Greg, absolutely agreed there's no formal responsibility.

Without wishing to sound like a pompous ass, I'm talking more of a moral responsibility. If they benefit from using the forum as a free marketing tool to tell us about their products, I feel they have a duty to give something back to the community and we are perfectly justified in feeling disgruntled when they don't.

It's not as though Serious Magic is a DVi sponsor! At least not according to the sponsor list.

Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% grateful for free advice on these and other forums. And of course I realise that I shouldn't expect free advice to go on forever. But I get an empty feeling when you see personal service levels drop as soon as the acquisition flag is raised. Kinda smacks of "made my buck, i'm outta here".

Sorry, but whether or not Adobe has banned SM staff from posting on these forums, I still feel let down.

Ian . . .

Image stretch
 

when using dv rack 2.0 the image in the monitor on my laptop is stretched
horizontally. camera is an hvr-z1u and the monitor has the same stretched image whether dv cam or hdv. anybody know how to correct this?

dvrack vs dr-hd100
 

Been awhile since I've asked a dumb question. At least a few minutes.

I have a JVC HD100UA, and I generally record in 720 24p.

Is there any difference in the quality of image between recording to a hard drive while using dvrack on a laptop, and recording to dr-hd100?

I know the dr-hd100 is a lot more portable, but either way you get a bunch of .m2t files, yes? There would be no difference between the m2t files recorded either way.... yessss?

no difference, afaik. the dr-hd100 records to FAT hard drive format while DVRACK will record to whatever format you have your hard drive formatted to, usually NTSC. This has absolutely no effect on video quality.

If using the HD version, there are two monitors available, one is 4:3, the other 16:9.

However, both can be adjusted for aspect ratio in the menu settings.

I work with both. And they give both the same quality since it captures the m2t file from the Firewire port.

How to shot with Ultra2
 

Hello. We are setting up shot and doing trials with Ultra2 software. I know we would like just to key the screen alone and then keep rolling into your footage.

If I want to stop/start recording for a different scene, do I need to rekey the screen?

All other variables, lighting, camera settings and where talent will be standing will all be the same.

Any advice, tips would be great.

Keying with Ultra is done in post, so what do you mean?

Thanks for your quick reply

I answered my own question when looking around more.

I can shot one clip and then utlize the In/Out points of the software.
What I typically do is shot a scene, then in Post Premiere, i would do an auto scene detect to seperate the clips so I can log them. I rather work with small clips of each scene vs. 1 master clip which i must scrub though.

DV Rack timelapse question
 

Some friends and I are removing the engine from a car tomorrow (yes, I'm a huge car geek) and I thought it would be interesting to record a timelapse video of the removal process, but I've never done this before, and I'm rather confused.

Assuming we will be working for about 4-5 hours (beer breaks included), what frequency should I set up DV rack at?

There are two settings in the menu...TmLps Frequency, and TmLps Net Frames.

I will be shooting with a JVC HD110 in SD 24p mode.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

First, decide how long you want the timelapsed version of the event to last. e.g., for a 5 hour task, if you want to see the whole thing unfold in 1 minute, you'd want to record at 1/(5 * 60) normal speed = 1/300 of normal speed. Since normal speed is 24fps in your case, you'd want to record one frame every (300 / 24) = 12.5 seconds.....

You definitely need to rekey each scene. There are usually enough subtle differences between lighting or whatever and ultra requires you to grab certain parts of the green screen so they can be sampled for the best key possible. So each shot needs to be processed separately.

DVRack HD QT files not compatible with FCP 5
 

I recorded a series of interviews on DVRack HD using the HVX200 set at 720p/30p. I set the DVRack to record QT files.

The clips played back fine on my PC. I hooked the drive up to my Mac and tried to import the files into FCP 5. I immediately got an error message that said the media files are not optimized for FCP. The message recommended recapturing the media or using media manager to create new files to improve their performance.

I placed a clip on the timeline anyway and rendered it. Initially the audio played with the clip and then completely dropped out after 10 seconds or so. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Paul

recording on bus powered external drive, 5400rpm?
 

Hi, would I encounter any problems recording to one of those USB cable powered mini hard drives? You can get them up to 160gb these days at reasonable cost, but the only thing is they are only 5400 rpm.

I'm thinking of getting these for portable field recording using HDV Rack 2.0 without having to resort to a larger, AC powered hard drive.

