Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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Since I’m not familiar with the F3 I can’t advise you on the proper camera setup but I can advise you on the KiPro Mini. If you haven’t activated the following conditions below please do so:
– Make sure the “Arm Recording” is set to TC/REC KEY otherwise the device will not respond to the RP188 protocol sent through the SDI from your F3 that tells the Mini to stop/start recording.
And this from Jon Thorn, Product Manager, AJA Video Systems:
“In general, when using Ki Pro products with cameras, using “Freerun” for the genlock setting is advised as the Ki Pro Mini will autodetect incoming format and frame rate based on the incoming SDI or HDMI signal and it will lock to that signal. The genlock setting is designed for playback purposes.”
Hope this helps somewhat.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Glad to be of service 🙂
Cheers,
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
[W. Lawrence Stevens] “I’ve tried to figure out how to just the simple task of converting a BPAV folder’s contents to .MOV files.”
If you’re on a Mac you don’t use CB to re-wrap to MOV. That job is for XDCAM Transfer or XDCAM Log and Transfer. If you’re having issues with any of those programs the first thing to try is to delete the preference file(s) for each one. The path is: Macintosh HD>Users>yourname>Library>Preferences
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Yeah, the Kona 3 does real time down convert from anything to anything. I would love that.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
[Raymond Singer] “I’m used to editing the footage from a JVC HM700 which delivers .mov files and none of these kinds of problems, though I don’t really know why since it’s also a compressed format, and one the Sequence thinks is XDCAM EX.”
Could be because if memory serves the HM700 stuff is 720p and not 1080. That one difference might be all it takes to have a smooth playback as opposed to a choppy one. Both JVC and XDCAM EX formats are essentially the same because JVC is using the EX codec under license from Sony.
[Raymond Singer] “If I’ve got this right… the long QT cook is due to QT demanding full I frames (?).”
If you rendered your timeline first and then export a self-contained movie you’ll find that the actual export won’t take any longer than any other normal export. Rendering out an XDCAM EX timeline is tedious at best because of all the conforming going on. If you were just making simple cuts and fade ins/outs that would take less time to render than if you’re doing more involved things like colour correction. If you haven’t rendered first and just hit “Export” FCP will render as it’s exporting which seems to take forever even with the latest Mac Pros. It all depends on whether you want to have your render files taking up space on your drives afterwards. This is one of those situations where you can export a self-contained ProRes movie instead of an XDCAM EX movie because either one would take about the same amount of time to render.
[Raymond Singer] “The long Compressor time is spent squashing down the 1080 to an SD recipe (?).”
Again the amount of time it takes to turn a 1920×1080 .mov into an anamorphic 720×480 (854×480 sq.pixels) .mov is directly affected by what codec you’re down converting and how much quality you’ve got dialed in to your Compressor settings. ProRes will take less time to convert because it’s I frame and not Long GOP. If some of the settings in Compressor for MPEG2 are set to “Good” instead of “Best” (such as frame controls) there won’t be any discernible difference in the result but it makes a huge impact on conversion times. These observations are from personal experience and not just from parroting something I’ve read, although reading about it prompted the tests in the first place.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
First off, editing XDCAM EX material is going to be more taxing on your editing workstation than Mini-DV ever was. Every time you make even a simple cut in the timeline FCP has to “conform” the edit point which means interpolating or manufacturing new frames because of the MPEG2 15:1 compression. If your computer hasn’t been maintained properly for a while like emptying system cache files, etc. on a regular schedule you will notice a general drop in performance. You never stated what sort of media drive(s) you have your XDCAM EX material on, either. You never mentioned how you have your FCP preferences set up. Do you have dynamic RT active? Do you have your audio track playback settings on high or low quality? Do you have the video in your Browser and Canvas windows set to “fit to window?” All these things can have a drastic effect on processor intensive MPEG2 playback. What version of FCP do you have? Did you know that you can edit in an XDCAM EX timeline but set your renders to ProRes?
Converting to ProRes first will alleviate some of the work your processors have to do but the burden will shift to your media drives’ increased transfer rates because Pro Res is an “I Frame” codec and has much higher file sizes. If your editing workstation is maintained properly and have good transfer rates from your peripherals you shouldn’t have an issue. Your machine certainly has enough oomph to do the job. FYI I’m still using the first gen. 4 core Mac pro to edit multiple tracks of XDCAM EX footage and it works well enough. It’s even better with ProRes.
Hope this helps.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Is there media on the card you would like to keep? If not then you can put your card into an SDHC reader and have your computer delete the files. Then put the card + adapter back in the camera and it should prompt you to reformat the card. If not then get the camera to do it anyway.
If there is media you would like to keep first write-protect the card then try to access the BPAV folder with your SDHC reader and copy it to your hard drive. Then try to access the media from the copied BPAV folder using your usual methods.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
If you take your camera in for warranty work or for a general tune up it’s $140.00 at Sony here in Vancouver and they’ll do the firmware upgrade while it’s there. No extra charge.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
I have an EX1R but the settings should be similar for an EX1, Go to the VIDEO SET menu and set the ‘Output Select’ to HD SDI/Component. That should send the signal to both the SDI port and the Component (RGB) port.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com -
Well that’s a first. Never heard of that happening unless, of course, you’re lugging your machine around from place to place and it gets smacked once in a while. At least you had the forethought to check that RAM. Good job.
– Don
Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com