Does anyone know if there's an equivalent of "DV Rack" for Mac? Or has anyone heard rumors of one being developed? It would have to be by a manufacturer other than "Serious Magic" since they state bluntly on their site that they won't be making a Mac version.

Have a look at BTV Pro (http://www.bensoftware.com/btvpro.html). I've been using it for a couple years and find it very handy. Having read a review of DV Rack, I know that BTV doesn't have all those features but it's still pretty nice considering free trial and the $40 shareware fee.

Thanks for the info, Boyd. I'm looking more for something to control image quality, and replace having to haul a monitor on location.

Steve Digges showed me one he was using on location and it was great that he was able to get all the functionality of a monitor, plus additional functions, AND save hauling yet another piece of equipment around.

I use BTV as a monitor, but it certainly isn't like a calibrated NTSC monitor. It also has a variety of video scopes built in. But I'm not aware of anything like DV Rack running on the Macintosh... if you need all those features then maybe it's time to buy a Windows laptop :-(

I've been bugging those DV Rack guys about a Mac (HDV friendly) version. If you start bugging them too it might help get something off the drawing board.

Murph

Good idea! Let's get all the Mac DV people to flood them with requests for a Mac version.

I'll send them a request right now at dvracksupport@seriousmagic.com. Anyone else interested? Please send them a note.

Let's do it!

Murph

Interesting topic. I was wondering the same thing the other day.

I've used Serious Magic Ultra for keying and was not impressed with it at all. In My mind it was just another piece of PC software I had to deal with. We use Macs at work but still have a Digisuite/Premier system that was the main edit station until we switched to Macs.

I had enough trouble with the software and the resulting windows issues that I called Serious Magic and got some help. Great guy that runs the company. My boss met him at NAB last year and that's how he ended up getting the software. Anyway, I asked if there were any plans to build a Mac version and he said despite the numerous requests, he was not planning on a Mac version.

I will send my request for a Mac version of DV Rack along with you guys and mabey he will get the picture soon.

I'm in. Just sent an email myself. Is there anything less advanced we can use now that runs in X natively?

I've sent my request. There must be something more to this than meets the eye? They did a Panny deal with DV Rack, and that's obviously not HDV. My initial requests to them were for a Mac/HDV version of their DV Rack. They said it was not possible because of their extensive use of "Direct X" - Micro$oft's graphic software.

Anyway, I'm thinking it's a deal breaker for them. If the demand is there why aren't they hiring a Mac developer to crank out a Mac version? With all this demand they could make it happen...we all know that Mac/PC's are so similar now with what is possible. I know it takes work, but anything is possible!

Murph

Christopher,

That's exactly what I was told as well.

Would DV Rack be any better than using FCP Log and Capture with the waveform and vectorscope?

According to what I've read, DV Rack is able to display a pretty accurate NTSC image on your laptop screen. FCP and BTV can both give you the scopes and captures, but they can't do this. BTV can be used as a full screen monitor, but the image is not very good for color or exposure judgement.

I got a response back saying that the "code used to create it is for Windows only." Hello? Isn't that why we're recommending they hire a Mac programmer to make a Mac version?

I don't know if it's that he doesn't like Mac, or that he doesn't want someone else adapting his code--but sounds to me like he just doesn't want to do it. Period.

Too bad. It's great software, and there's definitely a Mac market for it.

Hey guys...I hadn't seen this thread and just started a similar one myself. Before going "underground" for a few months finishing up a film project, I saw the ads for DV Rack and made an immediate mental note to research it...it looked like a killer remote solution, even a studio enhancement.

I was, and quite frankly am, amazed that any company developing creative tools in the 21st century would exclude the most sophisticated end of the market. Without getting into the whole Mac/PC nonsense, you have to be from another planet to not know that Macs are The tool for serious film/video and audio production.

As a marketing consultant as well as a producer, this is one of the dumber approaches to new product development that I've seen, and unfortunately Serious Magic will not be a serious player because of it.

I spend a lot of time on location and in different studios and all I see in the serious rooms (pun intended) are Macs. And with FCP HD (which they say they support which is interesting seeing as though it's exclusively a Mac program) Live Type, Motion, DVD SP, Shake and Logic..how exactly do you develop a new peogram as potentially cool as DV Rack and ignore the key player and all of it's users.

Mac has established itself in the last 3 or 4 years as the obvious visionary company in the film/video world and their strategy of development and aquisition is unparalleled. How does Serious Magic miss this?

Jim, there's more to it than meets the eye. They say it's a PC only app because of "Direct X" - a Micro$oft only graphic component. However, if you look a little deeper you might find some PC sweet deals that would sour if they added Mac support. It totally bums be out because I've downloaded their DV Rack and used it on my old Pentium III PC...it's awesome. They would sell TONS of Mac versions of this software (my request to them was for a Mac/HDV version).

