[Nate Weaver]

HDV output via firewire is not really designed for anything but going to an HDV device. Even that is usually pretty dicey…it’s mostly treated as a one-way conduit in FCP…one way in.

I really doubt you’re going to get FCP to output in this fashion in any sort of consistent, repeatable manner.

I’d go find a Blackmagic or Kona card.

[Nate Weaver]

Agreed. I generally do not have the time either, especially at the moment with 3 big projects live at the moment.

I think I ordered the parts with the thought, “at the first sign of trouble, return it all and buy a G-Tech eSpeed”. After all, I haven’t had to do uncompressed 1080p24 since last year, and now I have ProRes.

Anyway, it’s been two months and not a single issue. So score one for DIY approach.

[Nate Weaver]

I built exactly what the author here built:

https://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/enhance/e8/

Enhance Technologies E8-ML enclosure
Highpoint RocketRAID 2322 SAS card
SAS to Infiniband cables

I got the enclosure at dvwarehouse.com (It’s a little hard to find), the card, cables and drives from newegg.com

I get about 480MB/sec read/write when empty, right now it’s about 2/3rds full and I’m getting 380 write and 430 read. I’m sure that could be a bit better if I would have chosen my drives based on benchmarked speeds rather than price!

I think Walter has a bunch of these setups at his place as well.

[Nate Weaver]

Apple has already put something like this into use…Compressor 3 has the ability to take a file with multiple 2:3:2:3 cadence breaks and correctly extract 23.98 from it.

Since it was filed in 2006, I assume this is just due diligence in trying to protect a piece of code that probably took some time to write before the Compressor 3 release.

[Nate Weaver]

I built a 8 drive, RAID 5 box w/3.4TB for $1700, using everything that guy at amug.org used. It uses SAS connections.

It’s been about 6 weeks, no problems so far.

[Nate Weaver]

Sounds like the processing that’s getting sent out to the GPU is getting messed up?

I wonder if you can force a software render of the effects by putting an older plugin on one/all of the clips?

[Nate Weaver]

The downconverted outputs of the HD cameras do not have edge enhancement added like the output of an SD camera.

That is, the HD cameras do indeed have edge enhancement, but the edge enhancement is tuned for viewing on an HD monitor. When viewed downconverted, the edge enhancement is too fine and gets lost.

New website, new work online:
https://www.nateweaver.net

[Nate Weaver]

Steve,

If you rely on your ability to invest in expensive gear to place-hold your position in the market, you’re going to have a bad next decade. In the end, it is you or your company’s talents that drive your fortunes.

Look no farther than to the audio recording business for what is to come for video. A once expensive landscape of esoteric recording studios has become thousands and thousands of home studios. That business has changed drastically.

It is up to you and I to figure out where we fit as cameramen, or producers, or technicians when everybody can afford a camera and everybody has the means to edit. To pine for expensive prices to keep out the riff-raff will only end in tears.

[Steve Wargo] “The jobs are going to the cheapest bidder and a lot of it looks like crap because companies are compromising quality for a lower price. “

I think you’re oversimplifying. Chances are, to characterize your customers as just wanting “the cheapest bidder” is probably to underestimate them. You say yourself, that an HVX can make a better picture than a Beta rig of 20 years ago. If the HVX now gets the job, then what does that say?

New website, new work online:
https://www.nateweaver.net

[Nate Weaver]

[john sharaf] “The only drawback to the HVX500 is that I don’t believe the imager is a full native HD resolution; it uses pixel-shifting (like it’s little brother the HVX200) to accomplish it’s sharpness and resolution, but what do you expect for the price?
“

For the price, I expected a CCD block with higher resolution than 960×540. Pixel shifting helps luma res, but it doesn’t generate chroma res.

I’ve spent a few minutes with the camera and I was a little disappointed with the 1.5″ 4×3 finder, and how all-in-all, it feels like an HVX-200 made big. Resolution is about the same as the HVX as well, but the low-light sensitivity and the latitude is much better of course.

As an owner of the 350, and going on the record as being bummed with the light requirements of my 350, I’d still much rather have the 350 than an HPX500. But that’s just my 2 cents, and others milage will indeed vary.

New website, new work online:
https://www.nateweaver.net

[Nate Weaver]

[hill60] “If so, what settings should I be looking at?”

White balance. Seriously.

You can dial in very warm balances on the camera that look very nice, nicer than some other cameras, except for the fact your skin tones will go nuclear.