[Daniel Miller]

Update: For what its worth, I talked to a friend in dallas who told me to try plugging in a standard def color bars signal into the ref in of my card then try recording and see if the clicks and pops and audio/video sync drift persisted. I did and the clicks and pops went away, but my audio/video sync drift remained.

I was doing some digging and I found the HD10AVA from aja

https://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_HD10AVA.html

Since this can combine analogue audio with component video could that take care of the audio/video sync drift?
This converter doesnt have a ref in port, will that be a problem?

[Daniel Miller]

What FCP easy setup are you using for the timeline your putting P2 footage into?

[Daniel Miller]

cool, i guess thats what we’ll end up doing.

so, just to say ive learned something from this thread, its that the cause of the problem is my imperfect input signal combined with some nuance of the dvcpro hd codec that is leading to the pops?

[Daniel Miller]

yes, I did, the pops were still there as well as the audio losing sync with the image making it completely useless.

[Daniel Miller]

I do actually, Ill see if I can get one from work and test it out. Its a 1400. If it turns out that when inputing from the 1400 the pops disappear, that just means the pops are a result of my strange input signal?

[Daniel Miller]

Well, the signal coming out of the PC is our footage, our characters bobbind their heads (just like red vs blue does) but we cant do the audio in game because a small icon will appear over their heads indicating they are the ones talking, so for the editor I wanted there to be a scratch track of the dialogue to help him edit. Imagine trying to cut a scene of people talking, but theres no audio. Just moving lips and bobbing heads. Itd drive you up the wall. So i got the mixer so I could plug in a mic to lay down a scratch audio track so that the editor can have some clue of what is happeneing in the scene as opposed to just seeing silent head bobs. does that make sense?

heres a link to the bad audio
https://sherman.unsquare.com/CreativeCow/BadAudio_1-2.aif

the more I hear people respond the more it seems like im just going to have to deal with the clicks and pops, the reason i brought it up is that it seems like a silly problem to have. I mean a Kona card is 1600-1800 bucks, am I asking too much from my card, or is my computer just too slow? I dont know, Im just trying to wrap my head around why this is even happening in the first place? Thanks for you help again guys, Its very informative.

Jeremy, when we launch the site early next month, ill pm you a link to the site. If you liked RvB youll probably like this.

[Daniel Miller]

The main outputs of the mixer are 1/4″, thats a 1/4″ to XLR adapter sending the main out of the mixer to the analogue in of the kona.

Heres a picture of the mixer Im using, if that helps at all.

the mic is plugged into channel 1 through the xlr plug, the output goes out into the aforementioned 1/4″ to xlr adapter and then into the kona. The levels are all fine, nothings peaking or anything like that, its just these subtle random clicks and pops. If it might help I could post a link to one of the sound files that has that clicks in it.

[Daniel Miller]

its not pretty, I know, but we get a great looking image. I know it sounds stupid, but I wanted to bring what amount of professionalism I have to the project. I dont know a ton, but I know some knowledge from the short amount of time I spent at a post house in dallas, and Im just trying to using the knowledge I have to do something that no one has done before in this genre (machinima…google it, its a whole other story). Again I apologize if im just being studpid, I just want to make this project as good as it can be, I know you guys all do the same. Thats why I asked for advice here.

[Daniel Miller]

thats the adapter, its made by ATI, its plugged into an ati x1950 pro that resides in a PC. The control panel for the x1950 card is set to 720p output. As you can see the cables plug into the RGB input of my KONA card that is in my mac. In the control panel for my KONA it tells me that a 720p 59.94 signal is coming in through the analogue inputs. Is this the best way to do this…no, i know this, is this the only way I can afford right now, yes. Im using this whole setup to record a narative program filmed inside a video game. Now that you all know how massive a dork I am I hope I am not laughed out of the internet.

Bob, I looked at the Matrox MXO you mentioned, that would do exactly what I want, but I cant drop another grand for another piece of equipment. If Im dumb and wasting everyones time, I apologize, I just thought that since 95% of all problems are user error that there was some check box or menu setting I was missing that would take care of the clicks and pops. Since all of you guys have been doing this stuff for a while, I thought something might stand out. The case seems to be that what Im doing just isnt going to work how I want it to unless theres still something Im missing.

[Daniel Miller]

well bob, if iI had a bottle I would send it to you, I can only assume your wish for death is a result of my need for a tri-level sync or black burst generator. I’m sorry I made you want to die. If I am wrong please someone let me know, I don’t want bob to die.