Yup, got mine after about two months. I was just starting to sweat about it when it came in the mail. I ended up getting the program for 200 bucks after the rebate :)

I received mine too. Took a little longer than expected, but it finally arrived.

Ed

Please do a search on DV Rack here to see how people like it with
laptops, that's been discussed often already.

Since DV Rack produces standard DV (AVI/Quicktime) files you can
use them in Vegas (5) just fine!

Still waiting on my mine as it was verified on 12/21/2004 and I received an email stating so I don't know why it is taking so long.

Hello,

I have downloaded the DV Rack trail version and will install soon.

I just wanted to ask for some opinions regarding the use of the laptop screen as a preview monitor.


How does everbody like this?


I just purchased a laptop with a brightview screen so I have high hopes.

If this feature is as stated, then I can eliminate carrying a monitor which would be nice.

Thanks

Hello,

I am looking at the DV Rack but have some questions.

I use the DV Storm2 card and their Edius NLE from Canopus for my desktop computer.

This came with a little program called DV Capture.

It is a little utility that only captures dv footage from firewire or analog.

Canopus uses a proprietary .avi file format that is best if captured in that format.


Can the DV Rack capture in Canopus .avi format?


Thanks

DV Rack's monitor feature works pretty well. The only thing to keep in mind is that it's not extremely high resolution; it resolves around 300 lines, so if you're expecting to use it for critical focus, it's not really the best for that job.

I've asked them for a full-resolution extraction option, where it'd take a 512x384 patch out of the 720x480 frame and map it directly to the DV Rack monitor, which would allow for precise focus. Hope they can implement something like that soon, as that's really my only complaint about an otherwise superb product.

B & H has the DV Rack for $357.95 including S & H. Now, math wizards, with Serious Magic's $200.00 rebate, my cost is $157.95.

Okay? $157.95 for DV Rack at B & H with the rebate.

Not too shabby!

Hi Tim,

Yes - set the DV Rack recording format to "CANOPUS" and it will record to the Canopus file format.

Hi Hart,

Our rebates are handles by a rebate house in Florida that is used by Sony, Whirlpool, Pinnacle, Maytag, and other big-name companies. You should be able to go to www.rebateshq.com and see the current status of the rebate.

If you run into trouble, please let me know and I can look into it.

I have been using a 9" color monitor that is at 330 lines, so I might be in business.

Anybody else?

Thanks

My laptop is a P4 2.8g 512 ram and this video card - "Integrated Intel® graphics with 32MB UMA memory technology"

I have to say the video looks sort of webcam-ish.

Is this a function of my laptop specs?

The picture quality is fine, but there is a lag in the movement.

Plus it looks jittery when I pan.

The picture lag makes this product un-useable as a monitor replacement.

Thanks for any tips.

<<<-- Originally posted by Tim Polster : My laptop is a P4 2.8g 512 ram and this video card - "Integrated Intel® graphics with 32MB UMA memory technology"-->>>

I'd say your video specs are at the minimum of what you would need. According to the FAQ for DV Rack, it says "32 MB AGP graphics card with 3D acceleration (64 MB recommended). "

So you are working within the minimum of the range and that is probably why you are having problems.

How much lag are you getting? I always get a little bit of lag and jerkiness with pans but not enough to bother me. There is also a slight delay in the audio. I use headphones right on the computer to make sure I have audio there, in spite of my poor hearing.

I also use a software called, "TrueRTA", http://www.trueaudio.com/rta_abt1.htm

It gives me an accurate indication of what my audio consists of even as it is from the DV capture and it can even do it with a 1/24 octive. The module included with DV Rack doesn't give an accurate display of the audio.

Since I no longer have DV Rack, I use the capture of Media Studio Pro 7.2 which gives me a nice-large display while capturing and doesn't require as much from the graphics card. You might want to consider going that route instead.

Sort of like a variation of what DV Rack can do plus you can use the 'switch' feature and go right ahead and edit and use the color balance to see what the vectorscope and waveform monitor would be showing.

Still not a DV Rack but one can easily see what is happening at the shoot and still avoid the disasters and do it all at a better price than DV Rack.

Hope this helps.

Danny Fye
www.dannyfye.com

"Okay? $157.95 for DV Rack at B & H with the rebate."

Thanks much for the information. I might be able to get DV Rack again afterall.

I do wish they would fix the audio module. :) Nag, Nag, and Nag - Grin!

