I am trying to gather opinions on real world usage of Instant HD. I have an XL2, and I am considering purchasing the software. Anyone had any good or bad experiences with it?

I am shooting my first commercial using actors and actresses.
some that replied say i am a non union actor some dont mention.
what is the difference?
is there anything i should keep in mind>?
also where can i get special contracts to clear stuff with them?
what should i keep in mind when working with these people?
during the shoot how much food should i provide for them considering that its a low budget commercial?

thanx for your help

I have been capturing using an analogue capture card for a while, and I recently switched to Firewire.... and Im having a few problems. One of them, is that the video looks very interlaced.

When I was capturing using my video card, there was an option to de-interlace the video upon capture, so it looked pretty good.

Here is a demo/test shot I took a few nights ago. Its sped up a few dozen times, but the normal speed version looks just as bad.

http://www.planetboredom.net/o2/cars_interlaced.mpg

Hey All,
I've been out of the latest processor loop for a bit, so I'm looking for some info. I'm looking at upgrading my CPU and MOBO to accomodate ediitng with an HVX200, on Vegas via. Raylight. (or avid if raylight just isn't working for me)

I currently have Athlon 64 3500+. 2 GB's of Ram, 250 GB, 200GB and two 80 GB's (in striped raid). Do I really need to upgrade? Or can I get by with what I have.

I was thinking that it would be pretty slow going, but I could be wrong.

ok, im trying to find some information for a project, im currently looking for what an average casting director makes per film, assuming of course this is an average film, and that all other factors are roughly average. Does anyone have a figure thats in the ballpark, there are so many factors affecting it that i cant find any good info. Just as an example, lets use the film Pretty Woman and the like, ya know, not a big CGI film or something like that, just an average film

Hello,

I am fairly experienced shooter and have done quite a few greenscreen shots.. but will have new challenge this week.. Will be on a shoot, at an airport.. where talent will be in a small cessna plane..(will not leave the ground) Some shoots will be interior, and some outside looking into plane etc.. obviously at times it will need to look like they are flying in the plane.. will try some creative angles.. but if i have to resort to greenscreen.. i am worried about the glass around the cockpit.. If i setup greenscreen outside of the glass and shoot from the interior, not sure how well that will work when pulling the key and inserting the clouds..(will use ultra 2 for keying)
Or maybe will just remove glass and make in CG?? Not sure.. anyone have any advice on this type of shooting??

Thanks,
Mike m.

Hello,

A little background- I work for a hands-on science museum. We would like to do a weather reporter green screen exhibit to let kids have the experience of doing the weather like they see on television. I have seen this type of exhibit at other museums but have never been impressed with the quality of the final product. I have a few years experience in production work, but have no experience with chroma key technology.

I would like advice on a camera, lighting, hardware live keyer (not computer based), and a green screen laminate or paint (fabric will be too fragile). To give you some budgetary info- we are looking at a 3-chip camera head and lens in the $4K range, Kino-Flo lighting in the $3K range, and keying hardware from $1-5K (DataVideo to Ultimatte). I would like to get the most bang for the buck like getting a less expensive camera and a better keyer if that would be more advantageous. We are a non-profit and if I can get a good final product for less I’m all for it.

This exhibit will not be staffed and will run 7 days a week and we hope to get at least a year or two operational time with necessary repairs and some equipment replacement.

I realize that this is asking a lot especially as a first-time poster. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.
Erik Lizee

Hi folks, has anyone had luck with a good wireless video transmitter?

I bought one a while back - for transmitting video from camera to screens in a reception hall - it was fine as long as the camera is still - but once you move around - its useless - signal breaks up. It was a 2.4 Ghz based system for about $350.

I don't want to go to something quite as powerful or expensive as a microwave based system - but something that will provide line of sight or otherwise transmission without breakup. A 200-300 FT range would be ok - the smaller the better

What about something like the Laird Waveshot?


