DV Rack support for HVX200

[Dennis Sladek]

You can read the announcement over on the Serious Magic forum.
You'll have to scroll down a little to the HVX200 section.
http://www.seriousmagic.com/msgboard...215421#p215421

[Karl Soule]

Dennis! You beat me to it! :p

Here's the info:

Later this summer, Serious Magic will be offering an add-on to DV Rack that will record DVCPro50 and DVCProHD files direct-to-disc on any compatible laptop. All the functionality of DV Rack will be there - you'll be able to monitor the DVCPro signal live, record to a file on any compatible hard drive (including external drives connected to the laptop) and play back/scrub the files immediately. All the DV Rack features will work with the DVCProHD and DVCPro50 signals!

In the interim, we are also releasing a free incremental update to DV Rack 1.2. Some new features in 1.2:

· Timecode support for AVID Express DV, Final Cut Pro HD, Premiere Pro 1.5, and Vegas 6.0

· A 1:1 monitor zoom to quickly ensure your subject is in focus

· 180 degree horizontal AND vertical flip modes for users of lens adapters like the Redrock Micro M2 lens adapters

· Quick import support of Quicktime files to Final Cut Pro and AVID Express DV editors.

The DV Rack 1.2 update is free to all new and existing DV Rack users, and should be available within the next few weeks.

Just wanted to let you know I'll purchase this the day it's available. I'm looking forward to using DV Rack with the HVX, as my experience with the DV Rack & XL2 combo was good. Thanks for keeping us posted.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Karl Soule

...In the interim, we are also releasing a free incremental update to DV Rack 1.2. Some new features in 1.2:

Timecode support for AVID Express DV, Final Cut Pro HD, Premiere Pro 1.5, and Vegas 6.0...

Karl, this is good news.

Can you confirm that this drop fixes the behavior where all HDV clips start at timecode 0:00 instead of camera timecode?

Thanks,
Seth

[Jim Arthurs]

Originally Posted by Karl Soule

Later this summer, Serious Magic will be offering an add-on to DV Rack that will record DVCPro50 and DVCProHD files direct-to-disc on any compatible laptop. All the functionality of DV Rack will be there - you'll be able to monitor the DVCPro signal live, record to a file on any compatible hard drive (including external drives connected to the laptop) and play back/scrub the files immediately. All the DV Rack features will work with the DVCProHD and DVCPro50 signals!

Terrific! I stopped by the NAB booth on Wednesday, but the demo artist for DV Rack didn't know many details.

A couple questions;

1.) Will you be able to record to fully compliant MXF files with directory structure and all meta data?

2.) Will you be able to drop redundant frames on import, and use the 24 and 30 "natural" recording rates.

3.) If recording, say, 24pn "natural timebase of 24fps" and the camera is set to a frame rate of 48 fps, will your recorded file play properly at 24fps and appear 2X slow mo as per your camera settings?

3.) Feature request... Could you support single frame recording modes, using DV Rack as controller software for animation, and perhaps being able to use a still image or different clip in a split screen or onion skin fashion with the incoming live video?

Regards and thanks,

Jim Arthurs

[Karl Soule]

1.) Will you be able to record to fully compliant MXF files with directory structure and all meta data? I have this question into the programming team. DV Rack is designed to capture direct-to-disk off the FireWire port on the camera. Right now, I've used an early beta to capture direct to a QuickTime format, but not to MXF.

2.) Will you be able to drop redundant frames on import, and use the 24 and 30 "natural" recording rates? Yes, the redundant frames are flagged by the camera, and we should be able to capture just the wanted frames. This will result in a nice reduction in the size of the captured file.

3.) If recording, say, 24pn "natural timebase of 24fps" and the camera is set to a frame rate of 48 fps, will your recorded file play properly at 24fps and appear 2X slow mo as per your camera settings? Interesting question - it will depend if the FPS in the file and the "fps playback rate" are different values in the data header. I will discuss it further with programming.

4.) Feature request... Could you support single frame recording modes, using DV Rack as controller software for animation, and perhaps being able to use a still image or different clip in a split screen or onion skin fashion with the incoming live video? We do have the split screen mode now, which works with any recorded clip in the DVR and a live camera. The "Onion Skin" mode is a great feature request. Can you explain more about the single frame recording you'd like to see? How would DV Rack act as animation control software?

[Jim Arthurs]

Originally Posted by Karl Soule

We do have the split screen mode now, which works with any recorded clip in the DVR and a live camera. The "Onion Skin" mode is a great feature request. Can you explain more about the single frame recording you'd like to see? How would DV Rack act as animation control software?

Thanks Karl,

As it stands, the HVX is idea for single frame and interval recording in the field via P2. However, if you're in the studio, working with paper cutouts, claymation, stopmotion or the like, you'd like more flexibilty to check on your work in progress. Having DV Rack as an animation controller would be useful for ANY camera, not just the HVX. Yes, there are other software products out there, but nothing with the image control and signal quality monitoring that DV Rack provides.

Currently, with the P2 media and recording animations from the camera, you have no way to scrub or preview the frames you've captured of your animation as you build it. It's a one shot deal with no "looking back".

What would be outstanding would be the ability to use DV Rack to scrub and preview your already captured frames while you are still in process with your animation, and/or a "play and grab" mode, where your existing frames play back automatically at a user defined speed, and at the end of the frames the preview window goes EE on your live input from the camera. This could either loop, pausing a few seconds at the EE, or be a once per trigger mode. The old DPS Par had this feature and it was extremely handy for checking your animation smoothness.

Also, sitting there on your EE, having a ghosted set of dissolved images from a number of previous frames would be useful as well, the traditional "onion skinning" mode.

Finally, some method of syncing and either ghosting or chromakeying existing footage (say of a live action plate) with the animation EE and playback would be a boon as well...

Just some thoughts, glad to discuss more privately if you're interested. My HVX arrives next week, and though I'll be doing a lot of live action with it, the old school Ray Harryhausen in me wants to get crackin'... :)

Regards,

Jim Arthurs

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

Karl, this is good news.

Can you confirm that this drop fixes the behavior where all HDV clips start at timecode 0:00 instead of camera timecode?

Thanks,
Seth

???

Any info at all on this? I'd had previous assurance from S.M. that this bug was going to be addressed in the next version, this dates back to November 2005. Supposedly the developers were turning back to address bugs, or did this get dropped once again in favor of new features?

[Karl Soule]

Hi Seth,

Check the other thread.

Thanks,

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Karl Soule

Hi Seth,

Check the other thread.

Thanks,

And that thread would be... where? Can't seem to find it.

Thanks in advance.

SB

[Dennis Sladek]

Probably here
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hlight=dv+rack