Even though I have a sort of 'makeshift' DV Rack by using Ulead's Media Studio Pro 7.2, it is still not quite the same.

In spite of the problem with the audio module, there are still the other features that seem to work well. I like using the vector and waveform scopes while shooting the video.

Danny Fye

Karl,

www.rebateshq.com is where I am looking and have not seen any change in the status since I receive the initial email on 12/21/04.

Status Detail: Your rebate is valid and is in the final stages of processing. You should receive your rebate per the terms and conditions listed on the coupon.

I am getting to the point where if the rebate is not instant at checkout I will have to revaluate the purchase price as it getting to hard to receive the mail in rebates or takes a long time or something is wrong with the information provided. For example I purchased a Disney DVD with a $10 rebate and then I was told 6 weeks later they would not mail it to a PO Box and the deadline for resubmitting as expired. Another example is with Canon and the purchase of a digital camera and lenses. They were offering a triple the rebate offer with the purchase of three different lenses. To make the story short I was due $455 in rebates but only got $190 and when I called they finally agreed that I qualified for the $455 but had no clue how to correct it in their system and I would have to call back in about a week. This is taking too much of my time and will not allow mail in rebates to influence my purchase decisions in the future.

Sorry to vent but this is frustrating.

Barry: how and why would it only resolve around 300 lines? I
assume it displays the full DV picture? That is 720x480 or 720x576,
no "analog" lines here! You get the full pixels of the signal. How
much you can see depends on your monitor attached (my laptop
has a TFT screen, so I see all the pixels, versus a CRT where you
might not) and whether DV rack shows all of the signal (which as
I understand it, it does).

I've used a similar method to DV Rack to watch and capture with
my XL1S in the past and it was far easier to focus on my laptop
screen (and more accurate) than with the viewfinder!

p.s. a zoomed in piece of a picture can help even futher indeed,
but that's always the case.

DV Rack is one of our most popular add-ons for video editors. What you can accomplish with this software and a laptop is just amazing. It really can replace a whole car full of production monitoring gear. Add in the ability to record directly to the laptops drive, and it's easy to see why it is so popular.

Spot uses DV Rack & Vegas together all the time. I can't think of a better seal of approaval than that for Vegas users.

BTW - Serious Magic is running a $200 mail in rebate for DV Rwck in February ;-)

Gary
Videoguys.com

That's not how it works. I've talked with the guys at Serious Magic about it, trying to get a solution (I spent 15 years as a professional computer programmer, so I have a fairly good idea of what's involved, and maybe a suggestion on how to get us what we want with minimal effort...)

The DV Rack monitor is a 512x384 window. It's not full resolution, obviously, as the DV frame is 720x480. They use 512x384 for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that the pixel array is half as much as it would need to be for 720x480. So the very first thing that happens is they downrez the frame from 720x480 down to 512x384 (and in the process, sacrifice some resolution, leaving about 300 lines). Then all color manipulations, zebras, aspect ratio conversion etc. are performed on that smaller frame size.

It makes sense, and it does perform well, but it doesn't give you full resolution. And, using the full-screen monitor doesn't give you full res either -- it's a magnification of the downrezzed 512x384 monitor. When you switch to full-screen you see a bigger picture, but it's not more detailed.

Shoot a resolution chart and you'll see what I mean.

I don't blame them for this, I think it's a fairly brilliant solution -- they're able to provide an exceptionally useful tool using today's technology. If they used the full 720x480 they wouldn't be able to do that yet. I don't think they'll be able to provide real-time performance on a full-resolution monitor until processor specs and memory transfer specs double in speed, which would give them the horsepower to do what they're doing on twice as much data (the full 720x480 frame).

What I've asked them for is a sort of compromise... I want the ability to use a raw-resolution extraction. Instead of going through the resize-from-720x480-down-to-512x384 path, I want the option to have them instead just extract the central 512x384 out of the middle of the full frame. After doing that, all other operations should be able to stay the same, but then we'd have 100% full raw resolution. It would be compromised in that a) we wouldn't be able to see the full frame, and b) the aspect ratio would be slightly "off", since DV doesn't use square pixels but laptops do... however, the benefit is enormous, we'd get full raw resolution and have the ultimate focus ability. And it should be even more responsive: a raw bit-block transfer of the central portion of the image has got to be a quicker operation than scaling 720x480 down to 512x384.