Also, does anyone know how much these reduce notebook battery life approximately?

Thanks for any info.

Well, have found 7200rpm versions of these now. But I guess the issues would be heat dissipation, reliability, susceptibility to jarring transport/handling, etc.

Still, would rather go 5400 rpm for greater storage capacity currently. I don't think there would be any problem capturing hd with these, but still would like confirmation though anyway.

no sd capture problem
 

Hi folks I have used dell inspiron 1300 and dv rack with 80 gig hard drive to decord SD using a XL 1s. I used mains power....but I had tested it previously and found it to work for about 2 hours before depletion (how old is your battrey). I also have a spare laptop battery just in case mains electricity is not available. Peace Les.

Of course, the HD100 is a small portable hard drive - and DV rack is a laptop based program.

I have DV rack 2.0 on a Dell Inspiron 8160 running perfectly fine - I don't use it to record, but I do use it to monitor the HD during studio/interview shoots.

My only want would be a 1394 splitter - so that I could run the FS4ProHD (which is what I have) AND monitor HD through DV rack simultaneously. Now that would be nice - sadly all I can do is monitor the HD down composite on an SD monitor (hd monitor too expensive at this time). I know, I could have forgone the laptop and invested in a monitor - but I really need the laptop to be Avid friendly as it was needed for field review of material on location in India.

Hi, sorry, but is there anyone who has experience using these portable bus powered hard drives at 5400 rpm for recording high-def material using DV Rack?

Thanks again.

Help with DV Rack
 

I was thinking of getting DV rack for my new laptop, but When I installed the trial I can't get an image from the A1. I'm not even sure windows recognizes the A1. The only thing that appears in the hardware profile is AV/C Tape Device.

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

are demoing the HDV version ??

(if you're running the SD version, DV Rack will only work if the XHA1 is running in SD mode)

There are two different trial versions? I tried putting it into SD mode and still couldn't bring up an image. The funny thing is I can capture HDV in vegas. So the camera is talking to the computer.

I went to the page and signed up for DV Rack HD 2 trial and I get sent a link for DV Rack SD 2.0 (DVRack20SD_1571.exe). I've done it twice now. There are no other options to download different trial versions. The e-mail even states it's a link to DV Rack HD 2. What is going on here? This is massively frustrating, since I'm considering paying $500 dollars for this bit of software.

Trial version of DV Rack HD?
 

Does a trial version of DV Rack HD exist? If it does I can't find it.

Ugh... nevermind. Just hooked up a DV camcorder to the laptop and theres a 1/2 second delay. I can only imagine what kind of delay is in store with HDV.

What are your laptop specs?

Ultra 2 out with Premiere Pro 3?
 

Anybody have a lead on whether Adobe will offer a "downgraded" version of Ultra 2 with the new PP3? I'm sure they wouldn't offer the "full version"....

Rumors anyone? (I confess, I'm hoping to save some $$ with the next upgrade...)

Can't download trial
 

I've twice tried to download the trial of DV Rack HD2. I'm told on the download page that a link will be sent to my email address.

Both times I provided a different email address. I'm not getting any email with a link.

First tried 2 days ago

Any ideas?

Andrew

Re: recording on bus powered external drive, 5400rpm?
 

Eugene,

I am using a 2.5" (laptop) 5400 RPM drive as your describe with DV Rack (non-HD version). Here's a link to the drive and the enclosure used:

Drive: (SAMSUNG Spinpoint M Series HM100JC 100GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache ATA-6)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152024

Enclosure: (Bytecc Aluminium 2.5" HDD HD-HD1-U2FW)
http://www.directron.com/hd201u2f.html

--Rob

Where to purchase older DV Rack or Express
 

I finally got a laptop and would like to get DV Rack. I'm not shooting HD and most likely won't be for another year or so. DV Rack Express would be just fine for me. Any idea where I could still find any?

Thanks in Advance.

check with videoguys.com, a forum sponsor.

Thanks I have sent them an email. I have also seen it at some other online shops, but they are from companies that I have never heard of so before I check resellers.com I wanted to see what anybody else had to say.

Thanks

DV Rack Installation fails silently
 

Okay, I've tried several times to install newly-purchased DV Rack onto my new laptop.

It prompts me for the installation key, which I enter, then zips through doing some things, says it's finished.

