[Rene Folse]

I mostly record educational events and seminars in hotels. I am rarely able to anticipate the audio limitations. I agree in using a Zoom recorder as a plan B, and that has saved the day for me more than once. But basically I have several methods. For one, I can use my own wireless equipment in “line in” mode plugged into the phones jack of the hotel gear and get fairly decent audio to the back of the room where my camera gear is that way. Using two on stereo channels mixed as it were mono gives me redundancy and diversity. If able I bring long runs of XLR and if I can bring hard wired sound to the back of the room that is great. At the end of the day, with a very uncooperative hotel AV staff, I bring my own powered speakers, supports, wired and wireless microphones, and mixer, and tell the hotel to turn off their gear and go it with my own. Once I get the sound to the back of the room, I use a six channel splitter and send good sound to each camera. As noted above, the audio is the most important part, and I have learned to give sound much emphasis.

[Rene Folse]

Hi Andreas:

Thanks for the info on Hyperdeck Studio. I am always leery of assuming a workflow will actually flow the way I planned without confirmation from someone who actually tried it. In this case it did not end up the way I expected.

I wonder if you tried installing the free Avid CODECS from their website. One of the responses I got elsewhere suggested that I make sure these CODECS are installed as Avid supplies them.

Upon further research of the Hyperdeck Studio in DNxHD mode, I believe that this CODEC will require about 100 GB of space per hour of recording. It is a superior format to HDV or AVCHD that I have been working with so far that consumes about 15GB per hour. The superiority comes at the price of less compression.

But for my purposes, HDV and AVCHD have adequate quality. For me to move to DNxHD would not only introduce the issue of NLE compatibility, but would also increase demands on my archiving space by a factor of 5 to 10 times. So I will stick with HDV and AVCHD for now and pass on my intended purchase of the Hyperdeck Studio.

Too bad because I would prefer to record from the ATEM to a solid state device of some kind. I would buy either the Hyperdeck Shuttle or Hyperdeck Studio if either of them would be compatible with my NLE and have a more compressed CODEC. (Yes this is a shameless hint for BMD). I of course can stream to a computer storage, but I prefer to use an appliance solution for recording.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

Rene

[Rene Folse]

Do you have the latest firmware(you mentioned only drivers)? There was a problem fixed as of December 12, four days before your post. Here is what BM said…

ATEM Switchers version 2.7.2 is released.

This version offers improvements on H.264 1080i50 performance in TV studio.
– the previous corrupted files bug has been resolved.

Jess Schumann
ATEM Product Specialist
Blackmagic Design

If you do not have 2.7.2 then that is probably the problem since a lot of people complained of erratic behavior before that update.

Rene

[Rene Folse]

I am interested in HyperDeck Studio now that it can save to DNXHD. However, before I do, i would like to know of those DNXHD video files can be edited in Adobe CS 5.5. Searching various forums produced mixed and confusing answers.

Does anyone know if Adobe CS 5.5 can edit DNXHD files in the format in which they are saved on the DyperDeck Studio without any complex workflow issues except for maybe installing the free Avid CODECs?

[Rene Folse]

Hi John.

Thanks for the reply. I use Adobe CS 5.5. I just migrated from the Z5U to the NX5U and am trying to get to know it. If I take the raw files from the camera, including everything, Adobe can read the timecode and yes I have succeeded in syncing up my two cameras.

I learned how to do this after trying to do this after importing media with the supplied Sony Content Management Utility which did not work. After import with the CMU, Adobe Premiere did not see any timecode. However if I use the raw files before CMU import, Premiere does see the timecode. The problem however is that when using the raw files I have the recombine the raw files that are fragmented because of the 2GB Fat 32 limit.

Today I spent some time trying to figure out why the CMU does not export time code. I noticed that indeed even before exporting, the Sony CMU does not see timecode and does not display timecode in the preview window. In other words, as strange as it may seem, Sony CMU software seems blind to their own timecode.

Disbelieving this, I searched the Internet and found the post in this thread by a Sony Representative who said in June 2010 that he confirmed (after being confronted about it in this forum) that the Sony CMU does not seem to see their own timecode and as you can see above he said the Sony engineers are trying to figure out what to do about it.

My post was a one year five month follow up to see what they did about it.

The Sony Z5U used a utility that simply put the 2GB files back together without disturbing the time code. I would like to get something simple like that. I am successfully seeing timecode in CS 5.5 by using the raw files. But, this is a very inefficient toolchain and Sony should be able to get their own utility to see, and then export the timecode.

Any tips you have would be appreciated.

Rene

[Rene Folse]

A year ago Sony was trying to figure out how to make its own software read timecode. So, what is the status?

[Rene Folse]

The term “insurance coverage” is not well defined by your customer. This could (should) involve general liability as well as workers’ compensation and other coverages such as employer liability. There are also concerns about the “where” which should consider an “All States Endorsement” to cover you in the correct states including the state of the production, and the state where you hired staff. Most businesses have this by way of full time yearly policies. The film industry by nature needs more temporary solutions. There are companies that take on the risk, for this short term. One of the bigger ones is Entertainment Partners (https://www.entertainmentpartners.com). They understand that most productions are formed for short term production and then cease to exist at least to the scale they had when they were filming. Entertainment Partners (EP) however typically is involved in huge projects and I am not sure if they would be involved in a one day event with a small crew. You can call them and ask, and if not see if they have recommendations.

[Rene Folse]

This is all good feedback so far.

There really are no authoritative resources to use as an example of better ways to do educational video work. I have purchased every text near to the topic I can find. Many of them are theoretical with no definitive application guidance (See for example the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning). The nearest professional body of literature I can find is based upon the documentary video model. Or I have taken training on broadcast journalism scripwriting, and the various visual models such as reader, reader with graphic shoulder, voice over, voice over with natural sound, and a complete field package. Bits and pieces of how they do documentaries and broadcast journalism can be deployed over to educational videos, but still the product is only slightly better, and not near to what I am shooting for. I am finding that a shorter presentation works better than a longer one if you can really get the point across effectively.

Several years ago I read an 80 plus page white paper that came out of MIT that described the skill set needed for the production of educational videos which included graphic artists, instructional designers, computer programers and so on. This also was a theoretical paper since I have yet to find anyone who really has a “demo reel” they can show me or really any institution that is state-of-the-art and can show me rather than tell me. Indeed I have been a student at one time or another in many institutions that have online offerings, and they are all worse than mine, and mine are not that good.

What I am trying to say is that there is a need here. I have a nice, small studio and have all the paid work I can handle. Those who visit think what I do is great, I just do not agree with them. I really want to go over the top, but do not know how, cannot find guidance in textbooks, or forums, or other tutorials that specifically apply.

I do not know why educators are so glued to PowerPoint. Indeed, those without PowerPoint presentations are deemed inferior to those who do. And those who do are not that good. Yet, the industry has been stuck at the level of PowerPoint for I think about 20 years or so. I few years back I came up with an interactive white board where I can manipulate images on a portable projection screen using infrared pens and WIIMOTE sensors. This allowed freedom from the linear one-at-a-time slide format. What happened was that the students were so engrossed with the “how did he do that” that it detracted from the content message. It was just too unique or too different. It had never been seen before.

I am getting some good points of view here, thank you.