This is my #1 request for them to address -- it's really basically akin to the Enhanced Focus option on the Sony FX1/Z1 cameras, and Enhanced Focus is like my favorite feature of the Sony HDV cameras. I'd like the same capability from DV Rack. If you would too, write to them and request the feature! :)

Yea I saw that deal last thursday and ordered it. I away all weekend in MA shooting a dance performance. I just got the email saying it was in the mail so I came to post the deal to you guys....beat me to it :)

At what point does the video card speed stop helping with DV Rack...the prices from 32mb to 128mb are all only 10-20 buck jump so getting a 128mb is fine with me, is the extra 40 or so to get a 256mb worth it?

Ah, I didn't know that. I was under the assumption that it was a
full resolution preview. I still have to check out a demo of DV Rack,
time is just so limited on my end. If they downsample you are
ofcourse loosing resolution indeed, that's obvious. Thanks for
clarifying that for me Barry! Much appreciated.

Your extraction makes sense as well, of course!

Hi Tim,

Please go to START - Run and type in "Dxdiag." Then Click OK. This will bring up the DirectX Diagnostic Utility. Click the "SAVE ALL INFORMATION" button, and save a text file of your system information. Then, copy and paste it here, or e-mail it directly to me.

The behavior you are seeing definitely isn't the norm - you should be seeing full frame rate video. It's possible that the drivers for your Intel card are out of date, and are causing the weird behavior. We'll be able to see for sure when you post or e-mail me the diagnostic.

If I activate DV Rack on my note-book computer and my desk top editing system 1 and later change my mind and decide I want to activate it on my desk top editing system 2 instead of system 1, can that be done?

If so, How?

Thanks,
Danny Fye

Hi Danny,

As a registered user of the software, you can move or transfer it around as you wish. There are some built-in allowances, and if those are exceeded, you just need to call or e-mail us (activate@seriousmagic.com is a direct e-mail for activation issues) with your information, and we'll get things taken care of.

They're offering the same $200 rebate on Ultra, their chroma keying and virtual set product.

Good luck.

Dennis

I love VEGAS
I Love DV Rack

I don't Love VEGAS 'and' DV Rack together.

Why??

DV Rack timecode does not work with Vegas yet.

Waiting on the fix.

- Shannon W. Rawls

Okay!

We've installed our DVRack software on our production laptop, and switched the capture mode to QuickTime. We did some capture off our Panasonic DVX-100A in 24PA mode... and unfortunately we did not get any better results.

Again, the error message in Final Cut Pro is "Found no clips to remove Advanced Pulldown from!"

Any other thoughts on this?? Might I send you a small test file and have someone check it, or do you not have access to Final Cut Pro over there?

Thanks for any help!

You may want to consider contacting Serious Magic's support
directly, it may take a bit of time before they see your post here.

I've been searching for an affordable laptop to run DV Rack based on two considerations:

1) Do I want to just buy a laptop that comfortably runs DV Rack -or-

2) Do I want to buy a totally blown out laptop that can handle any future endeavors (which of course, will make my out of pocket cost increase significantly).

Can anybody here tell me what minimum (and more affordable) laptop configurations you are using that smoothly runs DV Rack without any glitches whatsoever? I am going to make my purchase this week and I would like to make an informed decision.

Thank for you help!

I was capturing video using Adobe Premiere Pro earlier today using a Sony GV-D1000 connected via firewire and when I was previewing the video it also previewed on the Sony DV deck. I had the idea to connect the firewire to a laptop that had DV Rack installed so that I could use the Field Monitor, Vectorscope and Waveform Monitor so get more information but to my surprise DV Rack did not see the video signal coming from the firewire. After a call to Serious Magic Tech Support I was informed that this configuration would not work due to the way Windows handles two computers connected via firewire, it wants to make a network connection and not a A/V connection. I searched the Internet for a "Black Box" that has to two firewire ports where the "Black Box" would act as a A/V device and not a computer but came up empty. Has anyone solved this problem or know of a solution.

Hart,

You can put a version of DV Rack on the computer you are capturing to OR... Buy an external firewire hard drive (or put an internal hard drive in an ADS firewire box) for the laptop. Be sure to have two firewire ports. Connect the GVD-1000 (I have one of those myself) to one port and the hard drive to the other port.

I use an OrangeMicro two port firewire card in my PCMCIA slot. Used it for almost a year before I built my editing computer.

