Steve Wargo
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COW Coins
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Premiere Pro Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Chad – I think you’ve walked into a Corvette Club meeting and asked if Corvettes were going to be around for a while. I think you need to take your question to those who are buying the footage, not selling the footage. I’ve been in business for 25 years and have never had a client ask for P-2. Several have had us shoot and transfer their stuff to an external, portable drive, though.
When P-2 first showed up at NAB, I told my long time (20 years) Panasonic rep that I thought that the P-2 format was the best thing ever for news and I still feel that way. I also said that if they make the cards cheap enough, they will never be able to make cameras fast enough. However, there is no justification for the price of the cards. The SD cards cost what they cost and the housing they sit in should cost a hundred bucks or so and the users should be able to swap out the SD cards as they grow in size. The rip off price of the cards is chillingly similar to the $1 a minute that we paid for BetaSP years ago. Funny how Beta fell from grace and the tape went down 65% in cost. When the VX-1000 came out, 60 minute tapes were $28 each. Who would pay that today? Not the people who cry about having to pay $7 for a Panny MQ tape.
A lot of recording media has been named as the end all – MII, BetaSP, D-9, Hi-8, DV, BetaSX and many more. The speed of technology being what it is today tells us that a format is good for about 3-4 years before it gets bested by something new.
If P-2 cards were a couple hundred bucks, producers would carry their own cards to shoots. Most of the time, when we shoot HDCAM, the producers bring their own tapes and leave with their own tapes. Some ask us to provide tape stock but less than half do so.
This all being said, we have a couple Sony EX-1s coming and they shoot to S+S cards. The Sony camera with the snap on card recorder might just be the answer. A camera body with a tape drive and a snap on card recorder.
So, I guess that my overall answer is to buy what will make tons of money for 4-5 years and then sell it off because it will be old technology. The HVX200 has been out for how long? It has a tremendous following but as soon as something better comes along, it will go away fast. The DVX100 cameras were the best thing in town and we still recommend them to new shooters who do not want to deal with technology that requires technological knowledge. The P-2 workflow is over their head and tape is easy to deal with. If Panasonic does away with tape, I think that they are overestimating the brain power of a lot of people. Some people can’t get past the dial on the back of the DVX and will never know what 29.97 means. They want to push a button and record and then plug the camera into the computer and download footage. When they shoot their project, they want to have a box of tapes to put on the shelf. We shot a feature on the DVX in 2002 and there is a box of 34 tapes in the storeroom that might never be opened again but it’s there for whatever reason.
So, as for your question about P-2 being the future, I wouldn’t bet too much money on it and neither will the veterans in the industry. It’s great for today but today ends at midnight.
And, to the people who are going to rip into me over this, let’s see what you’re shooting on in 5 years. When we bought our HDCAM camera in 2002, (5 years ago) HDCAM was the format of the future. And where is it now?
The Super Bowl is coming here in two months and HDCAM is the required format, for this year. Who knows what next year will bring?
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
[dgadirector] “I also keep a copy for myself. Works great. “
And that’s exactly what one of the problems is with P2. What client wants to leave a shoot with his footage with the possibility that the shooter has a copy of their footage? I have had clients bring their own drives for editing and when we were one, they required that we do a “spotlight” check to make sure that none of their intellectual property was sitting on our machines.
That has always been the “safe” thing about tape. Shoot, remove cassette, board plane.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
Here is a dual channel system. https://www.zaxcom.com/reality_tv.htm
And here is completely bogus way to record four channels of sound with sync time code in a low budget feature situation but it has absolutely nothing to do with your question.
Let’s say you have 1 camera that you’re shooting with and it has two channels of sound, but, you need 3 or 4 channels. Run your ch3 and ch4 sound to a second camera, with two XLR (or whatever) inputs. As you begin your roll, aim the second camera at the Time Code readout of the primary camera. In edit, when you lay in the A roll shot, all you have to do is match the time code of the first camera with the time code in the image of the second camera.
If possible, never mix channels in the field.
Take your $1000 and rent a package from Location Sound or another qualified source. We have a 4 channel Sennheiser kit that rents for around $750 for a feature film. Make enough calls and you’ll find a good deal. Try some A/V suppliers in your area. Our 4 channel usually goes out on corporate events for $200 a day but we cut deals for the indie film guys.
Good luck
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
[Steve Wargo] ” don’t really see room for a threaded rind.” If only I knew what a “rind” is. I wonder if it might be something like a “ring”.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
Try this link:
https://www.simonwyndham.co.uk/xdcam-pmw-ex1.html
Look at the tenth photo from the top. And yes, any 8 pin connector should work (maybe). I don’t really see room for a threaded rind. Write to Simon and ask him what he thinks.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
We spent two years looking for “just the right place. When we moved from a 700 sf studio into our 3000 sf home (in Jan. 1998), we took out a $60k second to finance adding on to our place. We now have 1900 sf of house and 3000 sf of office/studio. Our corporate clients love it. We did lose a few snooty people but that was expected. Our kitchen is dual purpose. It has doors on both side so it can be part of the office or completely unaccessible.
There are days when I truly believe that we need to expand and hire 10 employees, but then, the drugs wear off and I snap back into reality. Our CPA set us up so that the business pays for 60% of the mortgage as well as 60% of the utilities. Our video company rents from our land investment LLC. Our office and studio have their own entrances and air conditioning.
We have an 18 x 18 office, a 17 x 14 edit suite, a 24 x 24 edit suite / machine room, 24 x 9 store room and an 1100 sf shooting studio with 12 foot ceilings, a 5 ton a/c unit and a complete lighting grid with dimmers.
We’ve spent $90,000 on tenant improvements and have saved about $800,000 in rental costs. Any way you look at it, we’re 700 grand ahead. If we would have had the monthly debt, we probably would never have survived Sept. 11, 2001, when business took a nose dive.
So why am I always broke?
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
https://www.16x9inc.com/news/nr/0706-nr-be-zoe-eng.html
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
the EX1 has a professional 8 pin connector and this unit should work also. Of course, until it is tested and confirmed as functional, we’re only guessing.
I will have a unit from BandPro on the 13th for a weekend of testing.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
lens control https://www.libec.co.jp/eng/index.html look for “other accessory” on the right side of the page.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way. -
Todd. You are not the guy that I was talking about. But I think you knew that. Your input is always level headed and shows your years of experience.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.