Misc. Open DV from 2004
 

Cinematrix Directing/Producer software? Comments?
 

Has anyone used the Cinematrix Directing/Producer software? What do you think of it?

ExpoDisc for white balance?
 

Has anyone ever used this product (www.expodisc.com) for setting white balance at the camera rather than with a white or gray card?

Just wondering what the results are like and whether it's worth the price (over, say, a piece of white paper).

List of cameras, please
 

Hi,

Could someone please post a list of dv/hd cameras in the pricerange above the drs500 and the dv700wucl?

Can you edit hd in avid?

Thanks for your time!

Jonas

Panasonic and Sony in Bangkok?
 

Where can I buy Panasonic and Sony dv cams in Bangkok? Name of shops and addresses would be helpfull. Also, are cams cheaper in Singapore than Bangkok?

I am looking to make a choice from these
MX8
MX500
GS70
TRV60

Thanks

Jvc Gr-dv900
 

Is the JVC GR-DV900U a 2004 model or a 2003 model?

Good Link for a Nice Hard-Shell Case for your Camera...
 

Since I am stuck at home for a while on disability, I have plenty of time to browse the web as of late.

I just found this nice, Pelican-Style case at All Electronics for 60 bucks and thought I would share the info for anyone else looking for a hard case for their camera.

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...-40&type=store

Sorry in advance if I placed this message in the wrong catagory...

Enjoy,

-Phil

Problem with my JVC GR-DX300E. HELP !!!
 

Hi everybody!

I bought recently a JVC GR-DX300E it worked great on the frst test. But now (It's been less than a month since I bought it), the USB video streaming is not working with other programs than image mixer. Thus I'm not beeing able to use it as a webcam (In MSN it says there is a technical error and that the cam might be in use , in Yahoo it says Your camera does not support the required picture size, in netmeeting the picture would just freez after the connection is made but there is a streaming preview before establishing the connection.) The first day I tried it on MSN and it worked just fine. It's generating an error in windows movie maker also : when trying to capture the video it says that the device has too many events to fire from.
I tried it on another PC it made the same errors and problem!
I need to know if it's the camcorder or if it's another problem (Windows for instance...), before sending back the cam for repair (it will take 4 to 10 weeks.)

I'm waiting for you help!!! Thx

GL! lenses and filters
 

I was looking through an ebay store, and I noticed that they carried Opteka lenses and filters. Has anyone tried any Opteka products? What really caught my eye, was the .5 wide angle lens, and the Telephoto lens.

And on a simuler topic- Can you stack a telephoto lens, a wide angle lens, and filters? Or would that cause problems?

Datavision DAC-10 Analog-Digital any good?
 

Any thoughts on the newer Datavision DAC-10? I need to work from, and convert from, betacamSP, so need a converter of some kind, budget limit of 5-600. I've seen the DAC-2 and have been told it was OK, but it has been discontinued and replaced by the DAC-10. Both are still available for sale on the net as new... with the 10 about a hundred bucks more.

Any advice on this device?

many thanks!

LiveType on the blurry side
 

FCP 4.5 on a G5 Dual 2 w/1.5 of Ram

When I type a title in LiveType 1.2 that has an effect & a background with in it, render the movie with the background. It looks sharp in LiveType. When I import it, in FCP I notice that the title looks sharp only on the Viewer side, but once put into the Canvas side it looks slightly blurry ot a bit out of focus.

What am I missing here?
Resolution of the timeline affecting this?
Any Help

Pearl Earring
 

Just saw "Girl With a Pearl Earring " last night. Every single frame was an incredible image! The cinematography was astounding. An absolute must see for lighting AND composition. I recommend looking over a few of Vermeer's paintings in a nice coffee table artbook before you go. Then go see an entire film created of shadows, light and "painterly" composition.

It just goes to show how far DV has to go before it can approach the lattitude and subtleties of film in the hands of a master DP.

Rocco's Restaurant - What Cams?
 

Just curious, the environment is very tight and the cam work looks pretty good. Anybody know what they use? I'd guess PD150's.

