[Daniel Stone]

Figured it out. The monitor works when I hold the DVI/Display adaptor in the socket on the back of the card and stops working when I let go.

Looks like it’s either a bad adaptor or bad socket on the card. I ordered a new adaptor. If that doesn’t fix it, it looks like I’ll be sending the card back.

[Daniel Stone]

Thanks so much for the reply!

The system only sees one monitor. I’ve checked the DVI cables, which seem to be okay. The one thing I haven’t checked is the DVI/Display Port adaptor (the short adaptor cable that comes with the card), which I’ve read has a tendency to arrive faulty.

I’m going to order a new one and give it a try.

[Daniel Stone]

As someone who usually learns “the hard way,” I can tell you that the biggest difference between a $300 system and a $600+ system is reliability.

I bought three $250-ish Samson units that are compact and look great – but were a royal PITA. We don’t use them anymore because we’d spend about 45 minutes on set trying to figure out why one of them isn’t working, another one is dropping out and why they all have static. On top of that, the audio quality just wasn’t clean. There’s a subtle hissing over everything someone was saying. Subtle but annoying. We ended up running the lapel directly into the camera.

We later bought a $1500 Lectrosonics kit and the difference was astounding in almost every way. We would plug it in, turn it on and go…clean, reliable audio. No static, no drop outs, no hissing, and very rare interference.

Obviously I’m using extremes to illustrate the difference as I’m certainly not suggesting you spend $1500 on a system. I’ve heard great things about the G3. We didn’t buy it mainly because of the flimsy mic input (3.5mm unbalanced) and the complaints we saw online about it.

To this day, when we film a seated “talking head” interview, we still tend to use hard-wired mics. Weird, I know, but it’s the most reliable and cleanest sound. It also lets you spend your money on a nicer mic.

Good luck!

[Daniel Stone]

I have an ATI Radeon X1900 XT and a Kona Lhe.

[Daniel Stone]

Did you also take a picture of the copier with the lid closed? Or is the real picture on a background you can trash/easily reproduce (like a solid backdrop)?

You can certainly stack layers but your edge won’t have any texture. If the build accuracy of the lid isn’t critical you may try a 3D extrusion plug-in. Dave has an excellent point about the reflections. You’ll have to build those separately and apply to your surfaces.

[Daniel Stone]

Ah, like I thought — I was missing something straightforward.

Thank you so much!

Dan

[Daniel Stone]

[Mark Suszko] “I think a more practical method than shipping out DVDs at this point is using targeted e-mail brochures for your stock footage, with built-in links to a viewing site and an FTP download link.”

I agree.

Crazy as it sounds, the thought of opening a DVD, placing it into a DVD player (or even into my laptop) and sifting through what’s on there makes me cringe. Even if I were in desperate need of stock footage.

Your best bets are 1. put it online and 2. create a relationship with the producer through email so he/she can ask you for specific pieces of footage without having to search.

Good luck!

[Daniel Stone]

Thanks much for the feedback, guys! Awesome info and right along the lines of what I was thinking.

I’ve been rethinking our payment model lately. I used to think that a well-paid crew was a happy crew and am finding that this isn’t always the case (especially after talking with some colleague pro-co owners in NY and LA).

It’s interesting… turns out it’s all about setting standards and expectations up front. For example, we tell crew that we pay NET 30 from the date of their invoices. However, checks almost always go out same day, received by the crew within 2 days. If something happens and checks take a week, we start getting frantic phone calls and emails demanding payment. Other production companies in the area usually pay NET “whenever” and only get phone calls when payment is hovering around 90 days. It makes me want to start lowering expectations by holding the check until day 29.

I’ve learned that good crew is good crew no matter what the paycheck is. Crew will charge what you’re willing to pay and a producer who pays anything billed is a sucker.

[Daniel Stone]

Hey Peter,

Thanks for the response! I emailed them a week and a half ago and haven’t heard back. I’ll try calling to see if I can get through.

Dan

[Daniel Stone]

Hi Rich,

Thanks so much for sending that. Very helpful and definitely much easier than I thought!

Dan