Michael Sacci
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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There is not much difference in workflow from camera to compture. The Sony card fits into the Express34 slot and then you transfer the files to your Hard drive. The Panasonic you get a Duel Adapter ($120) to do the same.
The real issue is which camera you like better and more importantly do you want to edit HDV or DVCProHD. Since this is a Panasonic site you will find more pro-DVCProHD people here and I would be one of them. HDV does bring in extra processing overhead that can slow things down a bit but there are plenty of people that are loving the Sony camera and making them work.
Oh, IMO there is no such thing as Seamless editing. In fact most of the time there are big zippers in the fabric of post production.
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I believe they are powered via USB also. They have eSata drives that need to be powered via USB but USB and FW carry power also. These work fine but USB and FW400 are slower then FW800 or eSATA. and cost more per GB but they are great to carry around verse the big drives and power cables.
Going with FW800 or eSATA connects with 7200 RPM and you get the best of both world but cost a bit more.
OWC is a great company, they stand behind their stuff, while I have not purchased the smaller drives I have purchased dozens of FW drives from them.
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one key is better than two. there are several way to do everything, guess sometimes we stop looking for the best way when we come across one way.
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There is no quick way around this. If you are at the end of your project, footage and graphics are in a HDV sequence, my recommendation is to use Export to Compressor from an unrendered timeline. By doing this your graphics and effects never hit the HDV compression. Do a short trial of a minutes worth so see how you like the results. Try turning on Frame Control and test the higher quality settings vs. the time it will take. This locks up FCP and Compressor for the whole process but for me this is the best way to get around the HDV codeec after the fact.
By Full HD I’m taking you to mean Uncompressed or ProRes but keeping the same framerate, but you may want to be clear.
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Command-1 reactivate the VIewer, may not be answer you want be at least you don’t have to reach for the mouse.
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These system can do a fine job especially with DV footage. Use good FW800 drives (I really like OWC macsales.com drives).
If you want to monitor to an external video monitor look into the Matrox MXO.
The one issue is capturing since the iMac only has one bus sometimes you get dropped frames since the drive and the deck are on the same bus. If you run into problems you can hook the drive up via the USB2 when capturing, then go to FW for editing. USB is not the best for MAC and editing but it does work.
With all this said, if you are buying a new system it is much saver to get the low end tower and a non apple 23″ monitor and be safe for an extra grand, but not everyone has an extra grand.
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Everything needs to be set to 16:9 (in FCP anamorphic)
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I’m not an expert on Decks but the condition lights are not a problem with the communication port, the red means the problem with the heads to the tape, the digits are not being written correctly (as you have stated this is the case) This is not to say that the deck’s problem is not being cause by or when it is remote mode. If your system works with other decks I would say this is a deck problem.
I normally use Sony A but not because I know it is better but it is first and it works for DBeta and HD decks I have used.
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The biggest issue I have it the slot format itself, it is the worse design ever. You have to be careful with the moving anything that is connected to the card. Tension on the cable can push the card further in and then ejecting it. THis is true for and card and enclosure.
I have the Sonnet card and the firmtek enclosure and they work fine, in fact with the Sonnet express 34 eSata card you can connect up to 10 drives. Don’t get the full speed of a desktop because of the limitation of the port but just so you know it is available.