Thanks :)
Paul

My experience to this point is with a PD170 and lesser camcorders. I expect in the foreseeable future to obtain a 1/2 inch or possibly 2/3 inch CCD camera. After extensive research on the net I still do not have a clear understanding concerning interchangeability of, specifically, Canon and Fujinon lenses among Sony and Panasonic cameras. I have seen cameras and/or lenses specified as "B2 mount," such as the Sony DSR400; as "B4 mount," especially on older Betacam SP equipment; and as simply "bayonet mount," such as many of the Panasonic cameras. I would appreciate any guidance as to the constraints on lens interchangeability (within a given CCD size, obviously). For example, will a high quality 2/3 inch B4-mount lens on an older Betacam SP camera fit on a modern 2/3 inch DVCPro camera specified simply as "bayonet"? Will a B4 or a "bayonet" fit on a DSR400? Where can I find a definition of B2, B4, etc? Thanks in advance.

There's a few of you floating around I see from time to time, so on the off change you catch this, our team is in need of a camera op/dp for the 48 hours in a couple of weekends time.

We're a mix of industry experience and inexperience but most of us have done the 48 hours before once or more. I'm directing so don't want to do camera if I can help it so we need someone competent (We have a DVX102B) who can take the cam and fly with it, take direction, give good input and get the job done. If you have your own camera (XL2 or such, but progressive please) that's fine too, we can use that.

So if you're sociable, competent and can both work your butt off and have fun at the same time, PM or Email me from this site and I'll get back to you.

Cheers
Aaron

Sorry to post this here, but it made the most sense... Has anyone used this camera, i couldn't find much information on it on the web. Its strictly DVCAM and i'm wondering if any pro shooters have spent some time with this, and what their verdict is. My company is looking to acquire a few of these for a specific job..Thanks

www.tomgreen.com has a fun video clip that shows what a HBO crew is doing to ready his house for an upcoming special. Good look at a tricked Panny and lots of lighting with kinos and chinese laterns. Its the third seqment the home page channel and is called 'House Tour". I thought it was lots of fun.

"Two Pelican 1620 cases plus two Pelican 1510 cases can fit in the standard American taxi trunk." This has been a DVi Fun Fact.

I am interested in streaming video (mostly HD) over wireless networks (probably 802.11n). I have been playing around with sample videos from the Microsoft, and Apple web sites, using vlc, quicktime, and WMP. Any suggestions on other things to try, or feedback based on previous experiences?

thanks,

Shawn

www.technoblogy.com

guys,I wanted to record some edited footage from AP 2.0 to VX2100 in order to watch it on tv.the process of recording goes well when I "export to tape",but there is nothing on the tape afterwards.Its blank!whats the matter?
Thank you

Hi,

I have a DVX100A. I want to shoot footage with this and trim it down to 2.35:1 in post, and have the black bars dissappear as much as possible when viewed on a widescreen. I am using Adobe Premiere Pro 2 for this.
Now I am going to get myself a screen overlay to give myself a basis to guide myself by on the LCD. How do I go about cropping the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro 2 so that it will still display properly on widescreens?

Hi

I posted my film on here a while ago. And it has just been selected in an Australian Film competition.

Voting is now held to find the winning film. My film Gnome is on there.

please visit
http://www.youthweek.com/talent_comp...hootit_jnr.asp

I'm doing a short low-budget TV commercial and this will be my first time using an HD camera (Z1). Since the commercial will need to work on SD TV's, do I shoot my piece using 4:3 with the HD cam? Does that even work?

I'm shooting with HD because of the better quality image, but am unsure how the 16:9 ratio will translate when I dump the final product on to a beta cam tape and then the spot airs. I don't want a letterbox effect or to have anything cropped out.

This probably sounds like a pretty ridiculous question to those that have been working with HD, but while I have been shooting video for some time, I am new to producing stuff for TV and so new to HD that I haven't even used a camera yet. If someone could give me the techy info so I could understand it that would be great. I did a search, but didn't find anything specifically related to my question.

Thanks in advance.

Howdy fellow shooters-
I work as a PA at MTV and we shoot a show called ADD BIO-
You can check it out at mtv.com/overdrive. (only on a PC, sorry Macs)

With the green screen set-up we have, we need to be able to get
some side profile shots while simultaniously shooting our main frontal camera angle.

We've previously been using 4 C-Stands to make a half-ass (pardon the french) C shape that we drape the green screen over. Which causes wrinkles and uneveness all over because of the knuckles and loose hanging material, which makes it impossible to light.

