Deck control and time code issues

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Harshness edited out, and in the future please use the "Report This Post" function to the bottom right instead of responding directly. There is no need to be harsh here, and more importantly, no need to respond to it. And I completely agree, let's get back on topic.

And yet -- Avid *did* certify at NAB2005. So let's stick to properly addressing the question, please.

Thanks in advance,

My apologies - didn't realise I was breaking etiquette..

nuff said

[Stephen L. Noe]

Originally Posted by Sean McHenry

One last suggestion for folks joining the thread late, read the whole thing before commenting. We find ourselves repeating information otherwise.

Sean, You're probably referring to me in that comment. I probably should have read the whole thread. Yosuf and I use the same Liquid 6.1 in which I (or Yosuf) have no problem with deck control or 30p. It's the 24p that is a problem.

My bad amigo and all the best of luck...

[Sean McHenry]

Stephen, no big deal, I just get into a circle at times telling folks what was already tried, etc. Most folks are just truely trying to be helpful. I appreciate all that.

We'll figure this bugger out yet. (Or buy Sony.)

See ya'll around,

Sean

[David Dessel]

Today I hooked up the 50 Deck to my Avid Meridian system so I could use it as a DVCAM source machine going component out. After trying several configurations within the Avid and the deck, I was unable to prevent the unit from locking up.

This occured when a tape was inserted and during high speed shuttleing. The only way to get the deck back online was to disconnect the power cable for a brief moment.

This is a bummer, since I was looking forward to downconverting the film-like hdv directly into the Avid for a look. Seems like the workaround is to downconvert to a Beta SP or Digi and capture.

I've had no trouble controlling the deck on another system via firewire and FCP. I was however, hoping for an easy workflow when doing SD work on the Avid.

-Dave Dessel

[Sean McHenry]

David, since you mentioned the "film like look" I wanted to make sure you are also aware that Avid still can't handle the 24p HDV format yet. At least not the MCAs or Xpress Pro HD. Kinda' sucks.

Sean

[David Dessel]

Yes, I am aware of Avid's current HDV limitations. I'm using FCP for all of my HDV needs. FCP or AVID, it's all the same to me as my only concern is content and they are both fine tools.

However, one of the things I want to do is use the real-time down conversion in the deck to go in to my Avid Meridian System. As I stated earlier, batch digitizing does not work on this older system (4.5 years old) and the 50 deck. For SD projects, on this system, I'll dub to a Beta Format and then batch, until a solution can be found.

Best,

-Dave Dessel

[Sean McHenry]

David, were you trying to control the deck on the Avid via 1394 or RS422? I know you said 1394 for FCP but you din't say for the Avid.

Thanks,

Sean

[David Dessel]

Hey Sean,

On the Avid it's RS-422 that's causing the problem. I have no problems at all with Firewire.

Happy Holidays,

-Dave Dessel

[Sean McHenry]

That's what I thought. I am in talks now with our JVC Engineer for this region. I may mention you to him also as another person who can't get RS422 working. We have 2 of the BR50 decks now and I need to schedule room time in that suite to test 422 to the new deck. I'll be in touch.

Sean

[David Dessel]

Sean,

I am happy to speak to the JVC folks. I E-Mailed you my contact information. Have an awesome holiday.

-Dave Dessel

[Sean McHenry]

Thanks David. I found out who our JVC service rep is for the midwest (Ohio) and we have been speaking for a while now on several issues. He has our camera and is troubleshooting the latest mystery.

We had the camera stop recording TC and audio, even though the shooters were live monitoring it while recording. It just didn't record correctly anything but video. Strange thing is, that was in DV mode.

Anyway, we are on track now.

Thanks for the offer,

Sean Mchenry

[David Dessel]

Hi Barry,

This is disturbing news. Please let us know what you discover.

-Dave Dessel

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Charles Roberts

Don't count me in the crew that can live without TC! If I can't offfline consolidate or media manage a full drive to make space I'm sunk! Try cutting a 6:1 shooting ratio for a 30 minute script and you'll reconsider keeping full tapes online pretty fast (unless you're filthy rich, which I ain't).

At a 6:1 ratio that's 180 minutes of tape (9GB/hour native HDV) to keep on-line. That's 27GB -- less than an iPod. You don't need to be rich, just able to multiply correctly.

Perhaps you meant 60:1 -- which still is only 270GB. That's about $250 for a 1394 disk. After a production, toss it on a shelf. A true removeable drive would be about $200.

Later this year Maxtor will introduce Tapestry, a holographic DVD disc with a capacity of 300GB.

[Sean McHenry]

Despite the math, he's still right. Who will want to browse hours of captured footage, bring it in raw and the sync the full rez version - by eye? For a full length feature or doc? How would you justify that time to a client who knows how a real shop should function?

That's a lot of extra work that would be avoided with proprer TC and the ability to batch capture.

Sean McHenry

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Sean McHenry

Who will want to browse hours of captured footage, bring it in raw and the sync the full rez version -- by eye? For a full length feature or doc? How would you justify that time to a client who knows how a real shop should function?

That's a lot of extra work that would be avoided with proprer TC and the ability to batch capture.

Sean McHenry

I see -- he does the math wrong, but his conclusion which depends on the math being right, remains correct. And, his 30 min project is a full length feature/doc. Hmmm.

Let's look at the 30 min project which he posted about:

1) Someone is going to have to watch and log all the tapes to get a batch capture list into the NLE. Either you do that by shuttling tape and marking while risking tape damage OR you watch the tapes play from disk. The whole point of NLE is to eliminate tape and work from disk.

2) There is no need to sync anything because audio is already on the tape -- sorry -- on the disk. Already nicely divided by the computer into shots.

3) Simply delete the shots you don't want, or toss them into an UNUSED BIN, and toss the "good" shots into the 30 min. Timeline.

4) Put the Project file and an HDV copy on the disk too. Along with audio and graphics. Now put the disk on a shelf in case you need the source contents. Done!