Hope this helps,

Dan

I bought the app today, look forward to testing it against hardware scopes...

Hart: I have no idea what you are talking about exactly, especially
these lines are confusing:

"I had the idea to connect the fiewire to a laptop"

what is the firewire? Firewire is a protocol, cable and ports.

"DV Rack did not see the video signal coming from the firewire"

again, same thing

Can you better describe what you are trying to do exactly?

When I am editing in Adobe Premiere Pro and have the MiniDV deck connect to my system via firewire and scrub through a clip not only does the clip preview on the computer screen but it also previews on the MiniDV deck which then I have a Sony CRT connected to so I can see the colors correctly and actual picture as it will be viewed on a TV screen. There are settings in Premier Pro that control this. Instead of connecting the MiniDV deck I wanted to connect my laptop with DV Rack loaded on it so I can utilize the utilities (Field Monitor, Vectorscope and Waveform Monitor) for better picture analyst. The problem is that when two Windows systems are connected via firewire the automatically make a network connection and therefore DV Rack does not see the A/V signal. To possible solve the network connection I was hoping to add a box between the two computers that would fake windows into not making a network connection and just pass the A/V signal thought the firewire allowing DV Rack to see it.

You want to use a second computer to see the *OUTPUT* from
the *FIRST* computer on which you *EDIT* with DV Rack?

If so that will not work, no matter what you put inbetween.

However, I'm not sure why you would want to. If I'm not mistaken
Premiere Pro includes a vectorscope and waveform monitor (at
least my Sony Vegas does), so you should not need DV Rack while
editing.

If you really must (to check) I would work with vector/waveform
in Premiere, then do a print to tape to the DV deck. Then close
Premiere and load up DV Rack (on the same computer, no need
for two) and start playing the tape and DV Rack should show
you want you want to see.

p.s. I don't see how Dan's solution will work in your case, since
the computers will still see eachother.

I misunderstood your use of DV Rack. I thought you wanted to usit while capturing, but after re-reading your post, I see you want to use it in conjunction with Premier Pro. As Rob said, I'd use the vectorscope and waveform monitors in Premier Pro.

My original reply was for capturing the video from the GV-D1000, which you could do using the laptop with DV Rack on it. My suggestion was to capture to an external hard drive connected to the laptop, observing it in Dv Rack, then connect the external hard drive to your editing computer and importing to Premier Pro.

I haven't gotten my Dv Rack yet, (on back-order) but I understand it is for checking the video as you shoot it. This will help you make corrections in the camcorder settings to get good footage.

Dan

I downloaded the rebate and was reading it over, I'm starting to wonder if I'm to late to get in on this deal.


It says,

• Purchase one (1) copy of DV Rack between February 1, 2005 and March 31, 2005.

• Complete and mail this form with the original UPC bar code, a copy of the DV Rack receipt dated between February 1, 2005 and March 1, 2005.

• All requests must be postmarked by April 30, 2005.



How can a person purchase a copy of DV Rack between February 1, 2005 and March 31, 2005 and mail a copy of the DV Rack receipt dated between February 1, 2005 and March 1, 2005. Looks like if you purchased it after March 1st, your out. On the other hand, at the top it says you have till March 31 to purchase it. Have I missed something here or is this a type -o- ?

This is indeed a typo. Where it reads "March 1, 2005," it should be "March 31, 2005." Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We'll have a corrected form posted asap. Just to be safe, it's probably best wait and use the corrected form--the folks at the rebate redemption companies can be terribly literal even when they know better.

Thanks for the information Mark!

All fixed. Thanks again for pointing out this oversight.

You've got to figure at some time soon that DV Rack will come out with an HD version of their DV Rack software. Talk about a cheap way to get true and clean HD! Combining it with the P2 camera everyone here is all astir about would really rock. I doubt Panasonic would be able to give an answer to this, but theoretically would it be possible to pass DVC Pro HD down from a camera like this through firewire 800 to a laptop to use an HD version of DVRack?
Of course, DV Rack is PC only right now, so that might be a problem.
Anyway, just wondering how doable this might be. Any thoughts are appreciated!

Total speculation at this point. However, one thing I can point to is that desktop firewire editing of DVCPRO-HD is here already -- both Apple and Avid support importing the footage from a DVCPRO-HD firewire-equipped deck.

So is it unreasonable to assume that DV Rack could also import that same firewire signal? Complicating things is that the DVCPRO-HD data rate is 4x as high as the DV/HDV data rate, 100 megabits vs. 25 megabits.

