[Dave Haynie]

Ok, a couple of things.

I believe the clock is an overlay/effect, right. That’s moving because it’s fixed relative to the frame, and when you render a project set at one resolution to another resolution, you change your frame size.

What’s your final target resolution. If you really want 1920×818, you need to set up your own template. That’s not a standard resolution. In fact, it’s not technically legal AVC… you need to have a resolution evenly divisible by 16. As long as you don’t care about Blu-ray, no problems.

If you’re not concerned about compatibility with other formats, set your project to 1920×832 or 1920×816 is you want to avoid possible weirdness rendering to any of the MPEG formats. You should choose an AVC output, start with one of the Internet templates, something close to what you want. Select “Custom..” on the Render As.. requester, and edit accordingly (eg, set the custom frame size). You can determine the audio rate on the audio tab here, and the container (MPEG-4, MPEG-2 TS, etc) on the System tab.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

[joann payne] ” I recently had an interview I had to video with a prominant sportsman, so I had a condenser Microphone on output (Channel 1) & an a wireless lapel Mic on putput (Channel 2) Both Stereo. “

No, that’s not what you had. The Sony HXR-NX5, like most pro models, offers only two XLR inputs. The usual 3-pin XLR is a balanced monophonic input, not a stereo input; neither are your microphones stereo mics.

The camera records the two tracks as a stereo pair, and that’s how it’s imported into Vegas. But it’s a trivial matter to adjust this. Take your single stereo track, right click on the information area left of the audio waveform view. Select “duplicate track”.

Next, right click in the waveform area on the first track. Select “Channels/Left Only”. Then move to the second track, select “Channels/Right Only”. You now have your separate mono tracks in Vegas.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

I haven’t used that interface specifically. But I do use a Tascam US-1800, which is properly supported via ASIO driver under Vegas. The only trick seems to be to ensure that the US-1800 is connected well before I fire up Vegas. When I do that, I get all 16 channels available; if I start Vegas first, Vegas apparently assumes the device is 2-channel.

That’s fine for basic multitrack recording. I’m not sure if Vegas has any way to tap the Ultra8R’s DSP capabilities. M-Audio seems to have a dedicated application for that. I would kind of expect them to have a plug-in set for support of the DSP, but I didn’t see any mention of it. CPUs are so fast these days, I don’t bother with outboard DSP for audio anymore.

Of course, the fact that Vegas works with at least one ASIO multitrack recording interface on Windows 7 is no guarantee it’ll work in all cases. You kind of need the DAW, the OS, and the Drivers all stable. If I were you, I’d check the M-Audio support forms and see if there are issues with drivers, before buying.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

[Ben Edwards] “Thanks for your reply. I was referring to XP 64b bit, does that still have the 2GB for a application limit?
“
No, 64-bit XP doesn’t have the application limits. But it’s also not very well supported. Most 64-bit device drivers, and even some 64-bit applications, are only supported by 64-bit Vista and/or Windows 7.

The reason for this is simple… the Microsoft Logo and certification prograsm. If you buy a PC, every single driver or application (even the crapware) will have passed Microsoft’s certification process. This is guaranteed, simply because MS charges more for Windows if you ship a PC with uncertified software. So no one does it. When you buy a boxed bit of software or hardware, there’s probably a Windows logo on it.

As of Vista, manufacturers had to test with 64-bit operating systems, and they had to release 64-bit drivers, in order to get these certifications, in order to use the Windows logo. But 64-bit XP…. nope, no demand for that to be supported. So in general, it’s not.

[Ben Edwards] “In terms of memory that’s interesting. I have heard several people (I believe on this forum) saying 4GB should be enough. I have 4 and have just got another 2, hopefully that will help. I have 2*2 Xeon 3Ghz cores.”
The 2GB per core is a rule of thumb. But think about it… fully symmetric multiprocessing allows each CPU to run independent code. If one core can use up 2GB, the second can also use 2GB, etc. Obviously, there is some real-world work when this is not the case, and some where 2GB per core would be way too little memory. It’s a pretty good rule for video, though I’ll admit… I only have 8GB and 6 cores, and don’t run into memory issues. I’m also well versed enough in system tuning to realize pretty quickly if I ever do get into that situation. If you’re not, memory’s cheap enough to pretty much follow this suggestion.