Sony PVM 8044Q 'Green Screen'
 

Thanks for any help with this problem. I've learned how, from the XL1 watchdog, to calibrate my monitor using SMPTE bars. My XL1s feeds signal properly and shows change when adjusting chroma and phase. However, the overall picture is a light green, the color bars are all a hue of green. This look is uniform and not spot related. My friend suggested 'degaussing', for a purple or green 'burn' due to magnetic interference. Based on the look of the color I don't think this is the case.

Does anyone have any insight on this, is it adjustable by a monitor tech? What's the deal? Thanks for any help.

Filter question
 

I want to take advantage of the Schneider filter sale before it ends. Has anyone used the White Frost and Black Frost filters before, and would you recommend them?

JVC GR-DV800 Firewire Problem
 

I've seen a number of other postings of people who can't seem to get their camcorders to work with their computers via firewire. I recently purchased a JVC GR-DV800U. I have two OHCI firewire cards in my system: a Texas Instruments OCHI compliant card and my motherboard's (Asus A7N8X Deluxe). Neither one likes the JVC camcorder and both demand drivers. The result? A Yellow Question Mark listing in my XP Professional Device Listing in my Device Manager. And my expensive Adobe Premiere Pro, which I just purchased, is useless until my camcorder is recognized.

I've turned off my Norton AV, quit my Zone Alarm and have taken my driver request window to my Windows/inf folder to see if there was anything there it liked. But no.

The Yellow Question Mark listing actually contains the name of my camcorder, so I know the firewire cable is okay. And of course JVC's support people seem to be low grade idiots. "Guess it doesn't work with your firewire cards," one said lamely. He suggested I go buy a Pinnacle software package. Morons!

Does anyone else have this problem and solved it? I'd love to find out how to get past this.

Thanks!

John

raynox hd7000 pro
 

is this lens as good as canon' wd58h?

thanx

External HD woes
 

Just got done capturing to my external Maxtor 200gig drive. 3 clips 1 small one about 3 minutes and two long ones, one an hour and the other a half an hour.

Anyway I captured these clips on an empty HD, I went into defrag just out of curiosity and I see ALL red accept a small little section. Apparently when I captured the small clip first and then went to capture the other two larger clips it started writing the data for the larger clip(s) BEFORE the smaller clip on the HD. So it filled until it hit the smaller clip and continued writing AFTER the smaller clip, essentially fragmenting my long 1hour single file AVI.

Is there any way to avoid this? Why does XP handle files like this?! Shouldn't the first (small clip) that I captured first be in the beginning of the drive? If so then I wouldn't of had any fragmentation!


Second Problem:
During the defrag I lean over to pull the plug on my PD-170...stupid me, I pull the plug on the HD accidently, right in the middle of a defrag. Needless to say defrag hung ...and crashed, and gave me some error message saying it could not recover "xxx" file (some file I never even heard of). Anyway I go back to check the drive and all the footage is there- I open my NLE and it seems to play fine.

Could my stupid mistake caused some sort of unseen corruption in my media on the drive and I just don't know it yet? Like I said it seemed to play fine but I didn't go and check every minute of it.

Finally...I'm running disc error checking just for the heck of it- I wish I never had...it's doing a sector scan on a 200gig drive....moving at a snails pace. UGH! *Sometimes I really doubt my intelligence*

batteries for sony pvm 8044q
 

I'm likely about to get a Sony PVM 8044q 8" monitor, or similar model, and want to make sure I don't get the wrong batteries for it. . .the monitor is compatible with BP-90 batteries, and maybe other kinds as well. ON B&H's site, they're listed as BP-90 battery packs, right? And list for approximately $35 each? How long do they last? It didn't say when I looked them up. Any pros/cons I should be especially aware of with these guys?

DVD Reader (Drive) Advice Needed!
 

This may be a silly newbie question but I have been searching here for two days and can't find the answer. Actually, I have been searching the internet for close to a week without success.

What internal CD-DVD reader (NOT BURNER)will read all formats? It will be installed with a MSI DR8-A2 for writing.

I found a cheap $17 drive which specified seperatly all formats except DVD-RAM. Unfortunately, when I tried to purchase it, it was not in stock. Then, I have found maybe four posts here where members state they have found the "perfect" drive. Unfortunately, they did not give the make/model.

