[David Garcia]

OK, I just ran a test because this worried me a little bit.

Shot on the camera then played out through the component outs to my Panasonic BTLH1700 monitor. This monitor has a built in waveform monitor. It’s crude, but for these purposes seemed to do the trick.

Comparing the component out of the camera to the output (same footage post P2 import to FCP) via SDI from a Kona card the waveforms are the same. Visually I see no difference either. I see no difference in levels or quality of the footage (ie. conversion problems)

My conclusion is that you are having a monitoring issue rather than an issue with the footage or conversion. Keep in mind that PC monitors do have a lower gamma than Macs. this may be the rub, but you can be confident that FCP is not messing with your footage.

A humble servant to boucing light,

David

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

I guess you know that Macs have a highter monitor gamma then PCs. But I thought it might be worth mentioning. I’ve not done extensive testing, but stuff looks pretty much as I’ve been expecting on my Panasonic monitor out of my AJA card.

I’m curious though. Going to check it out.

David

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

Yup. Got one in mine right now. Works good.

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

I haven’t confirmed this, but it looks like the Kona Card will output will output an rs-232 signal from the serial port. In final cut device control there is an option for jvc-rs232. I don’t have the proper cables to test yet.

However all this being said, this deck won’t work for this application as the component outputs are only post MPEG compression. There is no direct RGB out from the DV end of the deck.

Thanks again,

David

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

Thanks all. I appreciate the help.

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

You can only do variable frame rates with 720. So if that should about settle it.

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

Would this guy be suitable for cutting DVCPRO HD? thanks.

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

We 2 HVXs, two P2 stores and 4 4gig cards. We’ve yet to do an intense 2 camera always rolling shoot, but the four cards to one camera that I usually have seems to be working nicely. The unexpected upside of 4gig cards is that I can copy the partitions of the p2 store (each one represents a card load) right to DVDs.

We are currently editing on Mac, but I have an older PC that I want to use as a P2 archiving/viewing station. It’s a P3 with two 16x DVD burners so it should be great for archiving. Not sure if I’ll be able to view HD clips on it yet. PC for archiving simply because MAC has no P2 viewer yet, and I don’t want to have to unwrap all my MXF’s and double file space just to look at them.

This is our current planned workflow. I’m a little concerned about long term with the DVD-Rs maybe degrading… definitely looking forward to Blu-Ray.

david

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

Ok,

I’m just replying to my own post here. I’ve now confirmed from a thread on DVXuser that indeed you cannot monitor HD via firewire through this camera. Apparently the component outputs are disabled for firewire output. Seems a little weak to me. But I still like the camera. I just thought yall should know. YOU CANNOT MONITOR HD VIA 1394 THROUGH THIS CAMERA.

We moved up getting our Kona card, but I gues it’s digital cinema for the powerbooks. Oh well, I guess it’s just SD -> HD growing pains eh?

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm

[David Garcia]

On the archiving front,

I’m hearing that DVD-Rs actually have a pretty limited lifespan. I’ve been hearing that they’ll last about 5 years tops. Apperently the dye in the disc eats itself or something. I haven’t been using them 5 years so I don’t know.

Will Blu-Rays be suceptible to degredation aswell?

I guess DLT sounds good.

David Garcia
Halflife* Digital
Albuquerque, NM

david garcia
Halflife* Digital
albuquerque, nm