar cams with crappy headphone amps and mediocre preamps? Really? Why?

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

https://wikis.utexas.edu/download/attachments/15045757/Sennheiser+G3+tech+tips.pdf

If you are not riding the levels with a mixer during the shoot, you might want to set the sensitivity a little conservatively, that is leaving a bit more headroom, so that if your talent suddenly speaks louder it won’t clip. The transmitter has a level meter but it is a bit basic. Just keep it above 1/2 way but not clipping and like i said leave a bit more headroom than the article suggests. Make sure your talent is giving you a performance level. A lot of folks tend to speak too quietly when doing a sound check. Tell them to talk at the loudest level they might.
Also if your camera has crummy (noisy) preamp, you might want to set the output level (AF out) from the receiver at a higher level and lower the gain knob on the camera.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[Andrew Richards] “By local I mean by actually typing in a password. You can do that via screen sharing or on the real keyboard. But there isn’t a button in ARD to “Log In User” like there is for Log Out Current User” that you can apply to multiple Macs in one stroke.”

Suppose i want to enter the same password on all computers? The way I use user accounts is by having one user account for all computers per period. I assign each student and/or each team a specific computer per period. So if only student A is on computer #1 3rd period then no one else can play with his files, because during 3rd period he is the only one using that computer and the other periods are logged in with a different passcode/user account.

I’m the only one with the passcodes for each period.

So is there a way I could type in the same passcode on all computers at once? It would be rather time consuming to log in 30 computers individually. Though even that is easier sitting at one computer than walking up to each and trying to not have the passcode stolen.

[Andrew Richards] “For filesystem permissions to work at all, you need to have the students log in with unique accounts. Did you say if you were going to use Open Directory on OS X Server?”

I know nothing about servers and Open Directory on OS X Server. I was told I could control the computers using ARD so I ordered it.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Just got notified by Apple that the site license for FCP X and Lion are on the way.

And your advice is making me feel more relaxed about getting this to work with reasonable order.

I wish everyone would just respect each other’s projects but I’ve seen otherwise.

This sparse image approach seems to be a real problem solver.

Still would need to log users in and out since we will also have research, scripts, and perhaps AVID files on these as well.

What I meant by partition each drive into two was to address your concern that if the raid went down I’d be loosing every period’s work. If it is just four independent hard drives then only two would be lost at a time. But raid 5 or 10 would provide some protection from any given drive’s failure. 10 would be more secure than 5 I assume, but 5 retains more total space? Yes I think the included drives are enterprise class.

[Andrew Richards] “Logging in is something that has to happen by hand since it requires authentication.
“

There is no way from the server computer that I can log in to each computer each period? I mean even without ARD I can set up two macs on the same network so that one can take over the desktop of the other and type in whatever. I thought for sure this would be possible.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.