[Tom Matthies]

Did you also have a mic mounted on your camera and, if so, are you possibly using the camera track(s) in your sequence?

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[Tom Matthies]

The slate is pretty straight forward. It’s the information about the spot or video that follows. It identifies just what the content of the video is. It usually includes the Agency (or who the video was made for), the name of the video or project. The ISCI code is pretty arbitrary. If your client has a code that identifies their video, get that code from them and put it on the slate. Otherwise, if they don’t have a code number, make one up but make sure that you use the same number on the slate that goes to the traffic department at the station to make the traffic folks happy. Traffic departments will use this for placing the spot on their logs and for billing purposes. Other info would be the length of the spot. Angry traffic folks are not your friends and can make your life miserable. Always give them what they need and they will be cheerful when you call later.
Other items of interest. Whether it is full frame or drop frame. If it’s for broadcast and it’s longer than a 30 sec. spot, it generally should be drop frame code to get an accurate running time of the entire video-for airing in the US anyway. It also helps to note what the audio is-mono, stereo, mixed and so on. If you are sending a :30 sec. file rather than a tape, make sure that the audio is mixed to two channels. If it’s a longer format for broadcast, check with the broadcaster to see just what they need.
The black run out at the end makes me suspect that they are expecting a digital file rather than a tape. If that’s the case, you will also need to know what file format-mpeg2, H-264 mp4 and so on, they prefer. It is VERY important to get right the first time to avoid delays in getting your video on the air. Again, get the info from the broadcaster. You may also require their FTP log in info for digital delivery of the file.
Finally, audio. the -10db limit refers to having no audio peak over -10db on a 0dbfs scale. Generally audio for digital broadcasting uses a reference point – usually -20dbfs or -18dbfs (Db-FULL SCALE) that would correspond to 0db on an analog scale. It depends on what you used for editing your video as to what kind of scale it uses. Most use the 0DBFS scale for metering but not all. Keep all of your audio peaks at or below the -10dbfs point. Most broadcasters have audio processing on their output audio before it hits the transmitter so this requirement can be somewhat flexible. Again, it depends on how picky the broadcaster is.

So, give them exactly 5 seconds of slate, exactly two seconds of black, your video exact to the frame and then 1-5 frames of black roll-out at the end. Note that if your video is a 30 second spot, they will be looking for 30 seconds of content to the exact frame. Not a little longer or shorter-exactly 30 seconds.

Hope this clears things up a little.

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[Tom Matthies]

Nope, it’s old but it is a color monitor. Lots of them around many years ago. It should just take a composite video feed and display color if it’s working correctly. Make sure that the toggle switch for the chroma mode is turned on. If it’s still B&W, try working the Chroma pot for a while in case it’s dirty and needs “exercising”. Make sure that you are feeding it a composite signal and not the “Y” portion of a Y/C signal. If you are doing that, it will only show black and white. What source are you trying to feed it with?

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[Tom Matthies]

You could check with Markertek. They have lots of cables available.

markertek.com

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[Tom Matthies]

If you have Photoshop, just make the roll there. Import it as a still and just use key frames to animate it in FCP. Very quick and easy.

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[Tom Matthies]

Stepping back a bit, I’ve had very good results with DV-Matte Pro but there is a definite order to go through to set everything up correctly. Using DV-Matte with FCP’s matte filters or ones from the Boris should give you a very good key, especially if the footage was shot correctly. 4:2:2 is best but it still works pretty well with 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 footage.
It isn’t a one step process but a progression as you work your way through the controls from top to bottom. I can normally key frizzy hair with little or no bleed through to the background.A bit of spill suppression will help. I almost never have any issues with a ragged matte especially with decent footage.

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[Tom Matthies]

The HVX-200 can’t shoot an actual full raster 1920×1080 picture. Since it shoots in the DVCProHD format, it’s shooting anamorphic 1280×1080 and not true 1920×1080. For 720P, it’s actually shooting 920×720. The HVX-200 can’t shoot true full raster HD video so it’s always going to need to be scaled horizontally. Scaling will usually cause a loss in horizontal detail. Most editing software will recognize the format and scale it automatically.

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[Tom Matthies]

Are you sending a reference to your Decklink card as well? Both the card and the deck should be getting the same reverence. I don’t know the drivers for the Decklink but make sure that the card is set to receive External Reference if thee is that option in the menu.

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[Tom Matthies]

Open up the Audio Mixer window and you will have much more resolution when adjusting levels.

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[Tom Matthies]

We’ve had good luck with our Panasonic HPX-370’s.

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