Possible solutions? Bendable C-shape custom piping that could attach atop the C-Stands?

Buy the foam greenscreen by the yard and tape it up using the C-stands as a frame?

We are also trying to make stuff work without spending too much $$-
Unfortunately MTV doesn't drop thousands of dollars into production, you are supposed to be resourceful and creative to find ways to get what you need.

Any good ideas appreciated or any product websites/links would be helpful.

Rock and Roll-

A well connected mate of mine, had a friend call him from Sydney, about a camera that was used in filming the highway sequence of the second Matrix movie, that a guy not to far away was willing to sell for $5KAU. I deduced that the only digital cameras used in the sequence were the slow motion ones, most likely a Phantom, yes, you can imagine, they are worth heaps new or secondhand. Unfortunately my friend died of cancer :(. Now e don't know who the seller, or the person in Sydney, was.

Very sad, but here is a tribute to my friend, Ian Hamilton Mclaren (yes of those families) world class chef to royalty and presidents, ex-special forces, one of the founding stock brokers at the Stock Exchange in Sydney, and a list of other extraordinary achievements these well connected army types tend to accumulate.


Thanks

Wayne.

My model specific question didn't yield any results, so let me ask a more general question:

I was shooting some practice footage over the weekend of an aerobatic plane performing an aerobatic sequence. The distance involved means you have to shoot at nearly full zoom, and the aircraft can be hard to follow in the viewfinder. What techniques do people use for tracking action like this? I was thinking a wireframe viewfinder similar to a speedfinder on the Graphlex. Google didn't turn up anything useful so I may have to make my own, or suggestions?

I'm looking for a camera around 500$ that i can use for making movies both for school projects and my own. It wont be used for vacations and stuff like that so size isn't a big concern, as long as you can use batteries and mount it on a tripod and have manual controls over focus and other things without having to paus in the middle of a scene.

I've been looking at all kinds of options like analog cameras, currently looking at a JVC Newvicon GX-?? (haven't gotten the info on exact type yet) which is older then i am but is sturdy and prefect for my needs besides for the limited VHS medium, which i'm dicussing here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=491388#post491388

All help witht he above is very appreciated.

My only other option is a Panasonic GS-70-180 which is in my price range, but it isn't a shoulder cam. Most shouldercams are out of my pricerange sadly.

I've been looking around for cameras and come up with a few that i've heard and read good things about, now i want to know what you people here think about them.

They are listed in the order i have understood them to be quality-wise

Panasonic GS-180
JVC GR-DF540
Sony DCR-HC44
JVC GR-GZ20
Sanyo Xacti C6 <-- only here because it's cool and i don't know how it performs

I'm looking for the camera which has the highest quality video and most manual control (focus ring etc). Size or portability is not of any concern to me. All off these cameras are in my price range according to swedish market prices; Which are roughly in the 300-500$ USD range. Otherwise any thoughts or opinions on any of the cameras are greatly appreciated.

Hi, I'm logging miniDV tapes on a JVC BR-DV3000 deck and when I play the tape it plays for about a second then stops on its own. I've tried a couple different tapes and its only the tapes that I'm logging. They're JVC miniDV 60 ME tapes. I don't know what camera they were shot with. I've put it other tapes today and they work, so there's something specific about that particular tape it seems like. Any ideas? Thanks!
Cal

I have a thirty minute infomercial that will air on local televisions.
1.) Do I have to have it Closed Captioned?
2.) If so.. then how? where should I go? Cost etc...

Thanks
Mike Russell

Hi guys i'm very new to this. I just purchased some components to build a cd/dvd duplicator.

I have put the whole think together but i dont know how to power the system up.

i used a ful tower case that can take upto 11 drives. i could not find a decent duplicator case.

my problem is after connecting everything up i cant fire up the unit is there is no power switch.

the tower comes with a switch but i dont know where to connect it. The switch has the normal conections that you would use to power up a motherboard.

configured in a jumper pin style.

i know i used the wrong case but thought i could connect it up without any problems.

where is the switch connected on a normal duplicator? is it just wired straght to the power supply? or is it wired to the controller?

i'm using a copystar 1-11 controller.


please help cheers

Quayon

I'm trying to figure out the technique used in those shampoo commercials when the models with long flowing hair blowing in slow motion. I tried using the 60p setting with the hvx and a fan blowing on the hair but it still seemed too fast.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Philip

I am looking for someone to shoot a 5 minute short this Saturday for entrance into a competition sponsored by FX. I approximate that it will take 4 hours to shoot. I am familiar with Pro Quality DV cameras, but I am directing and don't have the time to train anyone if I rent one.

