Misc. Open DV from 2008
 

I have a RedRock microFollowFocus and you can easily mark on the wheel with a dry erase pen. I just got a Chrosziel Follow Focus so i dont have to have a gear around my lens (it has a built in gear that RedRock FF couldnt reach) but the surface of the wheel feels and looks different so I dont think you can mark it with a dry erase marker. Does anyone know what to use to designate focus marks?

Thanx

trying to decide if to shoot familiar DV or to jump to HDV
 

Hi. I'm going to be making a short low-budget movie. we'll be shooting with a sony HDV z-1. i have experience working with the sony pd170, but i've never worked with HDV before. i'm currently trying to decide if to work with what i'm familiar with (DV), or go for the better quality picture and tackling on HDV. i've heard there are some issues with HDV.... shutter speed issues, timecode issues.... and basically i'm not sure what i'm getting into. I'd really be happy to get some advice here and possibly some links to reading material where i can learn what HDV requires as far as shooting (and editing).

Thanks for any help!

Motion JPEG 2000?
 

I have Canopus Procoder V1 and use it often. The ability to convert from 720x480 NTSC to 720x576 PAL is the main reason I purchased it some time back.

However, converting using the standard Microsoft codec results in a PAL image with lots of horizontal banding and a significant loss or resolution. Some of this is to be expected, I understand.

After doing some tests recently I tried using JPEG 2000 as the "target" format. The results were stunning. No banding and the image held the detail. However, the data rate kicked up to over 5 megs and the clip size just about doubled.

My thinking is this would be a good intermediate codec to make the initial NTSC to PAL conversion at my end and then allow the final user (my broadcast client overseas) convert to their native DV codec.

Any thoughts?

Which aquasition frame rate for international sales & theatrical?
 

Hi there,

I'm working on a documentary. It will definitely be broadcast in the UK. It will hopefully be sold to several international broadcasters. And it may also be re-cut for a theatrical release if we're very, VERY lucky.

So: which format should we shoot? I presume 1080/25p would be a fairly safe option. It will look great on UK TVs and we can just do a 4% speed reduction if we need to do a 24fps version for theatrical release.

My slight hesitation about shooting 25p is that perhaps we should shoot 24p which, as I understand it, is easier to convert to 29.97fps than 25p? I've heard it said that 24p is a great master format because it can be elegantly converted to 25p and 29.97.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Thanks,
Jack

Need name of reliable camera rental houses in miami
 

A friend of mine is shooting a video scheduled to be shot in Miami and need to know the names of some of the better camera equipment rental houses in Miami. There will be a couple of P2 cams, 35mm lens and adapter, etc.

Recelling Batteries
 

I'm looking for reliable sources for rebuilding professional batteries such as those by Anton Bauer and IDX. Anyone have good suggestions for where to go in North America?

Upgrading to HD
 

Hi!

My current client is requiring HD for a project, so I guess I'll be making the move! They will be advancing the money necessary - up to $10,000.

Here are my questions:

1. I'm considering the EX1. I work with Adobe's Production Premium CS2. What is the current workflow for the EX1 with Premiere and AE? I'm assuming CineForm will be necessary? Will CS2 be sufficient, or will I need to upgrade to CS3? Should I be considering any other cameras in that price range?

2. Should I look into any hardware upgrades for my computer such as memory, processor, or capture/editing card? My system specs are as follows:

Mobo: Tyan Tempest i5000XT
Processor: Intel Xeon 5130 Woodcrest 2.0GHz
Memory: 2 x Kingston 1GB DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 667
Hard Drives: 3 x Western Digital 250 GB SATA II Drives (1 system drive, 2 storage drives)
Graphics Card: Quadro FX 3450
OS: XP Pro

I'd be grateful for any suggestions!

Canon Optura Pi fix vs Elura 100 upgrade
 

The name says it all. First time to your forums so please do not berate me if I am putting this in the wrong place. It was this old post that brought me here. Here is the long of it though:

I have been using a Canon Optura Pi since 2000 with out problems and got dozens of hours home videos out of it. I got everything transfered to DVD when literally on the last tape it would not close after removing the tape. No one in my area fixes camcorders. Canon wants $167 to look at it to possibly fix it, or $249 to upgrade to the Elura 100. I am not sure which way to go. I planned on upgrading to HD in the next 1-2 yrs once things settle out with the editing and storage issues. I want to have something to use until then, and to be able to access my 25+ MiniDV tapes in the future. Optura has the progressive motor and optical stabilizer but elura has more pixels and more compact. I was just planning on upgrading since the optura has a track record of bad tape chamber problems, but am hearing you can not get anything like the optura any more so maybe worth just fixing it. Interested in all opinions.

