[Tom Matthies]

No.
It sounds like you might possibly be trying to connect the RF output from the deck to the Io. The Io will not accept this kind of signal. Try to use the composite video output from the deck if it has one. Connect it to the composite video input in the Io. Be warned though, that the output from a VHS deck is usually not stable enough to feed directly to the Io. It would be best to send the deck’s video through a TBC (time base corrector) and the TBC’s output into the Io. For audio, the levels coming out of the VHS deck will be low and unbalanced. Ideally, you need a way to bring the levels up to what the IO would require and also convert them to a balanced format. Putting the VHS’s audio through a device like a Matchmaker will work nicely.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Yea, but don’t you miss that small amount of free time you got while waiting for a 90 min reel of 1-inch tape to rewind from the end back to the beginning just to edit in that one scene? I was the master of the two minute cat-nap.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

DV25 is DV25 is DV25 no matter where it originates from. A straight Firewire transfer is just that a transfer of data. If it comes over an SDI connection is it still the same quality. It’s not adding pixels, or anti-aliasing them, simply transfering them. While some decks “upsample” to 4:2:2, there is really no additional data added. Take a picture of a pile of bricks stacked three high a pyramid shape and you will easily see the “aliasing” at the edges of the bricks. Take a picture at a higher resolution and thise edges are still there. The higher sampling rate is not going to fill in the dges and make the stack look smoother. Same principal applies to video.
While ther may be some differences in codecs, the main reason why an uncompressed time looks better is the fact that everything else overlaying it looks better. If you add a graphic to a DV timeline, it will look a little soft at the edges. If you add the same graphic over an uncompressed timeline, it will look better, all things being equal. The underlying footage will look the same, more or less.
While I won’t argue that there might be slight differences in the codecs involved, there really isn’t that much of a difference between transferring via Firewire or SDI. You will see a major difference, though, between SDI and component analog captures. The former is again just a transfer of data, while the later involdes converting the three analog signals into a digital format for processing.
There are filters that can “smooth” a 4:1:1 clip giving the appearance of 4:2:2 sampling and hence the appearance of sharper video. Nattress has a pretty nifty filter that’s always evolving and getting better. I know just enough to be dangerous on the subject. If you really want to get into a technical argument (discussion?), drop him an email on the subject. He explains it beautifully.
Just my 2

[Tom Matthies]

Good to know. Thanks for the tip.
I’ll move them as soon as this project wraps up.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Hi Walter.
Thanks for the quick response.
I did manage to find the CineWave 4.5 codec on the Pinnacle website. This is what I loaded up. It works…sort of. Just not at a full frame rate. Is it a matter of having the CineWave card physically installed for proper playback? I can’t get the clips to play properly even in the viewer or canvas.
*******
Update:
While composing this post, I tried just changing the sequence settings to a regular 8-bit uncompressed. After rendering a clip, it’s playing fine now. Must just be something about the Targa codec that doesn’t play well with my system.
This is a short, 2-1/2 minute sequence, so, after color correction, I’ll just rerender it to 8-bit UC and call it a day. It’s destined for DVD so it should be fine.
Thanks for the help.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

OK, being the impatient type, I went ahead and downloaded the CineWave codecs from Pinnacle and the clips will playback now, although at a reduced frame rate. The timeline shows that rendering isn’t nesessary. In fact I thought that rendering might result in the normal frame rate, but I can’t even force it to render. If I jog through the clips, all the frames are there. It just doesn’t want to play back at full rate. I’m running the clips off of an internal two drive striped pair, so the 20MB/sec data rate shouldn’t be the problem…or is it? It’s a very simple video, just a single video track and six audio tracks, although they never overlap each other.
Am I missing somethig obvious?
duh…
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

If you don’t have to do camera moves on the jewelery (in other words-static shots) an old trick I used to use in the old days is to use a light table.
I would put the items on the light table, with it turned off, light them as you would normally do, and shoot your shot. Then, without moving the camera, turn ON the light table, turn OFF all other lighting and shoot the sillhoutte of the jewelery against the bright white of the light table. This shot would be basically a matte at this point. Combine the two shots in FCP (travel matte) or in PhotoShop (mask), and you’ll get a pretty good graphic/matte which you can put over anything. The “matte” will be nice and smooth giving you a clean, anti-aliased key. Add a few lens flares and points of light in post and it shoud look pretty realistic. An added bonus is that there is no color contamination of the jewels. They will always be the correct color.
Another trick I use for jewelery is to actually move a point source light over the gems. The moving light will result in many reflections that are constantly moving and sparkling. I like to use a 150 watt Arri fresnel for this. I mount it on the stand and “hand-hold” it over the jewels, slowly moving it back and forth. Try it.
Hope this might help a little.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

I agree. That’s why we sweeten all our productions and have a separate audio studio. The sequence in queston had some scratch music tracks on it in addition to the dialog/sync sound tracks. I did a rough mix on the music tracks at the beginning of the program. I had a fairly complicated open that involved ducking the music at various places and bring up dialog and sync audio. I wanted to give Carl, the sound guy, a rough idea of what I was looking for and then let him work his magic. I also exported a reference QT movie with a mixed stereo track that he used as a reference for the mix, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was just wondering if there was something I was missing when exporting the OMF’s that prevented the level info from transferring over.
Just a small issue that I always forget to ask about on the COW. Still it beats exporting MANY seperate tracks as .aif’s and syncing them up later.in audio post.
Thanks for the quick responses guys!
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

Beringer 1604A
Very much like the Mackie, but a much better value.
Acually a very impressive mixer, especially at it’s price point.
Tom

[Tom Matthies]

“Once you’ve had a Mac, you’ll never go back”
🙂
tom