[Gary Brown]

I saw the Wafian in action and REALLY want one. It was sweet, taking PRE HDV compression footage directly into the cineform intermediary. Yes, it looks like the perfect recorder for a dual cam shoot. I use Vegas Pro v8b and the Cineform files edit like DV.

IMHO

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

Hey David,

I saw your post at the Creative Cow forums. I have three 250s and the older RM-P210. I am unclear as to why you have run genlock to the camera. I have the genlock attached to the CCU in the rack and have a stable picture. BUT … I have used our old SONY camera cables and wonder if that is why I have NO option in the CCU to select a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. I am looking at the For-A line as well as the Broadcast Pix Slate series. Either way with the old CCU I know I will pony an HDSDI line from the camera to the switcher. I find the manual somewhat wanting and am stumped as to why the cable is the issue (It may not be, & I am grasping at straws). The Sony switcher we have now is capable of a 16×9 signal but I can’t even get to the setting in the CCU for the 250 to try it out while waiting for the new gear. Any tips?

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

Well sort of!

I have several HD250Us and use a litepanel Mini on an NOGA 10″ Israeli arm. I put the light at the top of the lens for close up or macro work. However it will reach nearly 2″ past the 16.5x lens. Hope that helps!

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

Glad to put in my 2cents. Don’t hesitate to keep in touch, as we are probably affected by similar issues and stresses. I’m working through a BIG bottle of ADVIL as I design the HD upgrade here. Where in the country are you. I’m in southeast Virginia.
GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

I was looking at this camera to replace our staff cameras for the schools cable channel. In my research I was told that Sony’s Vegas has been able to edit .TOD files since version 7e. We are currently using Vegas Pro 8. (if I had a small .TOD file I could verify this capability.)

There are full featured demos of Vegas Pro 8, available at Sony Creative Software. I would probably follow the backup-files-to-PC-harddrive workflow and then just drag them to the time line. My question to youis is, ‘can I copy the files off the memory directly to the PC?’

The manual says I can’t ‘play’ them but can I just copy them? Anyone?

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

I had an issue with one of our HD50s, and found that unpluging it and leaving it off for 5 to 10 minutes, reset the unit (power surge? Moody Chip?) and it worked fine again. (Knock on wood now that I’ve said that.)

Most everyone in southeast Virginia (the Pro Service folk) send ’em back to JVC and tack on a service fee. FYI, it’s your money.

I sent off the HD10’s and found the factory service to be swift and excellent.

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

I have three of the hd 250s, and three HD-10s, and feed the Vegas timeline (via ieee 1394) the footage via our BR-HD50s. Vegas then allows me to convert, on output, to nearly any format. Just like it will take nearly any file for inclusion on the timeline. I need to keep my render in 720p for print back out to tape. But I can (and regularly do) output the same project to 1080/60i for BluRay, or WMV, etc for other delivery vehicles. While we chose Vegas because of it’s speed and functionaliy, I didn’t realize it was saving me time and tylenol here as well.

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

Hey Robert,

We picked and like the JVC BR-HD50 decks. We moved/are moving to HD with 720p as our native acquisition, until we are able to go to solid state acquisition like the EX-1. We were fully DVCam and now are in the process of kicking it up a bit. These decks feature an RS422 port for edit control as well as many features that make it a good fit for us; HMDI, ieee 1394 (DV & HDV) and they take tha large tapes so any program can be managed up to 4.5 hours! We generally have passed the linear concept and use these mostly with ieee 1394 control. Sony Vegas (v6 through Pro 8) have no problems doing frame accuate inserts and adendums.

The studio kits for the JVC HD250U are our replacement studio cameras. They are easily convertable to/and from feild use and the whole kit: Camera, lens, viewfinder, rear (studio) controls, ccu, and cable for under $20,000. They make beautiful pictures. The decks cost us about $3500 so it was an easy sale to the powers above considering the replacement DVCam decks (DRS-1800) were still nearly 3 times that. So I got 2-for-1 a saved money for other gear!

The other suggestion is to find a copy of Serious Magic’s DV Rack (now “On Location” and found in one of Adobe’s CS3 bundles) and an external hard drive. I record the school board and much in our studio direct to disk. I take the ieee 1394 feed from the back of either the 3000 (School Board system) or the 1800 in the control room. The program gives a full featured DDR, as well as video & audio monitors, and scopes all based on the digital feed NOt an analog conversion. I then either clone the file to my editors, or if I am in a bigger hurry, edit straight from the Hard Drive. It saves my large amounts of uploading, and printing time.

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

Douglas Spotted Eagle from VASST told the crowd at NAB a great deal about skydiving and successful capturing. I beleive one of the things I remember is the altitude limitations of HARD DRIVE recorders. They just don’t work above certain altitudes. While he was talking specifically about the external units fitted as out-board devices, it was clear that it is an issue with all hard drives. With the external units, the speed to edit is key but there is a large benefit of having a tape backup for when the magic height is attained for that particular drive, or by simply using tape when up in the air. Many are touting the HDR-HC7 as THE helmet camera.

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135

[Gary Brown]

I opted for the homemade. I laid it out here (https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/24/880642). Quad core, 4Gig, 4 drives one boot, two as raid for media,one as output/archives, three monitors one as dedicated video (HDTV LCD)in an SLi system ~$1700.

GB-)

“Better, Faster, Cheaper … Pick Two!”

Gary R. Brown, SCVE
Video Systems Engineer
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, Virginia
23704-2135