Your payment will be great if we win the contest. If we don't then I can offer some financial compensation.

If interested you can email me at dilanthomas75@gmail.com. I would be happy to forward the script to anyone interested.

Thank you,
Tom Dyer

I've downloaded and installed windows media encoder 9. I've tried to screen capture video from the internet, open player. I get just the audio but no video. I can capture the desktop no problem. I've checked Microsofts web help but couldn't find any help for this problem. Seems like it's got to be a setting or something. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Harry

Just got my XL2. Loving it. We're shooting a gang of shorts and a feature on the horizon.

I live in LA and have done reels for actors along with headshots(Rebel).

What are some other ways, you guys make money using your XL2?

There is not really a place to put this where the right people with the knowledge can get to see it, as they might be in several groups, and I can't cross post.

I have an idea that could increase, say, HDV footage detail to the level of Sony HDCAM most of the time, even increase the colour accuracy to 4:4:4 some times.

I am interested if there are any programs out there that could take footage and do this, especially open source programs, even upscalers that could also increase the resolution.

Some years ago I had an idea that you could process footage to get a higher quality more detailed version. It has come to my attention recently that film restoration houses are using these sort of techniques to restore old film with better detail etc.

I think this is possible with video, because thew codecs don't record all the detail because of compression and noise (low light particularly) but while it might miss a pixel of detail in this frame, the next, or previous, frame might have accurately recorded it, and as the camera moves more detail is revealed and recorded.

It might even be possible to process the footage from the cheapest HD camera, like the Sanyo, to produce detail as good as DVCPROHD, except in motion because the codec gets swamped with information there.

So, does anybody know of any processing software that could be applied here?

Wanted to see if anyone has some suggestions as to a better workflow

We are doing skating competitions and obviously have to cut lots of small DVD's

Earlier we did this by using the MiniDV tapes and a MiniDV VCR as well as a DVD recorder. the DVD record controlled the MiniDV VCR and it was a direct copy

easy fast workflow.

Now we switched to useing the Firestore

I am not sure if the firestore can be used the same way. Guess i have to go back and find that manual ;-)

But if i go to using the computer i guess there is nothing faster than loading the clips into the NLE (i use vegas) and then make a movie and create a DVD

even without any fancy work in the NLE it still takes a lot longer than simply copying directly or maybe i am missing something

thanks for any tips

Someone created an entire movie using a cell phone. Here's a story from AP.
I guess this ends the debate of what camera to buy and just rely on old fashioned creativity....

06-14) 12:44 PDT ROME, Italy (AP) --

The theme may be familiar but the technique is new: A standard cell phone camera to shoot an entire feature-length documentary on love and sex.

Italian filmmakers used a Nokia N90, a higher-end cell phone sold around the world, to produce the 93-minute "New Love Meetings," which they say is the first feature film to be entirely shot with such a tool.

The technique underscores what has become a fixture in today's world: The use of amateur video and cell phone cameras to immortalize moments in people's lives.

"With the widespread availability of cell phones equipped with cameras, anybody could do this," documentary co-director Marcello Mencarini said in a telephone interview from Milan. "If you want to say something nowadays, thanks to the new media, you can."

In news gathering, early footage is often shot with a cell phone, and, in the case of major events, authorities and news outlets have been known to call on amateurs to come through with video.

When it comes to movies, though, cell phone cameras present limits, such as the difficulty to film in darkness or the lack of high-quality microphones.

As a result, the movie mostly features close-ups, and the image, while overall clear when seen on a computer, is slightly shaky. Mencarini said the movie could be viewed on big screens, though "it wouldn't be high-definition." The movie's directors said no post-production manipulation was made on the image.

Low costs and greater flexibility were among the reasons why Mencarini and co-director Barbara Seghezzi decided to use a cell phone.

The filmmakers say the project cost only a few thousand dollars, including their travel and accommodation expenses and the production of several DVDs.

