Flash XDR Earns Me More Money

[Mark Job]

Hi Gang:
Just completed an industrial video shoot last Friday and delivered rough cut version for client feed back this morning. The Flash XDR performed flawlessly with my Canon XL H1. The only hiccup I observed was the XDR behavior when the XL H1 comes out of standby (Due to its re-cue ing the loaded cassette, thus outputting TC trigger signal). This action causes the XDR to roll, then stop and wait for next TC cue (Camera Rolling). I always shoot jobs with a camera with a VTR built into it with tape loaded of some kind (Cover my tucass !) I shot Long GOP 50 Mbps with single channel phantom powered shotgun mic. Imported CF card recorded clips into Avid Media Composer 4.0.5.x with the automatic *Center Pan for Mono phonic clips upon import* command activated. I deliver answer print master tomorrow, receive check, cash check. - Now that's what i purchased the XDR for ! Start a large documentary this Thursday recorded on tape & XDR.

[Mark Job]

Hi friends:
Actually, I should have been a little more specific about my XDR use in my original post - I have always used my XDR on shoots ever since I purchased it at the end of last Summer. The difference is now I use the XDR as the "Main" device. Before, I only used the XDR as a "backup Only" add on, because I was uncomfortable with it's bug level of malfunctions. However, it is now several firmware upgrades later (And still one to come ??) , and now the XDR is quite stable and fully useable for our current shooting requirements.

The client loved the industrial video we shot for them, and we received and deposited check ! This is the way it's supposed to work. I shot the opening scenes to a high profile documentary for Tv this Thursday afternoon, and again I used the Flash XDR as the *main* recording device with the Canon XL H1 rolling @ 24 F (23.98 FPS) at Long GOP 50 Mbps. The resulting footage was very, very, good indeed. I was tempted to go I-Frame only @ 280 Mbps and post that into Avid, but was a little too squeemish to go for that. (I think I want to test that setting more with our current Avid Media Composer post setup before we certify the I-frame high data rate route for our high price tag productions). It's good to see the XDR finally paying for itself. (I paid $6,000.00 Canadian in Montreal for it)

[Gints Klimanis]

Mark, how does the XDR earn you more money? Less time spent in workflow? Qualification for jobs that require 50 MBps video even though you use a camera that otherwise deliver HDV?

[Mark Job]

Hi Gints:
Yes, you touched on one of the main ones when you wrote about qualifying for industrial jobs (Broadcast spec) with a thick raster HDV camcorder. When you can make an HDV camcorder look like a Sony Broadcast XDCAM, then they really don't care as long as you can deliver spec files to their post workflow. There is also a definite workflow advantage to importing clips in their * Native resolution* as opposed to re-compressing them with FCP, or batch capturing a lot of HDV cassettes (Takes all day my friends !). Going up to Full Raster HD from thick and upping your color space also helps fool them - Not to mention upping your audio sampling rate from 16 to 24 bit ! The 24 bit is broadcast spec, so we win in the audio department. Also, I'm sure you know my version of the original XL H1 DOES NOT embed the audio and TC information in the HD video stream, so going 2 channel balanced XLR with phantom 48 volts makes us win big time.