Michael Alberts
Forum Replies Created
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We first got bit by this when we purchased our first MacPro w/8GB of RAM. We could capture ProRes HQ from an HD source no problem, but when it came time to play it back it would drop fames non stop. AJA tech support had us scale back our RAM to 2GB and it fixed the problem. They explained from a techical standpoint, but I’m just glad the fix worked. It’s not optimal, but it works in a pinch.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
What is causing you to think the files are corrupted? What are you using to view the clips? Are you using FCP to import the clips, if so what version? Back in FCP v5 there was a setting in FCP that you needed to set if you shot 24pn. Otherwise it would appear that FCP wouldn’t import your clip and tell you it’s corrupted, when in fact it’s not. We need more info.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
Apple hasn’t changed their channel mapping interface since version 4 as far as I can tell. They really should simplify the process so I can stop having to answer everyones question about this relatively simple procedure. I get this question all the time from beginning and experienced users.
Back in my Avid days it was quite simple. There was basically one window in which you would do all your audio output mapping. It was considerably more straight forward, and was contained in one simple to understand window and this was back in Avid v6.5 days.Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
We capture and ouput 4ch of audio on a daily basis from HDCAM and Digibeta. With HDCAM SR you can go as high as 12 channels I believe. This is all done through our Kona3 cards.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
Do you see the white sparkles in the FCP output or are they just on the Digibeta? Are you monitoring the Kona output separately from the Digibeta recording? The reason I ask is that it’s possible the heads on the Dbeta are going bad.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
I purchased the HDW-D2000 for my facillity. I really wanted to get the D1800 but it was months away from shipping and we needed a deck asap. I still wish I had the D1800 as it will do a 3:2 pulldown and the 2000 won’t.
The D2000 works like a charm with FCP. I sure the 1800 will work equally well. Just be sure to set your system frequency on the deck to the correct frame rate and match that with FCP. We recenly purchased the GEN10 tri-level sync from AJA to make working in 23.98 easier. That will get installed next week.Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
We’ve been having the exact same problem, only worse, with the HVR-1500. We’ve talked to Sony and we’ve talked to AJA (we have several Kona 3’s and a Kona2). Everyone seems to think the problem is with FCP. We agree. We’ve done tests with the small app that AJA ships with their drivers. It’s a stand alone capture utility. We can capture frame accurate clips every time when we use the AJA capture utility. When we switch back to FCP all captures are far off the mark. We’re trying to capture simple clips as a test. We’ll log five clips with the in point set on an even second. We use RS-422 control and capture via the HD-SDI on the deck. Regardless of the codec we capture to all shots will be off a random amount from 2 seconds to 2 seconds and 15 frames.
We’ve been told that using firewire as the machine control may help the problem. Problem is our HVR-1500 deck is in the machine room between 15 and 50 feet from the edit rooms. We can’t keep recabling a firewire cable from room to room just for machine control.
Oddly, if we log and capture material form DVCAM tapes the deck works perfectly. Frame accurate every time. There is definitely a problem with FCP and RS-422 machine control of HDV decks. In this case the HVR-1500.Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
Things get crazy when dealing with networks who don’t understand their own specs. We’re doing a series for an unnamed network. The show is delivered in both SD and HD. The show is shot HD 23.98. The original network spec required HDCAM 23.98psf Drop Frame. Yes, you read that correctly, 23.98 DROP FRAME! It took many phone calls to various staff people at the network to get them to understand that there is no such thing as 23.98 drop frame.
Additionally, the final spec we’re working off of is 23.98 non drop for the HD and 29.97 DF for the SD Digibeta’s. However, the network complained after we delivered the first show that the HD’s were coming in at 46.27 and the SD’s were 46:30. They couldn’t understand why the times were different. That only took a half dozen phone calls and emails to get straight.
Just goes to show, the people at the networks don’t even understand their own specs. Don’t get me started about their antiquated specs regarding audio deliverables.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
[Cow News Droid] “That’s fully adjustable. It always defaults to full white for text.
“
Which is exactly one of the main problems with the FCP text gen. It defaults to 100%. There is no pref for adjusting the default. Most people don’t know any better to adjust it downward. They just leave it as is.Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
You’ll be better of NOT using FCP’s built in text generator. The last time I used it it assigned a value of 100 IRE to the whites. It also isn’t very friendly when doing complex layout.
In your original question you asked what font HD Discovery uses. That depends on the show. Each network and each program has different font requirements, sizes, kerning, drop shadow etc. This can usually be found in the delivery requirements from the network. In most cases the network will send you the font. These are to be used for lower 3rds, and end credits. If you’re not beholden to network requirements that use whatever looks best creatively. We use both Boris Title, LiveType, RED, Motion etc. But when delivering for broadcast we use the fonts they tell us.Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net