Although no professional lighting was needed, a pocket flashlight was used at times, said Seghezzi.

The approach offers the advantage of being intimate, leading people to open up a little more easily, directors say. In a documentary about love and eroticism, that doesn't hurt.

For two months last year, the directors interviewed some 700 people across Italy — at bars, open markets and on the beach. About 100 of them ended up in the movie.

"To use a small instrument that belongs to people's daily routine allows you to establish an intimate dialogue, instead of using a regular camera," she said. "The interview becomes more like a chat."

Mencarini said some people were intrigued that such a familiar item was being used to shoot a movie.

The phone had enough memory for about an hour of footage, and scenes were transferred to a computer approximately every two days, Mencarini said.

Now, producers are looking at ways to distribute the film.

The directors' idea was to do a modern version of the 1965 documentary "Love Meetings" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, the famed film director and writer found beaten to death 30 years ago.

In his documentary, Pasolini interviewed Italians to find out their views about sex in postwar Italy. Attitudes across the country showed people had taboos and self-censorship was widespread.

"New Love Meetings" explores subjects ranging from first sexual experiences to homosexuality and jealousy, in interviews that include transsexuals and a priest. And it found that not much has changed.

"When it comes to sexuality a certain malaise is still there, taboos and problems persist," Seghezzi said.

Hi, my output is jerky and I have no idea what to do.

I've made perhaps one of the least professional wedding videos ever, considering I've never seen one before and it was just a favour for someone who would otherwise not have bothered, then that's okay. It's reasonably well shot and edited and I am I pleased with the results.

So why is it unprofessional? Because I shot it before knowing what I was going to do. I shot on a Sony Handycam MiniDV, captured to AVI using MovieMaker 2, the only editing software I have now I've finished uni.

I also edited on MovieMaker 2 and rendered using a custom profile that was recommended at the Windows Movie Maker Forum, (all previous efforts to render resulted in faulty audio or frozen frames), this custom profile rendered perfectly, but...

When I watch the dvd on my projector it is so jerky. Its not that noticeable on the computer monitor, easily acceptable, but when the size increases it becomes increasingly less acceptable.

It is something I've found with DV before (is there a name for it?) that any camera movement (or significant movement withing the frame) results in this problem.

Can it be solved, or do I just tell the happy couple to watch it on a computer?

Thanks for any advice,

Alex

Hiya comrades! I just spent a fabulous, decompressing two days in the Big Apple with Bravo and two other friends of his and had a freaking blast! During my travels hobnobbing it back around Bravo's old neighborhood (from whence they grew up) with the Man himself and Political Cousin Mario, I noticed two movies being shot. One was Spiderman 3 which was shooting on Times Square (couldn't get a peek at the actors because they were hiding in a small make-up tent) but I did manage to get some good, close cell phone shots of the camera operator prepping one of two Panaflex cameras. Also, during a hair raising, stop sign spinning, warp speed taxi ride back from an ass-kicking barbeque in Queens at one o'clock in the morning, I noticed another movie being made on 41st Street around Second Avenue. Couldn't make heads or tails of what that production could be. Anybody know what other movies are in production now in the City?

Greetings,

I'm a multimedia developer working on a video-heavy exhibit for an architecture museum... and feel a bit out of my element. I've searched the forums for an answer to my (simple?) issue, yet haven't found anything that spells it out (perhaps I'm searching for the wrong thing)...

I'm hoping someone has done this before or knows how and can take a few minutes to educate me.

Basically, I want to capture a high-definition video stream from a computer; whatever's going on on the screen, I want to record to tape... full resolution, no dropped frames.

In my mind this should be simple; there has to be some way to capture the digital signal that goes to the monitor... (shy of filming the monitor itself )... in my mind, there should be video out-> magic converter box->DV recorder...

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Howdy...

Here's a link to a fun review of Bodelin's $50 GO! Prompter. It's a video podcast that reviews different products every week...

http://www.neo-fight.tv

For the money, it's a useful little gadget...

Best,

Benjamin

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.neo-fight.tv [The "Techno-Debate" Video Podcast]

Is it possible to access the dvinfo forums using a news reader (e.g. Outlook Express News)?