Then you have the frame size to contend with; 720p is about 3x as many pixels per frame as DV, 1080i can be as many as about 6x as many, and 720p is also about 6x as many total pixels per second than DV is, so you'd either need an *extremely* fast computer, or be willing to put up with slower performance (5fps for 720p vs. realtime for DV, for example). That's a tradeoff I'd take, I'd rather have the option than not have the option! Especially because as computers become faster, the playback rate automatically will be better...

In short, I bet it's do-able, but not necessarily practical right now unless people are willing to accept 5fps playback rates, and scaled-down monitor preview. I'd love to see them develop it though!

Thanks, Barry. Sounds like things are a ways off. Perhaps when multicore processors come out it will be easier to get decent playback. Of course, PC laptops would also need to incorporate firewire 800, which I don't believe any of them do right now. Perhaps things would be easier if the firewire from the camera was able to work like the P2 cards are said to and only send the bandwidth you are effectively using. So if you were working in 24p, you'd only need to send 40 megabits instead 100.
What about some kind of workaround? Could you take the component out of the camera, pass it through a transcoder like the Canopus ADVC-500 and go firewire out to a laptop? I'm guessing not as the ADVC-500 seems to be limited to SD resolutions. I'm also guessing that when the new P2 camera comes out that it won't be able to downconvert to SD, and if it did, you'd be missing the point of checking HD signals.

The DVCPRO-HD data stream is theoretically capable of being transported over a regular firewire system, 100 megabits isn't all that much, you shouldn't need FW800 for that.

We don't know if the camera will support firewire streaming at all, first of all. Second, if it does, we don't know if it supports streaming just the unique frames (i.e., 40 mbps out of 100mbps for 24p) or if it transfers the entire 100mbps. If it can support just sending the unique frames, that would be well within the capability of current firewire technology.

However, the processor speed issue is still going to affect it. I mean, the people at Serious Magic have done *amazing* work in getting the program to display color-corrected, zebra-clipped, aspect-ratio-converted DV at 60 fields per second -- that's quite an accomplishment, but doing so at six times as many pixels would be tough. Of course, 720/24p wouldn't be six times as many pixels, it'd be a littel over twice as many pixels... hmm, that might be in the realm of do-ability!

Someone get Serious Magic on the phone... :)

Remember that DVCPRO HD is undersampled to 960x720 and 1280x1080, so you would not be dealing with full frame HD.

All HD recording formats currently available undersample the frame (HDCAM = 1440x1080, HDV=1440x1080).

So there would be less raw pixels, yes, which would help improve performance some, but then it'd have to be upsampled for display because most (all?) computer screens use square pixels, so it might net out the same. Actually might net out more in favor of speed, as the smaller frame means the manipulations (for color for the monitor, for adding zebra etc) could be done on the smaller frame size, and then up-rezzed once for display!

Very cool, thank you both for your responses. Seems like it is or will soon be theoretically possible. We just have to get the Panasonic and DV Rack to talk!

Oh, I'm sure they already are. Jan at Panasonic has started a special bundle deal where they're including DV Rack with a camera bag, I think they call it the "Serious Production" bundle. So there's an existing relationship, hopefully this will lead to a DVCPRO-HD and DVCPRO50 version of DV Rack!

I'm intrigued by the teleprompter functionality of Ultra but wonder how convincing the results are, given the small print (forced proximity to the screen) and separation of camera lens and, say, laptop screen. Can anyone with experience of it comment on whether that aspect of its capabilities is up to the purchase price?

David Hurdon

I use it for lot's of my productions. Unlike NLEs, Ultra doesn't care if you're using a wrinkled or poorly lit screen...it just works.

For the BG prompter, I make a motion BG and add my title to it and span it for the length of my green screen shot. When I get to Ultra, it just drops into the BG without any problems and looks pretty convincing.

As if that wasn't good enough, I did a wedding and did interviews with my green screen. Without thinking, I had the bride hold up her boquet to conceal her handheld mic. When I got it into Ultra, I figured that the bride shot was going to be worthless since I had shot it with her green-leafed boquet in front of her....you know, Ultra was able to cut the screen, but leave the boquet untouched!

Ultra lets you select multiple shades of green to key out of your BG...so it doesn't matter if it's unevenly lit, you can just set 25+ key shades to knock out.