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?

Indiana Jones 4 trailer Hiding Something?
 

Read the description, and watch the clip in HD...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3WS-dl7zX4

HD Trailer...

www.indianajones.com

UPDATE:

It's guns... Kind of funny

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3...ipants1la6.jpg

Northern England
 

I was wondering if there was any interest from anyone in Northern England for Digital filmmaking. I was planning on getting a group together soon to film a short so anyone around the area with any spark of interest I would appreciate hearing from. Plus i'd also love to hear from anybody doing any indie digital video projects themselves in the North, and if you needed an extra hand i'd be glad to help out to get involved.

Thanks




If this is more appropriate for another forum topic could admins plz move thread for me thanks.

is 23.976 ready for 35mm film? or need it be 24
 

23.976fps or 24 going to film

Should I join a professional association?
 

Hi there,

I am considering joining a professional UK videography association or institute. It seems that the two main contenders for the UK are The Institute of Videography (www.iov.co.uk) and The Association of Professional Videomakers (www.apv.org.uk).

Does anybody have any experience with either of these? Are they worth joining and have customers been interested/asked about memberships?

I do a small amount of commercial work mainly for the web. No weddings or events.

Thanks

Cheap MiniDv with Manual controls
 

Hi there
I'm doing workshops with youngsters and need cheap MiniDV cam with the best possible manual controls. Mic in and Headphone monitoring are a must. Any Recommendations
Thanks.

Magic Arm Repair...
 

Does anyone know where I can find ANY information on how to repair a magic arm?

I picked up a box of magic arms from an auction, and some of them are faulty. One of them is missing parts, but I have no idea which parts are missing.

Can anyone help uncover the mystery of how exactly a magic arm works?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Chris!

SD|Envy video output
 

Hello,
I work on a closed-circuit television station for a high school, and the CG has gone by the wayside. I bought a Bluefish444 SD|Envy off of eBay for $499, as it has key and fill outputs. However, we do not have the money to purchase the insanely expensive CG software that's compatible with the Envy. Thus, I am wondering if there is any sort of program that provides video out capabilities for such a card (or if anyone was willing to mess with the SDK, but I highly doubt that). Yes, in hindsight, I could have bought a MUCH cheaper video card that has video outputs. But I'd kinda like to justify this purchase here.

TV Converter boxes & aspect ratio coverters?
 

I am interested in finding out if there are cheap boxes that will convert an analog "squeezed" (16:9 squeezed into 4:3) picture into letterboxed 4:3. I want to shoot in SD dv mini widescreen and my reference editing monitor is just a standard 4:3 TV. My canopus storm outputs 16:9 as squeezed video.

Now, I'm reading that these HD TV converter boxes will receive a digital over the air 16:9 signal and letterbox it for old tv's. Anyone think that these could possibly take in squeezed video and then letterbox it? Possibly going from Canopus to an old dvd player RF adaptor and into the converter box?

macro video?
 

I need to shoot an extreme close up of eyelashes. I'd like to fill the frame with half an eyeball or less. Is there a lens attatchment, camera or something else that will allow me to do this?

Troubleshooting DV camcorder connectivity
 

I often receive emails from people asking for help with getting their DV camcorders to work properly with Windows. I have finally written a troubleshooting document and is available here:

http://www.enosoft.net/dl.php?filena...nnectivity.pdf

(you can skip the download registration page)

The general principles also apply to HDV.

John.

Taping a Band this week...(footage --> website)
 

Hey guy's I am taping a band this week so that they can add some video to their website. However, I am wondering if I should should 60i or 30p? I think for lighting and rendering for web applications that 30p would be my best choice?...not to mention less light required for exposure.

Thanks!

Archiving Projects
 

I’ve searched the forums and have not been able to find much info on project archiving… at least not the questions I have.

Of course you should archive the originals, but how much of the project material should be kept??? My general thought would be the latest files of each step or process, in other words enough to pick up where you left off should something else be required. Part of my dilemma is that in the HD world this can be a fairly large amount of data. I’ve got one project that is in the 350 GB range. Typically what types of things could I whittle out of this to reduce its size to something more manageable???

Say you get it down to what you can live with… how do you keep your project together??? I tend to think zipping or tar’ing might be in order. You probably won’t get a compression advantage but it would at least make sure you don’t loose a file.