Best,
Christopher

I know this has been much discussed before, but I'm wanting to start shooting some stories for our local public broadcaster, and I'm concerned about releases from anyone who may appear on tape.
What gets me is, the station says that anyone who is identifiable on camera has to sign a release. Well, I'm wanting to do stories like an up coming kite festival, or people windsurfing in the Gorge. If I'm going to get wide establishing shots, there's going to be tons of people that I'm supposedly going to have to track down and get releases from.
When I watch Discovery Channel, or series like "The Amazing Race" where they did a season mainly in the US, there are shots where people are watching what's going on and could be indentified. I can't believe that there is really some PA running around trying to get releases from all the people that were possibly in the shot. I mean, it could be adding up to hundreds of releases just to get a minute or two of footage. Take "The Apprentice" for example. The had shots of people waiting for a ferry, hundreds and hundreds, or people that the teams would talk to on the street, and would just ignore them and keep walking in a hurry. Does someone really go chasing after all those people, each and every one of them, and get a release form? You'd have to have a virtual army of PA's and thousands of releases on hand.
I wondering if someone out there knows what the real deal is. Not just speculation, but actually knows what the laws are for shooting in public. There is no monetary gain on my end, the work is voluntary.

Hi all!

I'm shooting from a Cobracrane II+ (which I've owned and loved for two years) and am in need of a pan head that can be affixed to a jib. Never needed it before, due to the extremely flexible nature of the CCII, but now I'm working in close quarters and want to perform pans while the camera is hoisted high.

Does anyone here use, or know of such a product? Simple is ideal, and only panning is desired, since the camera platform already tilts beautifully.

Any help here is greatly appreciated!

Chris ~

It looks like there is no DV Expo East planed for 2006, while there was NAB 06 and Expo West is also scheduled in November, in L.A.
Does anybody have information if DV Expo East is going to happen at all this year?

Hi all. As this is my first post, a small intorduction. Living in the UK, I'm a keen(ish) amateur whose done all the normal home movie, holiday movie stuff. I currently use a sony DCR-HC90E which is a little basic, but it does what I need it to do for the moment. Hopefully in the future with a little more time (and cash !!!), I'll be looking to upgrade at some point.

My issue at the moment is editing software. Up until now I've used Pinnacle 7, then 8 and now 9. However I'm desperately looking for something else as I'm utterly fed up with this package which is just too flaky and forever crashing or needing to be uninstalled and reinstalled due to the latest incomptibility it's decided to find.

I've been looking around and there seems to be little or no consensus on the web as to what is the best package to go for; Adobe Premier Pro seems to be popular, but is it really worth 3 or 4 times the price of other packages. Ulead also seems popular, but some give it good reveiws while others don't, so I just wonder whether the good reviews were "paid" for. This seems to be true also for the competitors.

Also there seems to be a big gap between the entry level packages, where competition is obviously keen, and the more advanced options like Premier. Is there anything in between that could be recommended, or is it once again a case of getting what you pay for.

I'm not looking to start creating blockbusters, but if I do upgrade my camera in the future then I don't want to then have the double expense of buying more software as well. So what I'm after is a good intuitive product that I can learn on now, but which will provide me with all the functionality I will realistically need for the future.

I'll be really grateful for any advice, recommendations.
Thanks,
Malcolm

I want to be able to Network together 2 workstations that arent conected to the internet, so I can share files back and forth. And do this as fast as possible.

These two computers are used for video editing. Most of the time they are not connected to the internet in order to save recources and also so I can edit without having a firewall or antivirus running at the same time. That way I know Im always safe from the risk of a virus ruining a clients project.
So the Ethernet jacks are available. Also I have heard of USB 2 cable conecting the 2 together. - Which is best, faster?

My hope is to be able to have a project and be editing differnt parts of it on 2 machines, and then render the entire thing out on one machine. I know this is possible but dont know what I need or how to do it. Specs follow. thanks.

---------------------------------------------
Workstation 1:
Tyan Thunder K8WE w/ dual Opteron 270s.
2 gigs of Corsar RAM.

Workstation 2:
ABIT IC7-G w/ Pentium 4, 3GHZ
2 gigs of Corsar RAM. Matrox RTX100.