[Ben Edwards] “Do you know if 10 is more or less memory hungry that 9?”
It’s pretty much the same, far as I’ve seen. WHAT you do in any given situation (renders, plug ins, number of tracks, etc) will have a dramatically more significant effect on memory use than the difference between Vegas 9 and Vegas 10.

[Ben Edwards] “Lastly from what I can see Windows 7 Home Premium should be all I need. Is there an advantage for me getting Pro or Ultimate.
“
I use Home Premium. The main deal with “Pro” is business features, like the ability to join a domain, host the Windows remote desktop (just get VNC if you need this), run encrypted NTFS, and set and enforce network backup policies. I there’s also a VM-based XP emulation mode that’s not built-in on “Home”.

Ultimate under Vista was touted as the expert’s edition, but I’m not sure if that’s really true. It has everything that’s in all other editions, but seems with Windows 7 to be essentially “Enterprise Edition” for desktops. It includes things like Bitlocker (encryption for memory sticks), Applocker (sets policies for running different applications), some additional VPN-style networking things, and universal language support (eg, you don’t need to buy “German Windows” to get German, that’s “in there” under ultimate).

You’re actually perfectly safe with Windows 7 Home Pro, simply because MS does allow you to upgrade-in-place (for a price) to any greater version. But it’s unlikely most home or small business users will care about these things.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

[Mark Goldberg] “Camerawise, I recommend the Sony NX5 (pro version) or AX2000 (consumer version) of their AVCHD 3-chip camera which can be had in the $3500-4000 range.

I gave up on Sony awhile back. I used an HVR-A1 for years, but when it was time to upgrade, Sony didn’t offer anything reasonable. They kind of fixed that with the NX5… they finally embraced both flash recording, AVC for professional use, recording rates other than 60i (ok, sure, they did 24p on some higher end models), and all without being forced to use Sony’s proprietary memory stick. I had moved on to Panasonic by then, and still recommend the HMC-150 or HMC-40, depending on your budget. But the NX5 is a legit choice.

[Mark Goldberg] “A wonderful new entry is the Canon XF100, a 3-chip AVCHD cam that weighs about 2.5 pounds. “

Wow, that’s quite a bunch of mistakes for such a short sentence. Yes, the XF100 is new, and it well may be wonderful. But it’s an MPEG-2 camera… it does 4:2:2 MPEG-2/MXF at 50Mb/s (4:2:0 at 25Mb/s an 35Mb/s). And it’s a single-chipper, not a 3-chip model. Which is going to run you about $3,000. For over a grand less, you could have a 3-chip Panasonic HMC-40. And this is actually pricier than the HMC-150, too.

Canon offers what’s essentially an AVCHD version of this camera, with scaled down body/controls (same sensor) as the new HF-G10. This is Canon’s high-end consumer offering… so no XLR inputs, but at least it’s got a focus/zoom ring. Like most AVCHD models, they’re only doing 4:2:0 color, but on the other hand, AVC can deliver up to twice the coding efficiency of MPEG-2 (eg, well encoded AVC at 24Mb/s will look about the same as well encoded MPEG-2 at 48Mb/s). AVC encoding improves every year, as software algorithms improve and on-camera DSP chips increase in performance.

These have me a little nervous. I haven’t seen a full detailed review yet, and apparently, Canon thinks the world of their new 1/3″ sensor (one of them in the XF100/105, three in the XF300/305).

But as a former HVR-A1 user, I can attest to the single-chip issues, even when you have the best-in-class sensor of the era. These sensors are 2Mpixel, too… most of the single chip consumer camcorders, as well as DSLRs, get around the color error problems with single chippers by bit-bucketing.. if you have at least one red, green, and blue sensor per video pixel, there’s no need to interpolate across pixel boundaries. Thus, no color fringing along contrast lines. But with the single sensor… I’d be nervous.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

In that price range, you’re not getting XLRs. I use portable recorders for audio-for-video, a Tascam DR-1 and a Zoom H4n. Or a Tascam US-1800 on a PC if I need more mics at one time (recording bands, that kind of thing). The DR-1 takes the typical 3.5mm stereo jack for input, or a single 1/4″. The Zoom takes one 3.5mm stereo jack and XLR or 1/4″ (the combination Neutrik connectors).. and of course, it can do phantom power on the XLRs.

