David Eaks
Forum Replies Created
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If you can, wait. The current Mac pro is outdated and overpriced. Since you are currently on a G5 it shouldn’t be too hard to find an inexpensive used Mac Pro that will perform well enough to hold you over, or see if an iMac will suit your needs (but it is due for an update as well). I just hate to see someone spend top dollar on old stuff. https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
We were told “Something great is coming in 2013″… Whatever that is supposed to mean.
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WOW, thank you Mark!!! That add/delete key frame trick saved my sanity. At least I still have most of my hair left, I was about to go completely crazy!
Seems like this should be fixed by now…
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I agree with Jessica and Walter, edit natively in HD and use hardware to downscale. While I’m not familiar with the Kona cards, my KiPro does a great job downscaling, as well as my Matrox MXO2 LE/Mini. I’d suggest you get a Matrox MXO2 Mini (with MAX if you ever intend on burning Blu-ray or posting to YouTube), the price is definitly right. As I’ve posted a few times, hardware scaling with these devices is the only way I’ve ever been able to get 1920×1080 down to DVD with results that I’m happy with… Until FCPX, it does a good job too! I export my HD timeline with current settings, then put that into an SD timeline to export. Then bring the SD .mov into Compressor for Mpeg compression. This FCPX workflow is now my preffered method. My old 2008 Mac Pro does it faster than real time, unlike the Print to video “Legacy methods”.
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What’s your budget? How about the Canon Vixia HF G10?
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If all the client wants is a shot of the projector screen, can’t you just point any ol digital handycam from Best Buy at the the screen and record on the internal HDD or SD card? Preferably one with dual SD slots so you always have an fresh card ready to go. Or even an iPhone would do, wouldn’t it? Just copy the clips to a laptop during the breaks to make room for the next portion.
FWIW, here is my current workflow for recording presenters on stage (HD setup)
Get DVI feed from laptop, either from VGA Distribution Amp and a Geffen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus or the DVI output of the projector.
Panasonic AW-HS50 switcher-
SDI inputs 1 & 2- Sony NX5’s (close up and wide shots respectively)
DVI input- Feed from laptop.Mackie 1402 VLZ3- Podium/lapel mic, audience Q&A mic, ambient mic, house line feed, audio feed from laptop… Etc as necessary.
AJA Ki Pro- Record program output from the switcher, switching live. Record XLR main outs from Mackie. The Ki Pro provides Prores files ready for editing.
Record each camera internally, camera 2 (wide shot) with projector screen in the shot for reference of slide changes. Each camera can also record audio from the mixer, strategically sending crucial mics separately to each cameras inputs allowing the opportunity to alter your audio mix in post as well.
Have the presenter use the mouse cursor instead of a laser pointer, customize the cursor so it is easily visible to the audience if necessary but make sure the pointer does not look rediculous in the live mix (it also keeps the presenter from turning their back towards you as they lean away from the podium to see and point at the screen, and at the same time lowers the risk of them screwing with your audio by distancing themselves from the podium mic or turning their head away from the lapel mic) .
Get the presentation file on a USB stick in case any slides are needed for editing.
Compress for Blu-ray/YouTube with Matrox MAX faster than real time, downscale for DVD with Matrox MXO2/AJA KiPro in real time. Always give the client a Blu-ray as well as the DVD, even if they only ask for DVD… Someday they’ll come to see the difference and be glad to have it.
If the live mix is done well, it’s pretty much done. Stick some titles on, fine tune any little details and burn/upload. If you need to make changes, you have both cameras and every slide available to you. In the case that I’m not satisfied with my live switch and want to make a lot of changes, I have setup a multicam clip including both of the cameras and the live mix, to easily fix any poorly timed switches in the live mix. Having the wide shot for slide change reference is definitely crucial, but should only be a reference for inserting the slides. Avoid pointing a camera at the projector screen, framing it full-screen and using that shot in the final product.
Shooting presentations with this workflow can give incredible turnaround times, as in the client gets a YouTube of entire lectures for approval the next morning/evening.
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Does that MBP have an expresscard34 slot? A Matrox MXO2 Mini w/ MAX would remove the load from your system and save you time with faster than real time encodes with the YouTube presets (just barely faster).
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Im happy with my Sony BDP-S580, even though it has built-in wifi I use a Netgear Ethernet over power adapter to get Ethernet to all my entertainment centers devices- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002J9G5XG
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Is it possible that the shots were stabilized before you got the files?
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I think YouTube reencodes everything, if so you want to give YouTube the best quality video to start with that you can (within YouTube spec). But what do I know?