[Harryd]

Dean Sensui wrote:

“Fortunately it was acting up during the flight, and I started shooting on a P2 card as backup.”

This should tell you everything you need to know – the FS100 didn’t work, but the P2 did.

When i got my HVX, I was planning to buy a Firestore, but they were on backorder so long I bought P2 cards, Boy am I glad. They work great, with none of the stupid issues that have emerged from using the firestore (like having to prep the media before ingest, remove redundant frames, etc).

And how does one do confidence monitoring using a firestore? It only has Firewire out. But if you can find a firewire monitor or 1394>video converter box with standard field monitor, this is more equip to lug around, just because I didn’t want to go P2.

Using a laptop with P2 Genie as production support has been flawless and easy. 24pn (not supported by FS100) is a deal maker for the P2, and if you need long record time, you can either A) connect the HVX to the laptop via firewire and use DVRack to record SD or HD on the hard drive (I love DVrack, btw, because you also get a large monitor out of the deal), or 2) use an SD DV Deck and record by firewire. I did that shooting in DV anamorphic and it worked great.

The FS100 is expensive for the problems it has ($1900), and for my money I get more bang with 1 P2 card ($550), new laptop ($700), P2 Genie ($35) and DVRackHD ($800). Things are even better with more cards.

Also, I like the 4GB cards because their size means I can record the full length of them right onto single layer DVD for archiving.

Using P2 just requires a film production workflow – think of it like having to change magazines.

Good luck in your choice!

HarryD

[Harryd]

I went 4GB P2 cards because the FS100 wasn’t available. I don’t regret it, and am glad I did. Turns out, the FS100 is a little clunky from which to import footage (“organize P2” and all that), and doesn’t record in all the formats. And the P2 card fit right in the cam, while the FS100 hangs on the outside.

I use 4GB to facilitate burning DVDs in the field.

best,

HarryD

[Harryd]

Monitoring on a glass CRT (preferably consumer-grade HDTV) is the most pressing thing, but i see a need for other stuff as well. i have no need for sdi and the other bells and whistles that come with the kona/decklink cards. i think they’re great, but i’m cheap and also tend to work very simply.

actually, I like to monitor on a TV moreso than a broadcast monitor (sad tale leading up to that from my bag of experience). briefly, not to go off-topic, broadcast monitors are too good. they’ll show all sorts of things that will get lost on a TV. in my case, a particular color blue on the Sony BM turned white on a TV. so it’s important to check out the real-world look before sending the work anywhere. this is also why the digital cinema preview doesn’t work so well either, especially if one is using LCD monitors.

but this is old-school stuff, i monitored for the real-world all the time in audio recording (do you know the auratone speakers?).

as i have said, a brave new world is this HD.

HarryD

[Harryd]

Hi,

> Let’s say you want to review some footage on the set (one of your listed requirements)

I don’t think I listed that in my wish list – I didn’t mean to. What I actually want is a box that connects to the MacPro probably via firewire or SATA and makes the P2 card act like a bidirectional deck, complete with HD outs. In other words, the model in SD would be a DV deck like a DSR-11 connected to FCP via firewire and the video outs to a monitor. Very handy hookup, that. But we don’t have anything like that in the DVCProHD/P2 world (other than a Kona or decklink card), but neither of those will allow ingest – only capture. And they kind of miss this mark, too.

If the HVX200 would allow one to monitor DVCProHD from the NLE using firewire through the camcorder to component out, then that would work (although not ideal – I never like using a camera for an adapter device).

I think that’s what I’m after. At the moment I’d be satisfied with coffee and aspirin.

HarryD

[Harryd]

Hmmm… I’m weird? That’s a very nice, professional observation.

But since you ask – this appears to be a newscutting device with tools set up for working with P2 footage in the field, especially on a truck, doing a cut right in the device on the cards. I guess if you were weird like me you’d know that. But being weird, I see that it has too much on it for a studio environment – us weirdos don’t like to cut on that little jog/shuttle looking at a small LCD. We did that back in the analog tape days and don’t like it anymore – we think that hanging onto old ways of working is weird. But I guess if weirdos think that something is weird, then that makes it normal (principle of double negation, and all that).

And even ignoring the controls, even though it might do a lot of that for which weirdos ask, the Weirdo Club (of which I am President) don’t like to pay for controls and other functionality that we don’t need.

So I suppose the logic is that if it doesn’t work for me and I am weird, then it will work for you and you are not. Yes, that makes sense.

Thank you.

HarryD

[Harryd]

nah – totally off the mark. too much BS. the last thing i want is a P2 deck with controls that harken back to linear editing. i also don’t need a screen. it’ll be way too expensive. they missed the mark again.

all manufacturers need to apply the KISS principle.

HarryD

[Harryd]

I’m doing a greenscreen project right now with HVX and using DVCPro50, and dvGarage’s dvMatte chroma keyer. Works great. Easy to get clean edges.

HarryD

[Harryd]

Shane:

I’m curious why you didn’t use the popSataRAIDsicle as an external SATA array? My concern would be both heat generation and power availability inside the Mac.

thanks,

HarryD

[Harryd]

P2 Genie is an absolute must – it’ll automate the process of offloading media from the P2 cards onto the laptop hard drives. It’s cheap, too, something like $30.

I use a cheap PC laptop for this and it works like a charm – you don’t need a Mac laptop. I think that’s essential if you don’t have a P2 store or an FS100.

Note that any day Serious Magic is due to release DVRackHD that will support the HVX and DVCPro50 and DVCProHD.

Off-brand batteries work fine as well. I use Lenmar 5.4 mAh. $60 each.

A good case.

HarryD

[Harryd]

New layout for the menu buttons as if a normal person did it. I’ve now gotten used to it, but it really seems sideways to me (push left to go down… ugh).

Beefier ac adapter.

Cheaper P2 cards (have them made in China like every-damned-thing else). Or at least one on which I can shoot for min 40- 60 minutes of HD for $1100 or less. I like the format, but the price is a bit much.

Photo shot button on the camera rather than only on the remote. This is useful to take a reference shapshot of the lighting setup, and other things.

Some way (guidance, really, or new thought on the P2 model) to “lock in” the footage. This is really a workflow issue, but since we’re all considering the P2 footage as “masters,” I find I need a secure way to store it better, more permanently. I offload my footage to laptop HDD, so maybe I need a laptop that burns DVDs, but this takes too much time. Considering the old model of tape, and that DV tape is equivalent to 12GB for $3-7, it seems like both a value and a convenience, since the info is hard coded on the tape already.

Replace the tape drive with a pod for a removable HDD in the camera, using standard 2.5″ SATA drives. I have yet to use tape in the this thing, BTW. Or maybe include a HDD controller inside the camera, so that an off-the-shelf external drive can be connected directly to the camera and the card offloaded that way? Or recorded to directly?

thanks,

HarryD