Del Holford
Forum Replies Created
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…and if you can’t afford the plug-ins buy a pane or 2 of glass at the hardware store or Lowes/HomeDepot, place it on a white sheet or black cloth and gently break it (them). Photograph that with your digital camera and use that photo as a layer over the image you want. Adjust lighting and transparency until you get the look you want. Be sure to clean up your mess and get all the glass off the cloth. 🙂
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del underscore edits at wtvi dot org -
We recently replaced our SGI crt in smoke with an HP 2335 LCD and it works fine but the Octane2 needs sync on green so it uses the 15 pin with an adapter. That only leaves RGB and composite in on RCA connectors. That might work for you if the Windoze machine can output to that. I think the 23″ version is now a 24″ version but is otherwise the same.
https://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12450_na/12450_na.PDF HTHDel
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del underscore edits at wtvi dot org -
I think part of the problem for those who attend college is the availability of “free” software their university or college has licensed as educational and is on their intranet. It’s not a big step to use the internet to then get other software and consider it as free also. Some colleges teach ethical behavior and others don’t. Early on in college my son was downloading or using pirated software. When I found out I ‘splaned to him the reasons not to be doing that. He found the university really had all he needed on license and had found the bugs/viruses in the other so he desisted from using it. After graduating and entering the defense industry he really saw the rationale of using only licensed versions.
Within my city I find the occasional maverick who will use pirated software but I think for the great majority having that serial number for the call to tech support is a no brainer. Some of the brightest and best in my city are young and have learned that tech support is a way of life. Teaching that to the newbies is an ongoing process. For those experienced people who insist on doing it we just stop using their services.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del underscore edits at wtvi dot org -
I think the conventional wisdom of soft cuts (3 -6 fr dissolves) combined with dips to black for complete thoughts would be sensitive to the subject matter. Even though you soft cut in the middle of the thought, continuing dips to black at the end of those thoughts will keep a smooth flow. I suspect you have limited B-roll and photos so you would want to use those where they put forward the story rather than randomly dropping them in as cover for the jump cuts.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del underscore edits at wtvi dot org -
The Sony HVR-M25U is HDV. HD broadcast output goes to DVC Pro 100 or HDCam or HDCamSR or D5 formats. HDV is currently an acquisition format. You can shoot 720p but your final output for broadcast will be to the above formats adding 3:2 pulldown. If you are creating corporate or web video you can output Quicktimes to DVD so no tape is needed. You’ll just have to make sure the end user can play progressive video into their viewing system.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org -
The animation codec works best for smoke and flame. Uncompressed for some reason doesn’t work. Since the animation codec is also uncompressed it will give you the best quality. None of the recent codecs will work. 🙁
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org -
Hi Sean
Both D5 and HDCam decks (setup #754 on the HDW-500) have setup selections for three SD outputs. One is letterbox, one is edge crop, and the third is anamorphic. The first two are common, while the third is used mostly for just making DVDs and not broadcast product. It takes a 16×9 image and squeezes the X axis down to 12×9 (4×3). Occasionally, by accident, our videographer has shot anamorphic. Using the dve I just expand the x axis to 1.33 and video is normal. DVD players do that on your TV.
I’ve never heard of a 4×3 anamorphic format, but that might be the way a person describes the above process. NTSC/CCIR 601 is 4×3 so other formats are converted to fit within its aspect.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org -
Not to put too fine a point on it but make sure your dimension specs are very tight. Just an eighth inch too wide or too narrow makes real trouble when the equipment goes in. I’ve been involved in two major installs. One was for two satellite master control rooms and two edit suites and a graphics room, plus the central machine room. The other was a large linear edit suite. Both had custom cabinets throughout (where we actually put in the rails) and shimming isn’t bad but cutting or gouging can be dirty work. 🙂 Fortunately the actual occurrences were minimal because the specs were tight.
On those projects the surfaces were laminate with oak bullnose trim, but I’ve also seen used 3/4″ birch or oak plywood – stained and polyurethaned, or MDF with iron on oak veneer (from your big box home improvement store) to make cabinets. Made with pride, they are furniture for the edit suite.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org -
We transitioned to all digital in 2001. Our switcher rides on a Windows 95 OS. Our character generator rides on a Windows 2000 OS. Our audio board rides on a Windows 98 OS. Our Master Control switcher rides on Windows 2000 OS. Our edit systems ride on Unix OS.
All of those systems are broadcast equipment and have functioned for 6.5 years with only a few minor glitches. The character generator had a RAM hiccup. The switcher gets confused now and then and we have to reboot. Most of these systems are now end of life or nearing it. Our audio board had a component failure not related to the PC. Our broadcast server was replaced with a GVG K2 recently, which quadrupled our storage and improved ease of use.
The systems available now are more tightly and component integrated and use either Windows XP or Mac OS-X. The only place you’ll get PC vs Mac discussion is in editing systems. The software for either OS has been greatly improved and is a matter of user preference. I had a custom built PC graphics computer for 6 years and the motherboard failed. Now I have a MacPro and it isn’t any faster or better, just different. (I’m not a command key fan)
So, like Dave said, get your boss to look at broadcast equipment or the success of your station could be in doubt.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org -
Ditto the dark cave. My walls are all neutral gray 40% white but sound absorbing panels on the side walls are deep red. I use tracks in several places then use pendant lights from the track to light the producer’s desk. I use 35 watt halogen spots on the tracks with barn doors to cut the light to specific areas. I do that on my work area as well. I have sound wave breakers on the back wall and they are grayish blue. They break up any reflected waves and make the room easy to monitor audio. SInce it’s a theatrical setup I only see the gray wall in front of me when working.
At home, just for working on the computer there, I have a 25 watt halogen light that I shoot on the wall behind the monitor. Just eases the eyestrain from the monitor.
Del
fire*, smoke*, photoshopCS3
Charlotte Public Television
del_edits@wtvi.org