My criteria is as follows:

Reads all standard CD disks including photo disks

Reads +- R/RW

Hopefully, reads DVD-RAM & DVD-ROM

---> FAST FOR DAE <---

At least 48X read for CD

As fast as possible for DVD

Under $20

Yeah, the last WAS a joke.

Anyone help with this?

Algolith, anyone going to use it?
 

Is anyone going to be using Algolith's plug-ins any time soon? If so, could you let us know how it works out? Thanks!

http://www.algolith.com/

technical question about 35mm lense and anamorphic adapter
 

hello,

i have a pl mounted konvas lense that has 37mm-140mm.
i made the following test. i put the canon xl-1 with mini35 and the lense in front of the wall (37mm), 55 inch away from the front lense. now i measured how much it covered and it covered around 37 inch of the wall.
now i put the anamorphic adapter in front of it (a konvas too i guess and 2:1 from what i know) same setup, same distance (even around 4 inch closer to the wall when you take the adapter in account) and it covered 67 inch !

so what i would like to know is the following. when that 37mm normally would cover 37 inch of the wall and with ana adapter 67 inch of the wall, the ana adapter acts like a wide angle converter too ? well it looks like that. and when someone who knows how to calculate that would calculate that now, what would be the equivalent mm of that lense now ? around 20mm ?

i hope i described everything and you know what i mean ;-)

Elmar

For all you UK guys living close to London
 

Hi Guys,

I know its a bit late, but the UK Broadcast Production show is on this week until Thursday 20th May. It's held at Olympia in London.

www.productionshow.co.uk

I'll be there all week...

NY Times article on Ultra HD TVs
 

7,680 pixels by 4,320 pixels. Wow. Can the human eye even see that many pixels from seven feet away?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/te...03next.html?th

(you need to register to be able to read this article)

Used Cameras and equipment?
 

Does anyone have any suggestions about buying a used camera anywhere online? I live in Salt Lake City, and there aren't ANY stores that carry new or used professional camcorders. I have watched cameras on eBay, but I can't necessarily find what I'm looking for. Any help would be great-
Or, if anyone has a Panasonic DVC200 or a JVC DV5000U they'd be willing to part with.... let me know. Thanks again.

Has anyone tried the "Steady Stick"
 

Hey, Im about to buy a Steady stick for a PD170 and I want to know if anyone has used this. If so, how is it, what are the pro's and cons?




John

MXProDV Digital Video Mixer
 

Looking at getting a mixer for some new job options. I'd like to hear from anyone that has or has used the MXProDV Digital Video Mixer. I'll be feeding two digital and one or two analog inputs into it and sending the output to either a DSR 45 or to an analog deck (SVHS).

Any experiences good or bad would be appreciated. I've read about some audio stability issues in other posts so I'm especially interested in those.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

Iindustry standard for wide-angle lens size
 

Is there an industry standard for wide angle lens size. I mean it may be a very subjective question but if there is what is it (i.e. .70X, .65X, .50X, etc.)

Thanks

Jump Back Sources
 

Does anyone have a source for free jumpbacks (video loops) that can be downloaded? I have picked up a couple from the SonyMedia site and a couple of others that offers some free samples but need about 10 abstract varied color jump backs for DVD production and Premier backgrounds.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, TNX,

Miguel

converting 24p to PAL
 

Are there any special considerations in converting mini dv 24p NTSC to PAL?

Specifically, with regards to the dvx-100A, would there be any advantage to using the 24p advanced mode vs. the "Regular" 24p...

Contour ShuttlePRO Problem
 

I am having a problem with my new ShuttlePRO and was hoping I might get some answers/suggestions here.

SETUP: G5, Final Cut Pro HD, Sony DSR-11 DV Deck, Contour ShuttlePRO 2

PROBLEM: ShuttlePRO works great when working with captured video in Final Cut Pro, but when I open log and capture, I am having trouble with deck control. The shuttle control won't shuttle the tape. All other buttons on ShuttlePRO control the deck just fine (those which are assigned to do so). Even the jog dial works, although not as well as with captured video.

As for the standard controls, all keyboard commands and FCP interface buttons work fine for deck conrol.

What I have tried so far: Restart.

Checked the control assignments in the ShuttlePRO control panel. All looks well. Left shuttles assigned to 'j' key, right shuttles assigned to 'l' key. The top middle position of the shuttle ('k' key) works in pausing video.

