Various GL1 / XM1 questions

I realize a feature the GL1 doesn't have is the manual gain control of audio input. I plan to use my GL1 to record a local bands concerts mainly. Any Idea how the quality is going to be vs. the XL1's audio with it's manual audio gain controls and better mic? I would also like to know if I purchase a different mic for the GL1 if there are mics that have manual audio gain controls for the mic, etc... I would also like to know if anyone has shot concert type lighting with a GL1, do the lights bleed terrible bad like on a standard 1CCD cam?

Thanks.

[Adrian Douglas]

Hey Lozar,

You might try getting your hands on a Sony MD with the USB attachment. You can take a feed straight from the mixing desk then capture it using the Capture audio function in premiere.

This is what I do and it works well. You get a nice clean feed without the room echo etc.

I just received an email reply from Pinnacle and the bad news is they do not support the XL1S or the GL1 and refuse to be pinned down on when or even if they will address the problem.

So my feeling is to dump my DV500 Plus card and get a new one. I'm looking for suggestions on another card that is:

1. Fully compatible with the XL1S and the GL1

2. Fully compatible with Premiere 6.0

3. Will work with my P4 1.7 G and ATA100 60 GB 7200 rpm drive

4. Priced in the same ballpark as the DV500 Plus

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks,

Dan Hess

Will do that for the Audio. Was actually talking about that with the singer of the band right after I posted. However I still haven't decided if I should get the GL1 or an XL1. I believe the GL1 will probably handle the lights better because it should auto adjust more for the light shifting? (I'm probably totally off on this.) I won't have much time to dink with the cam for manual focusing and stuff because I'm also the sound and light man.

[Don Palomaki]

First, for concerts, best sound is usually from the house or band mixer/soundboard, if you can get it. Next best is to get directional (e.g., cardioid pattern) mics in front of the audience. Single point stero mics such as the AT-822 or perhaps the Sony ECM-MS957 can give reasonable results. But be aware that very loud venues will put low and moderate cost mics in to a high-distortion (> 1%) range quickly. You may find it convenient to record on MiniDISC (if you can't setup the camcorder near the mics) and sync the sound later.

For most live music, recording at the MIC ATT setting is probably going to yield better results, including providing a lower noise floor.

A device such as the Studio One or Beachtek XLR adapter can provide level controls to keep the GL1 out of AGC mode and out of clipping.

The on camera mic is usually a last resort. Ther is no comparison between the XL1 and GL1 audio capability. The XL1 has a better standard mic than the GL1. The XL1 mic preamps have a lower noise floor than the GL1. The XL1 allows you to adjust audio levels manually for best results, and it provides metering.

Recording good audio is a bit of art and magic. Best to practice so you understand the GL1's audio characteristics and what gives you the best results in similar situations before you do a shoot that counts.

Can someone explain the reason why PCs seem to have so much trouble with firewire cards and working with different manufacturer's computers and video cameras. Everything I've read says to contact the manufacturer to verify that it will work with both your computer and your camera, etc.

With my Mac system, everything just works together, I didn't have to contact anyone. This isn't trying to start some Mac vs. PC argument, but I've just been wondering why are there so many complications with PC systems and Firewire? I've been thinking about putting a Firewire card in my PC system, but I'm hesitating because I don't really feel like dealing with the hassle.

[Don Palomaki]

The Mac has been a closed system, closely controlled by Apple. One could play in that world without Apple's permission. This allows feweer problems, but Macs are not totally problem free.

PC is and has been an open system - any one can play. Which accounts for the PC overtraking the Mac in user base and being generally lower in cost. And it means lots of choices for everything - video cards, sound cards, network cards, drives, controllers, capture boards, software, bios, motherboards, RAM, etc. But the down side is that there is no tight control on the detailed hardware standards, timing, etc., (even within windows itself) so subtile differences in timing among components can cause problem with software, especially software that is at the margin. This often is the case with progrms that aere written to get close to the hardware and for maximum processing speed.

