Kevin Paolillo
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks guys. I ended up seeing if client had RGB equivalent values which were blessed by their team and went with that. What I found was even though, as you both mention, the CMYK is converted by FCPX to equivalent RGB, the conversion does in fact result in an ever so slight color shift, but strangely only after exiting and reentering the effect. In this case I made two exact same colored texts on the same screen, input both with exact same CMYK numbers and exited the effect. I then reentered one of the effects and re-inputted the original pre conversion CMYK value, and left the other one as is. The result was a slight difference even though in theory nothing changed. So somewhere between the exit and the enter, it is doing something internally that slightly changes the value and appearance. Side by side is really the only place you’d probably pick it up with the naked eye, but that was enough to go get a blessed RGB color value. I assume the eyedropper is taking into account the calibration of the screen? Is that how that works? Because the assigned eyedropper sample values were way off. Ahh FCPX, my quirky old friend….
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I have been a GH guy since the GH1, so I have tried a lot of them. The Panasonic lenses have come a long way since the first iteration, both in terms of build quality and low light performance. When almost every lens will fit the camera, Panasonic realized they better get their act together and The Panasonic 12-35 and 35-100 constant 2.8’s are very good go to lenses that take full advantage of the camera’s internal stability system and fairly quick autofocus. But for my money the Voightlanders, particularly the 45mm .95 is the winner. It looks good at .95 but really shines at around 1.4. especially on interviews. Built solid as a rock.
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I just stumbled on this thread, and I’m going to offer a different viewpoint, having purchased an all brand name solution and also using a modified approach on different systems. The “all in one brand name” approach may be the easiest solution, but I don’t necessarily think it represents the best value/performance ratio. I won’t name names, but rip open a few of these systems and you’ll see the drives used in most of the advertised names are right off the shelf and are marked up 50-100% over what the EXACT same drive from a discounter costs. So I approach building a RAID the same way I approach buying a car. Pay for a quality engine, but be wary of overpriced options. In the case of a RAID, the engine is the controller card, the overpriced options are the number of drives and the size of the raid. I saved thousands buying a brand name controller, but buying (from a discounter) a drive housing and hard drives, being careful to match the drive specs, or better yet, purchasing the exact same drives for a 75% discount. At the very least, I’d check out the discounters when buying replacement/backup drives, because the one sure thing everybody will agree on is: drives fail. Having spare drives to swap in is a must. Buying them at a discount makes sense to me.
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A workaround if you have lots of work since your last save is to start a New Project with the old project open, then tab back to the project in question, select all, copy, and paste the whole thing into the new project bin.
Not the best, but at least you’ll have your changes. -
Gary, understood. For the record, I’ve tried the rest, and no knock on the other brands in the same space, but to me, AJA does what they do better than the others. They set the standard, which is why I’m willing to pay a bit more to get the goods, and also why I’ve come to expect better. I can deal with a wait to get it right, and can appreciate the complexity of the task. But keeping folks informed is FAST AND EASY. It goes a long way to helping their customers manage the process. That I’ve learned more about what’s happening in one post from you than I have in a month at aja.com or from an aja rep is not a good look for them. They need to stay out in front of it. When you get to the point that people on the Cow are starting threads with just the name of your product followed by a question mark or an exclamation point, it might be time to get a little more proactive….
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Gary, yes, mea culpa, perhaps I shouldn’t have upgraded so soon, that’s clear, and I usually don’t. But I had a few down days, which thankfully have been rare. I did my research on the things I needed most, checked to make sure drivers were available, saw Kona’s driver update come out, figured IO HD’s would follow in a few days because I trust AJA to deliver on such things because of their good reputation, and made the switch. And like you, I have a backup machine that I did not upgrade just in case, although one quickly realizes what else is missing on the backup, and how SLOW it is compared to the 8 core so that is its own set of issues.
I’m guessing a few of the more influential folks here, you among them, (your posts have helped me many times, thank you) have a special relationship with AJA that they’d rather not take them to task publicly. If so, I understand that, I have a few suppliers that help me out on occasion and I’d be hesitant to say publicly, yes they dropped the ball.
But exactly how long is long enough to wait on a driver update until it becomes unreasonable, especially when their other signature product has a driver update in days? And don’t you think it’s a little disconcerting to be waiting for an I/O HD update while you watch the Snow Leopard compatible I/O Express begin shipping?
Frankly, I’m surprised someone from Aja hasn’t come on here and shed a little light. (Yes Jeremy_ I have called and written, and “we’re working on it” is all I’ve gotten.
