[Gnostic]

True,
but the story was that some have said that the HDV machine control with the 1500 deck was accurate. It is Not.

The best,

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Who says after using an HVR-1500A and FCP 6, it will do machine control accurately?
With my tests, for every 24 tries, it gets lost about 4 – 6 times, and it captures from 4-frames to 15-frames off when it doesn’t get lost. Sony techs told me this was about par for the course.

I did an hour show that had every clip off by several frames when I recaptured. I put them all back in sync manually.

HDV is a terrible idea that looked good on paper.

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Hi,
I had a DSR-1500 deck for years and life was good, now I have an HVR-1500A and I’m using FCP 6 via FW in DV CAM. Whenever I do E2T in assemble mode, (Mastering setting,) I have never been able to get the deck to start the bars at 58:30:00:
Bars 60 sec
Black 10 sec
Slate 10 sec
Black 10 sec
Show start 1:00:00:00
I have tried EXT REGEN, INT REGEN, and even PRESET. It starts recording at a new place every time.

By trial and error, I learned that to black tape it requires a bunch of steps (not in the manual) and then it starts blacking accurately. Is there something I need to know about E2T that ushers me into the secret society of happy HVR-1500 users? I know that machine control is wacky with HDV, but I’m trying to lay a sequence back to tape with DV CAM.

The best,

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Hi Ken,
Re: AJA VTR Xchange: I’ve downloaded it and thank you much.
I had to suspend work on the HDV machine control problems because we have been traveling, shooting and editing. Right now I’m going straight into the Mac Pro via FW and it’s working. (The HVR 1500A deck and machine control.) Earlier AJA had sent a protocol that “also might help” This next week I’m going to be able to get back to work trying to solve the manine control problems.

Thanks,
Mike G

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Thanks Ken,
I’ll try it (as soon as I can get this job out of the way.)

Thanks, and the best,

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Ramona,
Do you mean that Final Cut Studio 2 is not up to dealing with HDV/Pro Res?

I thought that AJA iO HD was developed in collaboration with Apple. Also the AJA manual has a lot of stuff about using FCP. It doesn’t say anything about using what the big boys use. (Avid?)

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Ramona,
I’ve been on the phone with two different techs at AJA and we’ve gone through all the settings, including FCP. The support, as you know at AJA is terrific, which is why, in the past, I have bought 3 different AJA boxs for whatever I was doing, and I’ve had great results.
I don’t believe this is an AJA problem. Ken suggested that there is a bug in FCP, and since FCP is the only element in my chain: (HVR-1500A > AJA iO HD > Mac Pro 8-core, & CalDigit 4-tb drives,) that I have not investigated thoroughly, I’m leaning toward a bug in FCP. However, in order to take care of that pesky problem of earning a living, I have had to dump the idea of HD for the time being and I’m capturing and editing in DV Cam. This is working, but it’s like getting a bad case of the hives just before the prom.

The best,

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Hi Ken,
It sounds like you have exactly the same issue that I have. However, I don’t understand how you were able to isolate and use the Blackmagic deck control software.(I mean I don’t understand how that is done. I’d like to try it with the AJA.)
I have gotten accurate machine control when i bypass the AJA io box (and the transcoding to Pro Res) and instead gone straight into the Mac Pro as a DVCam signal. This works.
I think you’re on to something with the FCP software, particularly when they act like they don’t know what you’re talking about.

The best,

Michael G

[Gnostic]

I followed your advice and got updates for both the AJA and the Cal Digit 4-tb drives.
Had to exchange two of our new HVR 1500 A decks. The first one because of ejection problems and the second the Sony Service Center tested and it was not reading time code accurately. Also, after phone calls with AJA, they sent a new AJA iO HD box.
I’m trying to go from HDV via the AJA and edit in Pro Res.

Same problem: machine control is non existent. “Can’t find T.C.” is it’s constant complaint.
My tail is on fire with a job that has to be finished, so I have given up on HD for now and I’ve bypassed the AJA, gone straight from the 1500 via firewire into the MacPro tower as DVCam. The machine control works for about 98% of the time and when it stumbles it finally gets there. I assume since the 1500 deck works with firewire, it’s ok.

My question is: How much of the lousy machine control is a problem with the AJA, etc or is the problem the long gop of HDV? Do other people working with this same setup have machine control problems or is this an anomaly? I assumed with the RS-422 from the AJA, that we would be home free.

Thanks, Mike Gilligan

Michael G

[Gnostic]

Dear Bob, thanks. I have just bought a HVR-1500. Better bankruptcy than suicide.
Problem, however, when I batch capture, sometimes it is off by 20 frames or more
This is my setup: HVR-1500A > AJA iO HD (via SDI and RS 422, with sd black burst) > FCP > Cal Digit 4tb raid drives. I have FCP 6.04.4. Is this something we have to live with? It’s back to suicide!

Mike G

Michael G