[Jim Krause]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. FWIW my order consisted of:

Polarizer
ND 0.3
ND 0.6
ND 0.9
Black Diffusion FX 1/2
Star Effect 4pt
Color-Grad ND 0.6 (gradient filter)
Pro-Mist 1/4
ENHANCING
Gold Diffusion FX 1/2

Best

– Jim

Jim Krause
tabletop productions https://www.ttop.com
(812) 332-1005

[Jim Krause]

While technically using a published song in a for-hire scenario constitutes an intellectual property violation, the reality is that your chances of being struck by lightning are greater than the chances of someone coming after you for this.

If you want to legitimately clear a track, start with the publisher. They usually have rights forms on their websites.

– Jim

Jim Krause
tabletop productions https://www.ttop.com
(812) 332-1005

[Jim Krause]

I find it interesting that you are looking to charge educational institutions more, or at least take advantage of the idea that through higher, multiple-viewer licensing fees, your money can be recouped faster. Unlike a video rental house, which might purchase multiple copies of a program, university media libraries typically purchase only one. So I’m not sure this is a very large piece of the pie. If you are going after that market, keep in mind that the competition is fierce and in addition to a strong product, you’ll need an excellent promo packet.

FWIW Individually, most teachers have minimal to no funds available to purchase media examples for use in the classroom. As an instructor, I view the pricing of most educational media titles as a joke. Not many teachers have $75 to spend on something they will show once during the year. Educational media distributors might be succesful marketing to libraries and such, but not to individual teachers. Personally I tape in-class examples from broadcast television and order anything else I need from Borders- who provides teachers with a 15% discount.

In terms of documentaries, as you probably know it’s a buyer’s market. Most producers I work with secure underwriting and distribution before production. At this point, the best thing to do is to gain as much exposure and favorable reviews as possible. It’s good you have two on your website, but see how many more you can get. It would be great if you could get the Voice, Times, or some large-distribution paper to write an aritcle on it.

PS The project looks interesting and I would like to watch it sometime. I did a “displaced by the dam” documentary myself a few years back. (Elkinsville: Washed Away by Progress)

Best

– Jim

Jim Krause
tabletop productions https://www.ttop.com
(812) 332-1005

[Jim Krause]

What a great question. I hope someone can point you to some answers. Farming this out to a service house is likely the best / most immediate solution- unless you have time and are willing to invest in equipment and education. Below are a few informational links for your reading pleasure. I wish I could offer more help:

The ATSC standard: https://www.atsc.org/standards/a_52b.pdf

Misc informational links:

https://www.tvtechnology.com/features/audio_notes/f-TC-metadata-08.21.02.shtml
https://www.tvtechnology.com/features/audio_notes/f-tc-metadata.shtml
https://www.digitaltelevision.com/dtvbook/ch5.shtml

Jim Krause
tabletop productions http://www.ttop.com
(812) 332-1005

[Jim Krause]

[Khashyar Darvich] “You mentioned that if I combine the two different tapes (minidv and BetaSP), that I will not be able to monitor one of those types of footage through the Kona output, however… If I capture the BetaSP footage with the “8 bit to DV” setting, won’t the BetaSP also be “translated” into DV codec to match the codec of the miniDV?

What I was implying- and what I’ll try to clarify- is that when you change your Easy Setup from the Kona setting to “firewire DV-NTSC” in order to capture DV footage through a firewire connection, the Kona output/display will go blank. If you want it back (in order to use the Kona card and see what you’re editing) you need to change it back to the Kona. No worries. Your Kona and DV-captured clips will be there in the same project and all be the same file types, etc.

Also, during batch capture, can I choose which reels to capture so that I can seperately capture the miniDV and BetaSP in two different groups? Or, does FCP ask for the tapes in the order that they appear in the EDL sequence, or by reel number? “

Yes for batch capturing you can pick which items you want to capture so you can capture your miniDV and Beta tapes separately. Take a look at the manual (around p 265 I believe) for more info on this.

Happy editing

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

[Khashyar Darvich] “You mentioned “set the Easy Setup setting to Kona NTSC US Betacam 8-bit to DV.” I see that the “Easy Setup” is an option in Final Cut Pro. Will the Easy Setup setting just apply to footage being captured from the Kona card? Or will FCP also apply this setting to footage that is being captured through my minDV deck via firewire?

Also… if I am batch digitizing footage from an EDL that includes video from DV and BetaSP, how will FCP know which deck to capture from if both decks are connected to my Mac? Does it ask you, with each tape that you load, which deck that you want to capture from?”

Once you’ve captured something into FCP it will stay in the same codec- even if you change the Easy Setup later. So in your case you could easily toggle back and forth as needed between firewire DV-NTSC and the Kona Betacam setting with no adverse effects. However if you like being able to see the output of your Kona display while you edit, you’ll probably want to go back to the Kona setting : )

When you are logging in FCP you can save specific capture settings. When you are later batch digitizing, you can recall the capture setting, or apply a different one if needed. The reality is that you’ll want to capture your beta clips separate from the DV clips. And yes, FCP will prompt you for reels- so be sure to name them properly during the logging stage.

Best regards

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

Since all of your footage is already NTSC 29.97, there’s no point in converting it to anything else before the edit. Once you have a finished master find a good transfer house to help.

Best

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

Hi Khashyar

For starters, I suggest picking a codec that you want to edit with and capturing all of your footage into this codec. This way you won’t have to render clips into the timeline. While DV is fine, many who are working with numerous graphics prefer DVC Pro50, or something with a little better color space. But if most of your footage is from DV sources, there’s not much point in moving up unless you are adding lots of graphics, photos, AE-generated eye candy, etc..

Let’s assume you choose to edit with DV. You can capture the DV footage either via firewire, or through the Kona card if you want to do some processing on the way in. Before capturing the BetaSP footage, simply set the Easy Setup setting to Kona “NTSC US Betacam 8-bit to DV.” Then capture through the component connection. It’ll transfer all of your incoming footage into the DV codec without rendering.

Good luck with the project

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

Thanks for the fixes. I’ve updated the table.

I’m uncertain about Panasonic DVCPro HD in 1080 / 50i mode. In 50i does it capture at 1440 x 1080 or 1220 x 1080?. I’m checking this one out again.

BTW Upon googling Sony & Panasonic data I came across wikipedia’s on-line encyclopedia. It’s scary how large and accurate it seems to be.

Thanks

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

Try setting your filter wheel to 3200K and the white balance switch to preset.

Best

– Jim