Each of these had a little brother in the $100 range that’ll probably do the job. This is the Tascam DR-07 and the Zoom H1.. both have built-in mics as well. The H1 is very small, which can be an advantage to some, but also has them using micro-SD rather than full sized, which is kind of unfortunate. Both do uncompressed or MP3, 16/24-bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz, and the Zoom does 96kHz as well. I have not used these myself, so do the research online.

As for the units I do have, the DR-1 is good, but the built-in preamps are a bit weak… I’m at the top of range, and a little noisy, on some dynamic mics, and forget most ribbon mics (obviously, you don’t get condensers without phantom power, unless you have one of those cheaper ones that takes a battery, or use a Beachtek box to hook in some XLR condensers). The H4n is a bit better with dynamics, but since it also works directly with condensers, that’s less of an issue. Both are fine with guitars directly plugged. The H4n can also do 4-tracks at once, and even has a mini-portastudio-style mode. But is about 3x your budget.

I was on the fence about Zoom. They’re made my Samson, and I have a fair amount of Samson gear (one studio/PA amp, two mixers, a couple mics)… it’s cheaper gear, but it tends to work as long as you know the limits… it’s the cheap gear that also breaks, or just plain fails to match its spec sheet (I’m looking at you, Behringer). A friend of mine has one of the first Zoom units, and it had a few issues, but the more I read about the H4n, the better it sounded. And Tascam hasn’t fixed their low preamp level issue in their new stuff… though not an issue on the PC recording interfaces. Different division, I guess.

As with most things, it pays to check it out in person, and of course, do your research.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

You would definitely have to set it to the appropriate 3D mode, manually… the 1920×1080 side-by-side format is “transparent”… you don’t need special 3D gear to play it, but the television has to support that mode.

The cool thing about the way they did Blu-ray 3D.. the 3D format on the disc is always the same, but can be converted into whatever your television supports. HDMI always negotiates a proper display mode between a player and a display, but in HDMI 1.4 they added the ability to negotiate 3D formats. There are half a dozen or so different ones possible — not every display is going to support every mode. And without explicit understanding on the player, you have to figure out how to set the 3D mode on the TV, manually.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

Yup.

Sometimes, travelling internationally, you’re just like any other consumer. At other times, not so much. I’ve had gear held up in customs, even with the proper paperwork.

One thing to understand, before you travel, is just what the border cops are looking for. In come cases, they’re looking for foreign workers coming in undocumented, in other cases, they’re just concerned the gear you bring in is going to be sold, without the local VAT being applied. In this latter case, a big passport full of other stamps isn’t a bad thing to have with.

And the worst “hard time” I ever received entering a country was in Canada, flying into Calgary from Philadelphia. No idea why, other than I was travelling on other business at the start of the “Stampede”. Guess I should have done my research and worn a Stetson and Chambray shirt, rather than long hair and some rock band on my T-Shirt.

The alternative, of course, is to bring less gear. If you have the whole event planned, that can work. I did a wedding in San Francisco last year… travelling cross-country. I was happy to bring any gear I needed, but after discussing the whole project with the couple, it was obvious I couldn’t set up an “interview room” or some of the other things you might normally do. So I left the extra stuff home. And I do filter all “extras” past my normal paranoia filter.

Of course, the People’s Republic of California has less annoying import and travel laws.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

I am looking for advice on equipment, I am just beginning and need to purchase two professional camcorders for shooting kids sporting events, skills videos and game footage. I have done lots of reading on various products but the more I read the more overwhelming this becomes with so many products.
While you don’t necessarily need pro gear for this, it’s not a bad option. I have shot soccer for over eight years (if you’re interested, you can see the online-quality versions here: https://www.frogpondmedia.com/soccer.