I click 'Ok' on the final installer window and the readme file pops up.

The shortcut on the desktop marked 'DV Rack' is invalid. There are menus created under Start -> Programs, but all the menu entries are invalid.

There is no StatusLog.txt file in the Documents and Settings subdirectory mentioned in the readme file. Nothing. No error popups or anything.

I looked in the Serious Magic / DV Rack subdirectory under Program Files and there are some binaries there. I click on 'Activate.exe' and it asks whether I've activated; I click "No"; it brings up a user info form and immediately fails with a dialog box stating "An error was encountered performing activation. Please try again later." I cannot get past that, and of course, the installation is incomplete, anyway.

What gives ? This was pretty expensive software to just die during installation without even giving a hint about what was wrong.

My setup:

1-day old IBM Thinkpad T60, Core 2 Duo CPU, 2 GB memory, 80GB disk free, Windows XP SP2, all Windows Update patches applied.

Tried installing as my own user account, which has Administrator privileges, then as Administrator: same result.

Tried copying the CD's contents to a directory on my hard drive and re-trying the installation: same result.

Have Symantec Antivirus 10.0.0.846 OEM running -- tried turning off Autoprotect: no change.

Any thoughts ? I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Thanks in advance,

Stephen H

Although activation has frequently been aggravating since SM went to Softwrap (make sure you start activating 3 days before you actually need to use it, in my experience! you'll need the time for email back-and-forths with softwrap in the UK), I've never experienced the installation problems you're describing, and I've done every version of DVRack.

Get thee to tech support!

Thanks, I finally got it going. I must say that that is the most ridiculous, convoluted activation process I've ever experienced.

I had to:

Leave the product with a wrecked installation, then apply a patch. The patch seemed to fix the product and the activate gadget, as well.

Once that started working, I could go through the Byzantine registration process.

Sheesh, I'm all for 'em protecting their IP, but that was horrible.

I'm sure Adobe will get everything straightened out as the product evolves.

Stephen H

P.S. Oh, and as for support helping, I got "Oh. We don't support v 1.0. Call Adobe. We only support 2.0 here." Lovely.

DV Rack overlay problem?
 

At least, I'm guessing that's what the problem is.

I can record clips OK but nothing appears in the monitor nor wfm/vector.

I tried a Panasonic DV deck as an A->D converter and a Sony VX1000 camera with the same results.

The computer is a brand new, muy spiffy, Asus A8Js with dual core 2.0GHz, 1Gb ram. The video card seems to be a problem. nVida doesn't seem to know that they made a GeForce Go 7700. Its an Asus notebook but the only video driver on thier website is the one that is installed on the computer.

I did notice that Edius doesn't have overlay either.

I'm not sure where to start troubleshooting this. Any help appreciated!

Never mind, fixed it.

I'm not sure why (so if someone has an explanation I'll listen) but the video card was still devoting a whole bunch of memory to the monitor that was no longer hooked up. I activated it, reduced its screen size and deactivated and I had overlay and I had a working DV Rack.

Unfortunately, I had the bright idea of installing a patch. Now I have to reactivate the program and its asking for information I don't have. Terrific.

Right. As Andy figured out, many video cards will only allow video overlay on the "primary" monitor, which can be changed within the card's configuration software.

looking for master sets 4 (Ultra)
 

Looking for an inexpensive copy of master sets 4 for Ultra2 -- any ideas where to find the best deal?


Thanks

Check out forum sponsor videoguys.com.

Unfortunately, this kind of product generally isn't available at much of a discount - unless I've missed it.

DV Rack-monitor looks cropped
 

Hi All,

I am using the last version of DVD rack(before Adobe) with the HDV power pack installed.. when using it for a normal 4:3 DV project, the field monitor in DV Rack looks cropped.. like part of the video is cut off.. WEhen I look at the captured footage it is normal.. I just cannot figure out why the DV Rack monitor looks cropped?? Any ideas??

Thanks,
Mike Moncrief

Hello,

OK I think i answered my own question.. looks like the "zoom" button was turned on, hence the crop.. Another thing that is a bit confusing though is that the video appears letterboxed on the monitor, even though i am shooting 4:3 DV??
Also I do not remember, what is the difference between AVI T1 versus AVI T2 ??

Thanks,
Mike M.