I contrast this experience with a similar recent experience with the CoreMelt team. They didn’t have it all figured out, but they were giving me beta solutions to try (as Russell Weston’s fine post in this thread suggests) providing updates, checking back to see if it worked. In other words, CoreMelt had an issue and they were COMMUNICATING. It’s not the lack of a driver that is frustrating the masses. It’s the lack of communication.
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Will, I agree Apple deserves some blame, but here is what I take issue with. A click away from “available soon” is the IOHD product page where I am told this-
“Co-developed with Apple, Io products work with Final Cut Pro to provide a seamless non-linear editing experience, with all the features of proprietary systems – but without the expense and hassles.
All of AJA’s Io products have been co-developed with Apple for use with Final Cut Pro to deliver powerful video/audio capture, editing and video production – all in a single, integrated system. Each member of the family comes with special Final Cut Pro presets to facilitate ease of use.”
If you want to place the blame on Apple, fine, but Aja should do it upfront on the product page, and let people know clearly that this product does not work with the the new Mac OS that is preloaded on every new machine. Further, it’s not my job to manage the relationship with Aja and their “co-developer”. I don’t tell clients sitting in my suite, “I’m sorry, but you see, uh, the reason you can’t see your project on the big screen or I can’t output to tape is because of some software issue Aja and Apple are having.” That’s my problem, and they expect me to deal with it in a timely manner. Similarly, Aja’s product, the IOHD doesn’t work with Snow Leopard. A lot of other products now do. That’s Aja’s problem. I expect them to deal with it in a timely manner.
To be fair, I’ve gotten good service in the past from Aja, which is exactly why I’ve trusted their products to be an integral part of my suite. But I call it like I see it, and when a release for Kona comes out in days but IOHD is still a paperweight with the new OS a month after release and four months after Snow Leopard was unveiled to developers at WWDC, to me and a lot of other users that’s AJa dropping the ball, plain and simple. And numerous unreplied to emails asking simply for a status update, a new similar product with a big spot on the homepage that supports Snow Leopard (IO Express) and a completely unchanged “available soon” message give me no indication that the ball, if not yet ready to be thrown, has at least been picked up. Maybe a few less than pleasant posts from customers on well respected community forums like the Cow will move this issue up the priority list, or at the very least, get AJA publicly communicating what the issue is, and how long it will take to resolve it, so I can plan my business accordingly. Because after a month of zero communication from Aja I’ve got to decide soon on whether I lose money, shut down, and deal with a backtrack install or make a phone call to Blackmagic or Motu. Or maybe Aja can overnight me an I/O express until the problem is fixed? My client and I need solutions not excuses.
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The argument that it’s okay to be late, because we’d rather have a driver that works? That’s incredibly LAME. Imagine if Toro said please don’t move in to your new house, because if you do, our lawnmower won’t work for 2 months. Just give us time until we figure out how to make it cut your new lawn. That’s unacceptable. You buy a product. It’s supposed to work as advertised. I’m sorry, but you can’t market yourself as a company who works hand in hand with Apple on everything and be this out of step. It’s not like Snow Leopard was sprung on AJA last minute. It’s clear they dropped the ball, and they are not willing to communicate with even a sliver of information to the very community that supports them, save for an unchanged line buried deep on their company website. At the very least come out with a frequently updated homepage note that keeps us posted on progress. This was handled very poorly and with every passing day with no progress or communication, the anger towards your company grows. Are you listening AJA?
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Jeff, so do you just use the hdmi to a home reciever and use the passthrough to work in your home theater setup?
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We recently purchased the Reflexion filter for a series of radio spots we needed to record on location. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I must say it did give us a quieter recording and helped to mitigate the room noise quite a bit. It’s not a magic bullet, but it’s been a good tool in the kit for us to deliver broadcast quality recordings when conditions are less than ideal. Of course we still use some sound blankets and common sense ( not right under the vent, try to find a room with carpet etc.) to further isolate the talent from the noisy aspects of whatever room we end up in.
We’ve also used it to record industrial level voiceovers back in the edit suite. Our suite is treated with Auralex panels throughout and noise reducing cabinetry to help with mixing which makes it better than on location, but it’s not a professional soundbooth. It sets up quickly as an add on to any standard mic stand, and breaks down just as fast. The larger filter is for voice, the smaller filter is for isolating instruments in a studio recording session. All in all, I’d give it a thumbs up.