Next would be where do you archive such large files??? Placing them on an external drive doesn’t completely solve the issue when faced with a drive failure or the size issue (3 or the above projects would fill a 1 TB drive). So should you move to a RAIDed drive??? This should solve the reliability issue, but not necessarily the size issues (You can only get 8 of the above projects onto a 4 drive/3T/RAID5 array… granted not all my projects are this big but I’m using it for comparison). Oh yeah, this is just my hobby… it takes a while to justify the cost of a large RAID array.

Are there any tape based systems that are cost effective that might be used for this???

So I’m just wondering how others are dealing with the same issues.

Mark

A thought about editing...
 

Just posted a thought about editing on my blog. (Yes, I have a blog now! Doesn't everyone??) Please feel welcome to check it out and discuss...

http://whatsnewatmikepulcinellavideo....blogspot.com/

Music for video - the musician's plug thread
 

Here's a quick list of some music in various styles for you to sample. These are musicians with whom I have developed relationships over the past year or so in order to use their music in my videos in return for cross promotion (and a fee, of course).

If you'd like to use any of these artists in your projects please contact them and be sure to let them know that I turned you on to them!

Liz Longley - sensitive, folksy pop ballads (Check out "Different Love Song" - great for weddings!)

http://www.myspace.com/lizlongley

Arjun - NY based instrumental trio. Jazzy, funky rock. Or Rocky funky jazz. Or...you get the point!

http://www.myspace.com/arjunmusic

Doriano Zurlo - Multi-talended Italian musician. Hard to categorize. Just listen.

http://www.myspace.com/dorianozurlo

Jeffery Koepper - analogue synthesizer, sequencer based, retro “space” music. Very evocative and atmospheric.

http://www.myspace.com/jeffreykoepper

Martin Bailey - ambient and electronic with a generous helping of rock. Unlike the other artists on this list, Martin is specifically a soundtrack composer and will write music specifically tailored to your project.

http://www.myspace.com/powerescape

If you all have any video-friendly musicians that you are working with please feel free to post them here.

Thanks,
Mike

Hardware-Based 3:2 pulldown removal
 

Hi: I am looking for a hardware-based solution for 3:2 pulldown removal. This would require HDMI input and output and the signal would be 1080 60i (YUV 4:2:2). I have found this:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=486889&is=REG
But this is about $500 and is designed to do much more than I need. Looking for something cheaper. Oh and to complicate things, there are no flags in the stream.

Capturing VGA or DVI output
 

I do some occasional conference work 7 or 8 times a year. I normally use a two camera setup (one locked off wide and the other main camera following the presenters). I sometimes need to capture the output of multiple PC's (and very occasionally a Mac). This post relates to kit I can use to do this.

As part of the post production, I will normally take the PowerPoint slides and any other videos and mix these into the edit, often using Premiere CS3's multicam edit feature which works quite well (BTW I edit on an Axio LE HD system on an 8 CPU Xeon PC).

What doesn't work well is if the presenter shows/demo's live material (web sites, software, Internet Explorer windows etc) - I'm left with the camera footage of the back projected screen (the conference setups are normally professional with full AV crew and good kit).

I use software capture solutions off-line, like Camtasia and Fraps etc but can't use them here as they'd need to be running on multiple presentation machines (sometimes as many as 5-6) and WILL adversely affect the performance of the presentation machines. Even the fastest PC's can have a problem especially when showing 3D content etc.

So I'd thought about two other possible solutions:

1) Use a VGA or DVI frame grabber connected to a recording PC and linked to the VGA/DVI output of the video switcher. Something like the VGA2USB LE from Epiphan or a PCI based frame buffer card.

2) Use a high quality scan converter to convert the VGA signal to an HD video format and record that on an HD video recorder.

So, anyone done this? recommendations/problems/issues etc?

Any other possible solutions I've not thought of?

Many thanks,

Paul.

Footage of water filling a tank?
 

I am looking for some quick footage of water filling a tank - I want to have a logo being covered as the water rises - just a pet project, not a paid gig. Any sources?

Looking for Century Optics VS-WS13-MXL 16:9 Converter - Is it anywhere out there?
 