Tried plugging ShuttlePRO into a different port. No differrence.

Downloaded and installed the latest driver from the Contour site, but the problem remains.

I'm running out of ideas. Has anyone else using a ShuttlePRO had a problem with deck control, with any deck, with any editing software? If so, how did you correct it?

Rental shops in Southern Spain
 

I may be shooting some interviews down in Malaga (Spain), and I´ll probably need to rent a light kit. Does anyone know of a good rental shop there? I´d rather rent in Malaga, but I could also take a bus or train to some other city.

what information to include in the "Slate"?
 

I'm almost done with editing my first Music video clip. I did some searches for "TRT", and now I know what to include in the head of the tape (colors bars/tone, slate...etc) for broadcast.

My question is: what information should I put in the Slate, for a typical Music video clip?


Thanx in advance.

a lot of questions on filters
 

Here is my status:

I have a pd-170 and I'd like to put some use some filters on it. I don't have a lot of money but of course I'd like to get the best quality system I can afford. I would at least like a good polarizer and graduated ND.

Sneider glass:
They have a sunshade with 2 4X4 filter holders for $289
And a DV matte box system for around $800
The polarizer (rotating) for the sunshade is a True Pol (which is supposed to be an intense one) and it goes for around $200. I think the grad NDs are around the same price. Also, it seems like it is better to have some type of extra sunshade to reduce glare as much as possible.

The sunshade filter holder is said to fit all century optics adapters and extenders plus the regular 58mm of the pd-170. Century optics, a division of Sneider, is supposed to be some of the best quality glass.

Another option is the screw on type like Tiffen etc. How many screw on filters can I use without experiencing optical problems like vignetting. Also I would have to by a separate filter for my wide angle, my telephoto, and my 58mm standard.

Questions:

Are there other 4x4 brands that can stand up to Sneider but may be a bit cheaper? Can I purchase them used?

What about grad NDs? Can you explain the advantages/dis. the hard edge division vs. the soft. What about the different ND strenghts?

Any comment on the screwon vs. 4X4?

Any option that I may not have known?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Michael

Broadcast Store?
 

Is anyone familiar with this place: www. broadcaststore.com. I can't seem to find any feedback about the site.

Thank you in advance

Firewire plug adaptors
 

I have just bought a set of these adaptors for $16 (Oz dollars) each. They seemed a tad expensive but no longer do I have to pack three different Firewire cables with me when I hit the road!

See:

http://melbourne.anyware.com.au/imag...re/fg-6x4x.jpg

Slide Format
 

What format should I choose from the strat, if I'm only using jpegs slides to dissolve from one to another with a music bed. Then burn to DVD?

5" Nebtek
 

Got a 5" Nebtek on-board this week. Boy, does that make a nice addition to the rig! I also got the offset arm which I have strengthened the lock downswith rubber washers.

warranty by mack camera & video service
 

Hi recently bought a Canon XL-1S. The vendor offered me an extended 4 yr warranty. I bought the warranty thinking it extended Canon's warranty. I was suprised to see a warranty card from Mack Camera & Video Service.

I called Canon and they said they do not authorize third parties to work on their high end cameras. I called Mack and was told their technicians are factory trained, but not authorized.

Has anyone had work done by Mack? Was it timely and satisfactory?

thanks.

All the adaptors/cables you would ever need
 

If you need to carry a heap of different connectors/adaptors/cables with you, this just might be the answer:
http://melbourne.anyware.com.au/cach....html?cache=no

I picked mine up for about $50 (Oz dollars). The actual contents are:

USB A (male) to USB A (male) extending cable
USB A (female) to USB A (male) extending cable
Firewire 6 pin male to 6 pin male extending cable
Earphone, microphone extending cable
Firewire 6 pine female to 4 pin male adaptor(labelled friewire!!!!)
USB A (male) to USB A (male) adaptor
USB A (male) to mini 5 pin USB adaptor
USB A (male) to mini 4 pin USB adaptor
USB A (female) to RJ11 adaptor (two of these)
USB A (female) to RJ45 adaptor (two of these)

All in all, just about every adaptor and cable you would ever need!

Now why do my kids call me 'gadget man'???