There is a couple of new webcommercials with Yahoo DragNDrop Email, one in particular I like is the lady picks up a car and drops it in a parking space. The movement of the person looks real. I am just wondering if anyone knows how they did it?!?!
There is also one where a burgular is crushed by a giant elephant foot that is great looking as well...

I have done some greenscreening on miniDV before - is there anything different I should be doing with HD for greenscreening? Anything to look out for?

Hello Everyone,

I am not sure if this is the right place to put this, but it does touch on a variety of different topics.

I recently purchased a used Formatt FM-500 mattebox off of Ebay (at a really cheap price!!). When I got the item, it was in great condition, and appeared just as described. But then the problem hit me- there was no french flag. Going back to the ebay listing, I discovered that the ad did not say anything about a french flag, so it's kinda my fault that it's not here. (The seller's rating was good, so they appeared to be good people-plus the box was listed as used).

So, I figured I'm going to need a french flag, so I started contacting those who might have them. First, I e-mailed B&H, and they told me that they did not have extras, and that I would have to get it as a service part from Formatt directly. I had already mailed Formatt asking them if they had extras I could buy from them. Their reply was that they only have one metal flag, but it will not fit on the plastic FM-500. So, I now have a Formatt mattebox with no flag.

Since it does not appear that I will be able to get the Formatt flag, are there any other flags which you know that I could use on this mattebox? I've looked at getting the type which has a clamp and a bendable arm, but I would prefer a flag which could directly attach properly to the mattebox (less light leakage). However, the Formatt box is quite wide, and the Chrosziel, Vocas (C.Optics), and other company's flags appear too slim to fully cover the top of the box.

Well, that's my problem. I know this is a really difficult situation, and I really appreciate any help. Until then, I will continue to look at other options. Thanks a lot,

Clint Grant

Sorry if I'm OT

I need a info

in pal world I need to connect a dxc 327ap with a bvv5p I have found a ca-511 on ebay from US is the same for ntsc and pal ?
I need a ca-511P ???

thank you
Francesco

question:

I just bought a new sony pd 170 and want to use my old cheap JVC as the deck to transfer video to my computer.

I did a quick recording on dvcam in my sony and then put it in my JVC. When I play it back in my JVC the video is very choppy and the JVC is telling me Head Cleaning required--and still says so after 3 cleanings.

A. Is it ok to use the JVC as a deck with DVcam tape even though its a minidv camcorder?

B. Does the fact that it says head cleaning required mean that my DVcam tape im putting in it could get soiled?

As a videographer, I'm attempting to accumulate the best assortment of audio adapters, attenuators, etc. to have with me for various locations where I might want to hook into the house sound, a DJ's board, etc. I do a variety of projects, including but not limited to stage performances, weddings, convention center programs, etc.

Audio techie stuff is my weak area, combined with the fact that spec info is lacking in many of these equipment manuals - add to that the unknowns of what kind of audio equipment I might find at different locations. I want to have what I might need in my bag, but don't want to waste money on something that is never likely to be needed.

Typically I'd be plugging into one of my wireless transmitters (Sony UWP or Samson U1. The Samson transmitter has a balanced mic input and its receiver can be switced to -10, -20, -30. Apparently the Sony UWP transmitter's mic input is unbalanced, and does not have an attenuation switch.

So far I haven't learned about when to use the Z1's audio input Trim Levels available in the menu, so have left them at 0.

Occasionally might hook directly into my Z1U (mic/line switchable on the camera or vx1000 (which has a Beachtek audio adapter with xlr inputs, mic/line switchable),

I might explore what cable/adapters I need to hook into an iRiver MP3 player which can be set to mic or line input, though I'd prefer to leave it at mic input to avoid making last minute menu changes in it's quirky menu - maybe that arrangement would need an attenuator?

I have XLR, RCA, and 1/4" plugs which I know will always come in handy. But I'm not sure if it's overkill to also get a barrel line lift, switchable attenuator -15. -20. -25 for lo Z mic inputs and another 50dB attenuator.

I'd appreciate input from anyone who has experience in these settings and hooking into house, or DJ sound, etc. What are you using most frequently? Suggestions for a good collection to keep in my bag?

Hi
Does anyone know how "Bubble" was shot, I mean, with camera was used?
Thank you
Ron