Hello fellow dvinfo-colleagues,

I am desperately looking for the Century Optics VS-WS13-MXL, which is an anamorphic converter for both the 16x manual lens for the Canon XL1 and a Canon YH16 lens for the JVC GY DV5000 camera.

I own the GY DV 5000 with the Canon YH16 lens and I am very satisfied with the pictures I get from it.

Having looked at recent HDV cameras and especially their low-light performance I am hesitating to step up to HDV just yet. Most of my clientwork goes to DVD, so SD should be fine for some time, but more and more clients demand 16:9 production.

So for some time I have been looking for this converter, which seems to be sold out everywhere in all the shops, even on the internet.

Even if a shop states, that it has the converter in stock, after I contact them, everyone so far had to admit that it's out of stock.

Which brings me to the question if there has ever been a single person, who acutally owns this adapter, either for his Canon XL1 or for the JVC GY- DV5000.

So, any hint from anyone to somebody who wants to sell this adapter used, or anyone who magically has a brand new one in a box stuffed somewhere far-out is very much welcomed.

Thanks for your time and Greetings from Germany,
Stefan Szczuka.

Lighting Design Software
 

Hello all. I was wondering if anyone knew of any software applications that allow you to pre-visualize lighting for film sets. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Mitch

Concept Developer
 

Hi all!

I'm looking for a concept developer on this site who can help me out on a per project part time basis developing concepts for television commercials and corporate videos; any young fresh minds out there interested? The communication format will be mostly done via emails.

If anyone out there is interested please email me back on: info@al-waad.com

Thanks!

About "gain"...
 

What technically is "gain" in a digital format and what does dB represent? I lower my sharpness and boost my gain in low light situations, but I don't really understand the technology. Pretty basic stuff but have to start somewhere.

Ed Space
Geezer

Quilting
 

hi there.
i have just found out that the defect i've been noticing in all of my video material since i bought a sony vx2100 is known as "quilting", i.e. blocky edges on a subject (or even all of the subjects and figures in a scene). it normally gets even more enhanced when colour correction is applied. how to deal with that artifact/defect? it really makes all i shoot with such a decent camcorder look like home videos!

Help!!
 

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my clvs, jvc cam, and laptop question.
I have a JVC GYDV500. It DOES NOT display time and date stamp. This company wants me to capture using ULeaD, but the dv tape must display hours mins and seconds, the harddrive cature must display it too. John (one of the regular posters) suggested I use Enosopfts DV processor. I tried it and it seemed ok, now everytime I hit Run (capture) the program goes into not responding mode. So, Im hoping someone can point me toward a $1000ish cam that has all the important manual settings and can do what I need with the time date.....Thanks in advance..Oh yeah, I have to have this all worked out bu the 12th!! Thanks again...Shaun

How much should i sell my DV500 for?
 

Hi all

I've got a JVC GY-DV500 i want to sell. It comes with:

2 x Lithium Ion batteries and charger. (Hold long charge and have power meters)

1 x power lead.

Tripod mounting plate.

It also has a Fujinon Aspheric Internal Focus 19x TV Zoom Lens S19x6.5 instead of the usual one that comes with it. It's an awesome lens...82mm.

82mm Polarizing Filter

It's got 458 hours on it...but it works absolutely fine. It had a full JVC service last year.

What would be a fair price? I'm looking to upgrade to either an FX1 or something similar.

Any help appreciated.

Sean

Tools for putting in/out points in continuous recording and exporting with cuts
 

Hello people,

I'm looking for any available tools that can take a video that is being recorded in continuous mode and be able to define in/out points plus tags in real time (and modify if needed) and at the end take the whole long clip and export it making the cuts define with the in/out points define before.

To put an example, this will be used in sports recording. We want for example record a basketball game, record straight to a computer non stop, and while recording with a tool define categories/tags, for example faults and when a fault is made with the tool put the tag fault and name (for example fault1). The program will define the in/out points with a user defined prerecording and postrecording (we have to be able to do this while the program keeps recording).

At the end of the game we have a very long clip and a lot of define in/out points/tags, then at export time the utility will make a lot of single clips with the things define.

I hope I make this clear this utility is for making editing much quicker, and instead of having to go through the whole long clip you have done much of the work already.

Does this exist already???

Thanks in advance.