[Wayne Dupuis]

Thank you Bob. I appreciate that.

[Wayne Dupuis]

Thank you for pointing that out. I am not too certain about the benefits or working in ProRess as I work mostly on corporate video projects that are 10 to 15 minutes in length, and find I don’t have to render everything I do, and am more than likely to chunk work together, and fully render before output. Usually a 20 minute penalty. Most of the work I produce goes from HDV to 960×540 hd (progressive) wmv file and out to the web. If I were producing for the big screen I may look at alternative work flows, but wouldn’t sacrifice the quality of HDV to ProRess conversion regardless of all that is said about it. From my understanding it’s a conversion of utility. I will give it a try again, but must say that at the time I wasn’t worried about cost, but time (which costs.) ProRess took hours and hours to render fully from HDV before compression to DVD. HDV to HDV to DVD not so much, and I believe that still applies today.

[Wayne Dupuis]

Woot: an us and them forum. I’d like to chime in on this.
I have Quad Core Dual 2.8 with 10 gigs running FCP etc.
My workflow is usually HDV to WMV and served up from my media server and out. This week I had several deadlines where I was working on 3 8 to 14 minute pieces that were being voiced in Soundtrack, while another was rendering in FCP, and another was being turned into a WMV from within Quicktime 7, and another to a WMV from MPEG Streamclip. All working at the same time; all finished without a hitch. No hiccups, no crashing, and in on time without ever thinking something was going to go wrong.
Just because you got 55 cores and they are not being used may be on your mind, doesn’t make the fact they are not being used all the time important enough for me to even consider going back to a PC for video editing. Rant.

[Wayne Dupuis]

What format are you shooting in… HDV? Stay HDV. ProRes 422 files are huge. There’s no need to bump formats on capture. Your machine should be able to render that same HDV footage in 20 min. I assume you bumped the format because I don’t know of a cam that captures ProRes.

[Wayne Dupuis]

The camera can be set up in so many different ways, not an easy question to answer. Using the standard out of the box setting with a manual focus, on the close eye; and good soft lighting direct on the subject with a side light for the shoulders and head, is a good place to start.
Go to DVINFO.net https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/126811-xh-custom-presets-download-library-copy.html
a good place to start.
I also like to use Wolfgang Winnies -3db setting; if you can find it.
Put a lapel mic on the talent (hide it under the shirt) and sit them down. Put a shotgun mic on a mic stand with a boom and point it straight down at the talents head just off camera.
This should give you two really good sources of audio and completely isolate it from most other noise.
I know this is late in coming sorry. Hope it helps for next time.
This camera is a great piece of kit. It should be good for quite a few years to come.
All the best.

[Wayne Dupuis]

Shut down your mac. Shut down the Lacie drive, and turn it’s power button off. Unplug the power cord from your Mac. You will hear a click, after which you can plug the cable back in to the back of your Mac. Power up the Lacie. Power up your Mac. You should see the Lacie. Do not eject the Lacie before shutting down your Mac, but rather Shut down then turn off the drive. This should solve the issue.

Wayne Dupuis
MultiMedia Tech
VIHA

[Wayne Dupuis]

HDV should work fine. The secret is in lighting the talent, and greenscreen. Do some reading too on what “not to wear”, as talent.
Also be aware of how jiggy the talent or camera moves. Every opposing movement will cause jumpiness in the final product.

[Wayne Dupuis]

Sure go ahead; but ask yourself this first. How much will it cost me to come back here and re-shoot this scene at my expense and the expense of time versus a 4 dollar tape. Then go ahead and shoot with that used tape, and hope that you don’t get any unexpected pops or stutters.
Oh and while your at it did you label the tape last time you shot on it as being HD30P, 24P, SD 60i…
blahblahblah.
Dont’ do it.

[Wayne Dupuis]

I can shoot my XH in pretty low light and I get what I see. Search the forums here and at DVinfo.net for presets. Check the web for Wolfgang Winnies -3db preset.

Look in the menu and set the camera to -3db output for one, and load Wolfgang’s preset.
Light the scene, load wolfgang’s -3db, white balance or dial in a white balance using the preset K method. (5400k is a good place to start) Set the camera’s switch to the uppermost setting for no gain (-3db) Aim the centre of the viewfinder at a neutral source of light (not too dark, not too light) and hit the “lock levels” button. Re frame the shot and take some test footage. What you see in the viewfinder is what you should get on your monitor after you capture.

All that said. Flat panel monitors suck wind big time unless they are of a very high level. RE: (apple monitors are great) others not so much, especially if they do things like “super contrast” etc, which in my opinion blows out the shadows and portrays banding etc.

The XHA1 has proven over and over again to take great footage; even in low light.
Do some looking around, and you will see for yourself.

[Wayne Dupuis]

David you must be kidding? I am asking because even with stock settings the G1… I have an XH) should be pristine. You don’t mention what you are viewing on and if you are calibrating a monitor to show correctly. Even so you should be seeing a pretty close to skin tone with stock settings.
One place to look at is Wolfgang’s -3db settings and upload that to a card in the camera. Get to know the in camera menu and get this set up as a starting point to uploading all the different color settings that the camera is capable of. I use Wolfgang Winnies -3 setting a good bit.
With that set and the camera set on HD 30P set up your editor to capture with these settings for HDV capture. Edit in HDV and after done output with Quicktime Conversion to 422Prores. Import this footage directly into DVDSP or Compress the output to SD 16:9 in Compressor if the file won’t load into DVDSP. This formula should output really beautiful looking footage.
I’ve used Stib’s film-like plugins as well as Shadow Highlight and have never had an issue with most other plugins using this formula.
Does your footage look good when viewed on the camera? If not try shooting full manual and adjusting your white balance to a white card in the light you are shooting in. Use the Zebras at 95% and trust your viewfinder. If this formula does not work for you. I’d have to suggest you have a tech look at your camera.
Good luck bud. You have a great camera. I love my XH and can’t say enough good about it.
Enough Good.