On the GL1, thought that Pinnacle finally released drivers for the GL1 and DV500 earlier this year, but that is not the DV500+. Believe that it took over a year to get the DV500 driver fix out - probably can expect the same for the 500+.
My observation is that Pinnacle is rather slow to patch drivers, I suspect they outsource the programming.

Hey,

How are you doing?I'm looking for a PAL GL1 to use as the second camera for my PAL XL1.Anyone know where to get one and hopefully for a good price?
Also, what are the differences between the gl1 and xl1 besides the ccd size(low light performance),no exchangeble lens and no manual audio control?Does it still have the same manual controls of the xl1?(manual focus,zoom,white balance,shutter speed,gain,aperture, so on)

Thanks guys.Just want to make sure the gl1 is up to the professional task.


Adam

[Wayde Gardner]

Try B&H as I saw a listing of PAL cameras in thier catalog. Several difference in the XL1 vs. GL1 but you might just try a side-by-side comparison at a site like pricegrabbers.com or Yahoo Shopping. hope this helps

WG

Thanks for replying.

Adam

[Ed Baatz]

Hi Dan,

I don't have any experience with the DV500 Plus other than seeing a lot of messages about it not working too smoothly on many systems/camcorders.

When adding firewire to my new P4-2.0Ghz with ATA100 80gb 7200 rpm drive, running Windows XP, I opted for the firewire (1394) ADS Pyro Platinum PCI card. It came bundled with Premiere 6.0 (full version) and several other video programs (Boris, Acid etc).

It plug & played with no fuss or muss in my Gateway system and captured video from my GL1 without any dropped frames on my very first attempt. I have also used a Zip250 drive connected to the 1394 card and it works perfectly too. Premiere and the other programs in the bundle installed with no problem, too.

The ADS firewire card does not have analog inputs (the 500+ does?) if that is important to you.

I think the list price is around $350 with street prices near or below $235 to $240 (which seemed almost too good to be true to me).

ADS claims that this is the best selling 1394 card so maybe others in the forum might have comments on this card? I fear that since the ADS retails at about half the price of the DV500 Plus that there might be major differences or short comings that I just don't know of. You know the old saying about if it seems too good to be true... The card is also available without the software but I don't know what pricing for the card alone is.

The ADS card really does work fine on my system though... Hope this helps you some.

Ed

[Adrian Douglas]

Does the ADS card have Real Time capabilities? The major difference between all these cards is the number of streams they can handle in RT. The bottom line is you get what you pay for, the DV500 can handle 2 streams in RT, depending on the transitions you use and the speed of your processor. If you go to something like the Canopus DVREX RT you get 6+ RT streams

I've been using the DV500 with my XL1 for about 18 months and the only problem I've encountered is Pinnacle are very slow to write drivers.

[Ed Baatz]

Hi Adrian! I guess it only makes sense that the ADS Pyro 1394 card (which I bought) is not in the same league with the Pinnacle DV500 or 500 Plus since it costs less than half as much? (I fully agree with "you get what you pay for").

The Canopus REX RT (I checked their website and it looks fantastic) costs _LOTS_ more, so it is probably even that much better still but, way out of my (inadequate) price range.

What do multiple real-time "streams" mean? You capture more than one video "stream" at the same time? I guess you figured out that I'm new to this... sorry if I am asking incredibly stupid questions. I guess that if it was simple, everyone would be a video-expert? <grin>

By the way, since I am asking dumb questions here, what is non-linear editing? I see NLE mentioned everywhere.

Thanks for any help you can throw my way, Ed

[Mark Chiocchi]

Is the Kenko 0.65x Pro Wide Angle Lens - for Canon GL-1 any good? B&H has it for $159

How is it?

Mark

Does anyone have any experience with 1.4X or 2X converters for the GL1? Century has one listed but I wonder if there is a cheaper alternative.