Tony
Forum Replies Created
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Gary,
If your looking for Ikegami gear (triax system, cameras etc) I have gear currently available for sale.
Provide me with your email and I send you the information.
Thanks,
Tony Salgado
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Nick,
It’s all about the accessories that make a camera package a real package. Buying a camera head and renting a lens would be quite stupid in the longer run given the fact that you would be paying top dollar for the lens rental and not all rental facilities would be willing to break up a lens for rental if it might risk losing out on a camera/lens combo rental to another client.
If you currently rent and can only accept the level of gear and accessories the rental facility provides then I doubt you would be willing to accept less unless you con yourself into believing you can get by with less gear.
Other major items you need to include are equipment and liability insurance, and the cost for repairs and upkeep thru out the life of the package, storage area for the equipment (no your broom closet will not do), equipment cases (very important for protecting and shipping the gear).
If you don’t already have a van to transport the gear around you can either rent or may need to consider buying one.
So to answer your initial question buying a camera package involves alot more than a camera head and a lens.
In closing the single most important question you have to ask your yourself to justify the purchase is the ROI (return on investment) . How long will it take to pay off the gear? and when will you how much profit will there be after all your overhead is accounted for?
Avoid the hype and rush to make a quick purchase unless you first answer all the questions and have the hard numbers on paper.
Tony Salgado
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Sorry dude but you have just discovered one of the major downfalls of the dv 4:1:1 codec.
Your options as stated above are to work in a higher quality codec such as dvcpro 50 which is 4:2:2 or any other codec which offers 4:2:2 such as photo jpeg.
Tony Salgado
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Ruckus,
Under the item properties you also need to confirm the codec the lab used.
If this was a direct xfer from the Spirit I sort of doubt they would have used the dv50 codec when an uncompressed codec would be much better given the image quality.
So confirm what the codec is first and then verify if you have the same codec in FCP.
If not then you need to either transcode all the clips using media manager or render them in the FCP timeline with the codec you have chosen to use ie DV50.
In anycase 720×486 or 720×480 is only part of your problem.
I have only played briefly with Virtual VTR (thanks to their terrible demo download which only allows the demo to run for five minutes.) so I can’t answer specific issues with VVTR.
Contact VVTR directly and hope they don’t hang up on you after five minutes.
Tony Salgado
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One item I need to add is when outputting via SDI on a dvcpro 50 deck or capturing via SDI using a video card either the vtr or the capture card will take care of adding the extra six lines to conform the original 720×480 dvcpro 50 footage to 720×486. It is important to note the original dvcpro 50 should have been 720×480 but that is assuming it came from a camera or other dvcpro 50 material. In your case since it was captured via virtual vtr you need to confirm what the clips actually are and if they conform to the dvcpro 50 spec which is 720×480.
I prefer to avoid confusion and only use the D1 601 spec 720×486 settings for uncompressed codecs or non dv spec codecs.
Tony Salgado
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DVCPRO 50 is always 720×480 SDI or firewire. It is part of the DV spec in which mini dv, dv, dvcam, dvcpro,dvcpro 50, are all 720×480 NOT 720×486.
However if you capture via SDI using a capture card you can change your capture codec settings to uncompressed 720×486 (D1 601 spec) while capturing from a dvcpro 50 playback source which is 720×480.
The motion tearing you are seeing is do to a field disorder.
The reason FCP is requiring you to render the clips is because the clip settings do not match the sequence settings (ie 720×480 clips dropped onto a 720×486 timeline Wrong!!!) When you have mismatching settings FCP is required to transcode the clips to confirm to the timeline settings which is why you get a red render bar.
You should confirm what the clip properties are for the original quicktime clips and verify the settings match your timeline settings.
In the browser right click on the clips and select item properties to view information regarding the clips.
Tony Salgado
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Consider Larry Jordan’s courses by far a great investment in education.
Check out his website also for another source of great info.
Tony Salgado
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You need to put a “pad” on the mic to prevent severe overloading on the front end before it is recorded.
In otherwords in an excessively loud environment such as a rock concert the mic head is becoming overloaded at the front end so lowering (limiting) the audio level will prevent distortion at the front end. On some mics there is a switch to “pad” the incoming signal. If it is a high quality professional mic it should have a pad if not you got ripped off (just kidding).
Check if the camera has any audio menus which affect the mic level settings or consider putting an inline “pad” between the mic and camera audio input.
Shure sells audio pads which offer -15,-20,-25 db level pads. You manually select the level need for the environment.
As far as recording from the audio board you need to select line level input usually +4db as the audio board feed is much hotter than mic level -60db so you are massively overloading the input which results in total distortion.
It is important to always identify what the audio signal being sent is (ie Mic level or Line level). Line level output is hotter to allow for better signal to noise ratio.
Tony Salgado
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David,
I would use media manager instead and take the old clips dv clips offline thereby breaking the links.
Recapture the DV clips but uprez on the fly to uncompressed (assuming you have a vtr and capture card to do this).
Tony Salgado
PS- in the future I would capturing all the footage at uncompressed then use media manager to transcode the project to dv for offline editing then when done with the offline reconnect to the uncompressed clips for the online.
I use this workflow and it saves having to capture twice. If space is a concern store the uncompressed clips offline on external firewire drives until you need them.
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Wow slow down.
Before you buy any new equipment have you created a business plan?
Who and where will you seek out clients?
Have you researched your local market to find out what couples are willing to spend for the degree of experience and image quality you intend to provide.
Shooting with higher end gear does you no justice if you don’t have a solid track record and talent in the market you are soliciting business from.
Tony Salgado