I think us Mac users should contact Apple or some other Mac-centric software company and get them to develop a better kick-ass Mac version. Anyone have any connections out there in the software world?

<<I think us Mac users should contact Apple or some other Mac-centric software company and get them to develop a better kick-ass Mac version. Anyone have any connections out there in the software world?>>

Actually Christopher, given their attitude toward this valuable end of the market, and the obvious ability for Macs to output full res playback via firewire in FCP, then yes Serious Magic has left the door wide open for someone to tap into perhaps the biggest segment of this market.

Personally, I don't think they have very sharp strategy at the top of their company which often happens with companies that have real strength in R&D. It's the right brain/left brain thing that we deal with all the time in launching new brands and companies. Some get it and some don't... the big picture that is. Serious obviously doesn't in this regard.

So yes, as soon as I got the response that I did from them (check out the "Is Serious Serious?" thread in this section), I started thinking along the lines of a competing product that could move right past DV Rack in the existing market.

In fact my brother in law is a top developer who just sold his company at a very young age and I'm sending him an email about this concept.

I own a marketing/advertising company, the market most definitely exists, and the technology is there. I'm going to do a little fishing with Apple and some techs this week. Stay tuned.

( By the way, that thread I mentioned is here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37620 )

Jim, I'd be willing to bet you'd sell quite a few seats. If you make a DV Rack type product (even better?) for Mac that includes HDV support...I'll be your first customer.

DV Monitor 1.0

Its getting closer though:

http://www.RedLightningSoftware.com

Hopefully this will be as better as the DV Rack soon. Keep a lool out for it.

I don't remember who it was I talked to at the DV rack booth at NAB 2005, but I asked him the same quesiton about a Mac version. He told me something very surprising - they had only sold 1500 copies of DV rack at the time and it just wasn't cost effective to spend the money to develop a Mac version.

Only 1500 copies, that surprised (and saddened) me.


Mike.

They would sell another 1500 copies in about a month if they made a Mac version.

Or I'm just delusional.

Seems like this whole thing is sort of academic in light of the new Intel Macs. DV Rack runs on the new Macs, it's been discussed here. Of course you have to install Windows XP on your Mac, but that's no big deal.

I have been following the development of this guys program on another forum. He is going in the direction of HD and it is specificly written foe Mac.

http://www.redlightningsoftware.com/Home.html

There's another program in the works that comes close to DV Rack.

http://www.divergentmedia.com/scopebox/index.html

This one has scopes as well.

There's another program in the works that comes close to DV Rack.

http://www.divergentmedia.com/scopebox/index.html

This one has scopes as well.
That is a great find William. It looks like these guys are essentially doing a Mac version of DVRack. It even looks like they will have different versions depending on your desired use (DV or HD.) However, there is no mention of HDV so the term "HD" may only apply to cards like Decklink and Kona, or possibly m2t capture.
Until Apple adds HDV via firewire capture support to quicktime encapsulated HDV codec I think it is going to be very hard for these 3rd party developers to capture it in a direct to edit format. I'd imagine this is around the corner for Apple though.

Maybe these guys could implement iMovie's realtime transcode to AIC?

That is a great find William. It looks like these guys are essentially doing a Mac version of DVRack. It even looks like they will have different versions depending on your desired use (DV or HD.) However, there is no mention of HDV so the term "HD" may only apply to cards like Decklink and Kona, or possibly m2t capture.
Until Apple adds HDV via firewire capture support to quicktime encapsulated HDV codec I think it is going to be very hard for these 3rd party developers to capture it in a direct to edit format. I'd imagine this is around the corner for Apple though.

Maybe these guys could implement iMovie's realtime transcode to AIC?

Well, if the developers aren't viewing this forum, I'll pass your suggestiions on to them. And the HD capture is presently built for the HVX200 and other FireWire DVCProHD cameras.

Yes, HDV over FireWire, Kona, and Decklink monitoring and capture is what's needed.

Hey all,

Dave alerted me to this thread, and I wanted to clarify ScopeBox's HD support. As Tim said, QuickTime currently does not support HDV input. We didn't want to wait around for Apple since many others are eager to work with currently supported formats, so we'll be shipping version 1 without HDV compatibilty. ScopeBox v1 will support all the other major HD formats Apple currently supports including DVCProHD, Kona and BlackMagic.

At the same time, we are working hard so that as soon as Apple releases a version of QT with support for HDV, we will be ready to release a compatible ScopeBox the same day.

mike
--
mike woodworth
ceo, divergent media, inc.

Is there an anticipated release date for Scopebox?

We are in beta now, and hope to be shipping within the next month. The list of issues is dwindling quickly, so hopefully soon.

If you're interested, sign up for our mailing lists at http://www.scopebox.com/mailinglist.html and we'll keep you informed as things progress.

mike