One big thing for sports… you really, really, really want to shoot at 60p. This can be 1080/60p, though that’s rare, or 720/60p, which is available on every serious pro/prosumer camcoder, but not usually on consumer gear.

I recommend tapeless… there’s zero point in tape anymore, and SDHC/SDXC flash cards, when you do decide to go tapeless. For one, that’s the only way to get 4 hour continuous shooting (back in my HDV days, I used 83min tapes to shoot a whole game.. sure, I could have changed tapes at halftime. But 32GB SDHC cards give you twice the storage), other than HDD recording. In-camera HDD is not a professional solution, simply because, when you drop them, they break.

I am looking to edit in Final Cut Pro, need HD quality video and at least 4 hours of continuous shooting. Ease of operation and learning curve would also be good.
Modern formats like AVCHD are not currently supported within FCP. As well, they’re the only major NLE not supporting a Blu-ray authoring solution. If you shoot in HD, Blu-ray is the best delivery format. It was at 17% of US households as of last September, and will be ubiquitous before too long… any player selling for more than $75 these days is a DVD/BD player. Next Christmas, that’ll be any player over $50.

I don’t use a Mac… overpriced and under-performing, for exactly the same hardware, if you ask me (and you should, I used to design computers for Commodore — the Amiga systems created “desktop video”). But if you do, switch to Adobe. Premiere was, at one point i time, the only real video solution on any PC that didn’t require custom hardware add-ons. And yeah, at another point in time, they were kind of a joke — you had to “import” your camcorder video into Adobe’s internal format, and they didn’t support the newer formats (sound familiar). I’m not an Adobe user (I use Vegas on the PC… the only real choice if you’re an audio guy), and I know Steve Jobs is gunning for them, but lately, Adobe has been rockin’ hard on innovating the video NLE (they have the best AVC editing, far as I’ve seen.. tightly coded playback engine that taps your GPU).

And Apple seems to have shut down on these things. Now that most of their money comes from iOS, not a huge surprise.

Any direction on some parameters on what to be looking for or any camcorder recommendations would be great. We have budgeted up to $3500 per camcorder.
I shoot sports with one camera. You will need another person for a second camera, there’s no way to leave a B camera just there on a tripod. And of course, you do want to shoot from a tripod.

The next choice — what are you shooting. The best case for two people on camera is this. If you’re coordinating with the team and players, they get a very real benefit being able to replay games. But for that to be very useful, you need to have a high vantage point, and shoot a fairly wide shot. On the other hand, if you want to shoot a highlights reel set to music (https://www.frogpondmedia.com/soccer/2008/highlights.html… shot with older cameras and less experience, but it’s not bad. Lots of unlicensed music, which is why it’s not on YouTube), you’ll want some ground-level close shots.

These days, I shoot with a Panasonic HMC40. You can spend more, but probably not get better video without going way past your budget.

-Dave

[Dave Haynie]

For the ceremony itself, the whole thing, with leadup and out, on at least two cameras. For the rest… it’s very dependent on the nature of the event, and what the client is looking for.

I run audio, on a flash recorder, from start to finish. That makes it very easy to sync up multiple cameras and segments in a single operation (you want something like PluralEyes for this, too).

The last wedding I shot was also the most bizarre. It was in a very poorly lit nightclub. They had a pre-wedding cocktail party and dinner for about 50 prime guests, then had another 150 people show up before the actual ceremony. Mixed before and after the ceremony, they had singers, acts (trapeze, singers, strippers, a pole dancer.. on a moving pole, performance art, etc). Very, very refreshing.

This was on the wrong coast (I’m in South Jersey, this was in ‘Frisco), so I did’t have assistants. I located the B camera in a few strategic places, and just let it run. I had the A camera on tripods and a GlideCam for the main video. Something like 6 hours of total video to deal with, all at 24p, 1/24th second, thanks to the fact it was practically in the dark.

The DVD/BDs looked good… if you weren’t me, and hadn’t had to deal with all the processing needed to really make the dark video “pop”. This one convinced me about buying a video DSLR sometime this year.

-Dave