[Michael Cohn]

Hi Glenn,

Yes, all of the footage is 5K red files. As mentioned in my first post I had been rendering 5K DPX frames from more than a dozen clips with no difficulty until suddenly I couldn’t – Resolve informed me the “GPU memory is full”. My GPU is underpowered (3GB of memory), but for me the lingering question is how I could render 5K DPX frames in the first place if GPU memory were an issue. Very puzzling.

[Michael Cohn]

Thanks, Ole. I tried your suggestions without success. You’re right of course that my GPU is underpowered for a 4K timeline, so I’m going to upgrade and move on. Very strange though that I was able to render so many 5K clips without a problem. Dumb luck I guess. Very mysterious. Thanks again for your suggestions.

[Michael Cohn]

The post house which ran the described tests quoted a cost of $3750 for A to D transfer and up conversion to HD for 22 hours of material (22 60 min D2 cassettes). Works out to around $170 per hour of footage. Of course they may have given a discount for a large volume job. I’ll gladly send you their contact information if you want it.

[Michael Cohn]

For what it’s worth I very recently contacted a post house in Dallas who ran a series of tests for me. They ran from analogue out (From the D2 VTR) through an A to D converter and then into a Teranex to up convert from SD to HD. I was able to compare straight SD, HD 4×3, HD 16×9, and HD PAN. The SD was as expected and looked no better than what I can do at home by using an inexpensive BM A to D converter, but the results are less than desirable in part because the raster lines are very noticeable along the edges of faces, etc. However the HD (up converted from SD) 4×3 looked acceptable, and though it added some noise it did completely eliminate the visible raster lines. So if you can find a unit to up convert to HD I think your client would be pleased with the final product.

[Michael Cohn]

Hi Larry,

It’s been a good while since we last corresponded, so I want to update you on my ongoing efforts to retrieve D2 footage. Alas, after many attempts success continues to elude me. As you mentioned in your previous message the culprit is most likely the Sony DFX 2100. Of course it’s also possible the AJA Kona capture card or the AJA C10PS is at fault, but the truth is I will probably never know exactly which link in the chain is broken. I have checked the capture card in Windows 7 system BIOS to make sure the PCIe card slot is enabled, I have run self diagnostics on the card as well, and all looks good. I have an inexpensive Black Magic analogue-digital converter, so I will very likely just take the analogue video output from the back of the D2 VTR and experiment with an up-conversion to higher res, perhaps using a Teranex or some similar device. BTW, I am curious about something and perhaps you know the answer. It’s my understanding that the images stored on the D2 tape are SD (720x480i), and I believe the analogue video output from the VTR is the same, so if I were to successfully capture the digital output, what specific advantage would I enjoy? Would the image quality resulting from captured digital output be noticeably better than digitized analogue?Any clarity on this subject would be very much appreciated.

[Michael Cohn]

For what it’s worth, IF I can get the DFX 2100 to work, after I’ve captured all of the D2 material I will be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping.

In the meantime I’m going to read over the manual for the Sony D2 VTR-10 to see if there’re any settings I’ve missed in sending digital output to the 2100.

As always I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for taking the time to offer advice.

[Michael Cohn]

Hi Larry,
Well, you were completely right as it turns out. The AJA C10PS does NOT convert from D2 parallel composite to serial component, so I followed your advice and purchased (for fifty bucks!) a Sony DFX 2100 with the hope I could output from the Sony D2 VTR into the 2100, and thus change the rate (composite to component), then output from the 2100 into the AJA C10PS (parallel to serial), and from there to the AJA Kona 3 capture card installed in my computer. Alas, it does not work, and I’m struggling to understand where I’m going wrong.

According to some research I’ve been doing regarding conversions I should first convert from parallel to serial and then convert from composite to component, which means I should connect the AJA C10PS to the digital output of the D2 VTR, thus converting from parallel to serial, and then connect the C10PS to the input of the DFX 2100 to convert from composite to component. However, the output side of the C10PS is two BNC connectors – not a db 25 – which is the input connection of the 2100.

Sorry to be so longwinded describing a process of which you very likely have working knowledge, but I am very new to this process so I am struggling to find the correct next step.

By the way, I have tested the Sony D2 VTR and it works fine. The DFX 2100 on the other hand is new to me and I can not find a manual anywhere, so I can’t be certain that it’s functioning properly.

If you have any advice or suggestions I would be grateful, and I hope all of this blather has been useful to you.

[Michael Cohn]

I haven’t yet installed a video capture card in my computer, so I have yet to test the converter. I expect to free up the card space in my computer in the next 2-3 months and plan to run tests at that time. I will gladly let you know the results as soon as I have anything worth sharing.

[Michael Cohn]

I contacted AJA tech support about the unit and they assured me it converted from D2 parallel to D1/D2 serial, so though I have yet to test it I fully expect it to work. I should be receiving the unit within a few days and as soon as I confirm it works I will gladly follow up with a post.

Thanks again for your information.

[Michael Cohn]

Thx for the information Larry. I just purchased an AJA CP10S Parallel to Serial converter which converts the parallel output signal from the Sony DVR 10 to serial so I can then send SD/SDI straight to a capture card.