Downconverted HDV Versus DV: Observations
 

It's common wisdom on online forums that HDV videos from cameras such as the HV20, when downconverted to DV resolution always looks sharper than what you can get from the best DV camcorders under similar conditions.

And it's kind-of true:

* The best DV clips I've been able to find look kind-of soft on my laptop monitor when compared to downconverted HDV clips or digicam photos of the same resolution. Which is funny, because many DV cameras such as the GS500 have enough pixels to create fully sharp images at DV resolution, yet they don't.

* Even HDV cameras in DV mode, or HDV videos downconverted to DV by the camera, often exhibit this strange softness. Which is weird because camera manufacturers definitely have access to accurate image resampling algorithms.

Whatever the reason, I was planning to upgrade to the HV20 partly for this reason, so I downloaded some 24p HDV samples from this site and resampled them to DV resolution using the best resampling algorithm in Virtualdub. The result was extremely sharp, as I expected:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2...ampled1hb9.png

I created a progressive DVD with a very high bitrate and then tried to play the resulting on a DVD player connected to a CRT. It was horrible. I could not observed the increased sharpness. Instead, there was an extreme amount of twitter all over, especially during a pan.

I've played progressive DVDs on the same DVD player in the past and they looked ok. What was wrong? The increased resolution which made the video look sharper on my progressive laptop also made it unwatchable on a CRT TV. "No wonder DV cameras don't record very sharp images" I thought.

To fix the problem, I had an idea. I could resize the clip in Virtualdub in interlaced mode instead of progressive. This mode is meant for resizing interlaced material. Here is the image I got as a result:
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9...ampled2gb4.png

Does it look familiar? This is exactly what images from my GS500 look like after denoising: what images from professional DV camcorders look like when the gain is at -3db or so. It is a special kind of blur that all camcorders use in DV mode. Without it, your videos will look bad on CRT TV.

The Lesson is as follows: if you live in a country like mine where most people use CRT TVs (specifically interlaced) , and you have a really good DV camcorder, you have nothing to gain by switching to HDV. If you own an HDV camcorder, you can downconvert to DV in camera and save yourself the stress of editing HDV. All you can gain is reduced noise; you can't take advantage of the extra sharpness without making your DVD unwatchable on interlaced TVs.

If you live in a country where many people use progressive widescreen TVs, such as the US, you should probably release two versions of your DVDs:
1) A 'soft' (like second image) version letterboxed for CRT TV users
2) 'sharp' (like first image) widescreen version for progressive TV owners.

Looking for clamp on wide angle for A-HD
 

Im looking for a clamp on wide angle converter for my Aiptek A-HD I am using as an in-car camera. Or even a small enough wide angle to duct tape to the front.

The lens has no threads and is a cheap toy case, but works great. I think the size is in the 25-30mm range, and I can't seem to find anything that small that isnt an impossible to adhere magnetic lens.

Anyone have any ideas?

http://www.aiptek.com/www2/images/photo-ahd-1_02.jpg

camera store burglary
 

Found this in my local paper this morning.

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/articl...51/1033/NEWS01

If y'all in the continental come across any craigslist or ebay listings for nice still cameras or good lenses in the next week or two that are ridiculously low or you suspect might be construed as a fencing attempt, please let me know. There is no currently available list of the stolen items, so for now its just a vague 'lookout'. Many thanks.

-Jon

Important Firewire (old) News...........
 

Was researching for an answer to this post

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...320#post822320

when I stumbled on these two gems:

"Microsoft Windows Vista currently supports only 1394a, with 1394b support coming later in a service pack. (Vista SP1 RC1 is available from mid December 2007, with full release expected during the first quarter of 2008)[7]"

and this one:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222


So, all you PC XPSP2/ Vista users wondering why you're Firewire is a bit sluggish, there's you answer.


CS

making 24p or 24f look good
 

On another thread I saw this post: I'm wondering what specifically should be done when shooting 24p/24f capture, to get the best image quality, other than being careful with pans and tilts?

Sony HDR-SR8 HDD Cam
 

Does anyone know why Sony isn't selling this HDD camera any more? I know they came out with new models but it's a great camera. I purchased mine new last September.

video dimension dilemma
 

At work I use an HDV camera, 1.33 pixel aspect ratio. To make the flash files I export uncompressed 1440x1080 1.33 and give it to the web guy. He uses Flash Video Encoder and resizes to 533x300 and it comes out looking great (see example here http://www.curtain-wall.com/air-scru...minator-i.html)

Now I filmed something widescreen DV 1.2 PAR. I am trying to follow the same workflow, exported 720x480 1.2 PAR uncompressed, and now am taking it into the Flash Encoder, but am not sure what dimensions would correct the wideness of 1.2, rather than 1.33 . It won`t let me change to square pixels, so I need to manually change the cropping dimensions, is there a formula or knows size to use for this?