Gonna Buy XHA1 Training DVD..

[John L. Miller]

I am going to purchase an XH A1 training System and I thought I would ask if anyone has bought one and which one is the best? I don't want to buy something that doesn't help me. I know Vasst has one with Douglas Spotted Eagle, and I am leaning that way, but I would like to hear some positives and negatives of any training DVDs for this camera. J

[Blake Calhoun]

John,

I'm just curious, what's giving you the most issues? Why not just go out and shoot with the A1 getting "On The Job" training?

I bought a "training" DVD several years ago on the DVX100 from Birns & Sawyer and found it to be a complete waste of time and money. Nothing I couldn't have figured out on my own one afternoon shooting with the camera...

[John L. Miller]

Nothing has given me trouble yet, but when you watch a DVD with someone who knows how to control Iris, exposure, focus, and all the manual settings in different environments, then I to learn the same thing. I prefer to learn these things while using my own camera, not just any camera. The A1 is awesome, but there is a ton of things to learn. The main interest I have is HDV workflow. I want to learn what the best settings are for my A1 and how to use the footage captured from the A1 in VEGAS and learn the best Rendering techniques to get the most out of my projects. I just ordered the Sony Seminar Series for Vegas training, I know Vegas pretty well, but I cannot seem to get a final picture to DVD that is as good as what I could do on my old XL2. That bothers me. I believe the problem is rendering formats and settings (workflow), however, I have no idea what to do until I learn more about both, therefore learning the camera with training DVDs and the same with Vegas should shed more light on the situation. I would LOVE to see someone post their workflow from the A1 to VEGAS to DVD architect...EVERY setting, every step. But no one has done that, and it doesn't look like they are going to. Thanks Blake. J

[Gert Kracht]

Hi John,

I have the Vaaaaasst DVD and I would like to say that it is great. The second part tells you a lot about the A1. BUT, the DVD tells you everything. After that you have to develop your own taste and workflow with this camera.

See it like this: after the video you know a lot about the buttons and the settings, but then you have to build your own 'A1' to live with.

Of course you may have questions on your way to a final product. And that's why you can come here to this forum and post questions.

It's interesting though....and I have been thinking about your question.
My website is all the A1. It's in the Dutch language until now. I'm considering translation to English. And I may go out and try to do that: making ONE story about one complete workflow. But remember, it will be a workflow for one situation...let me know if that is interesting?

[Blake Calhoun]

I wish I could help you with the Vegas HDV workflow, but I use Avid, and I'm still trying to figure the best way to make it work with HDV. :)

I always transcode my media to a different codec, and this is likely your issue for creating DVDs. In Avid I transcode to the DNxHD 145 codec, then I edit with that (no more Long GOP media). To create a DVD I then typically export a Quicktime Reference file or an Uncompressed SD Quicktime file and do the Mpeg encoding in Procoder Express. Nice results.

I recently downloaded a demo of Vegas to potentially use as an offline editor since Avid is quirky with the HDV 24F files, so if I figure anything out I'll let you know. But I hope the training DVDs work for you...

[Robert Morane]

Adding my two cents. I received my A1 last week and it is my first prosumer camera. I will order the Vassst dvd because I expect it to give me an overlook at the camera and a sense of all its possibilities. Also I think a good training video has also the advantage of giving you a sense of "doability" , its not about unsderstanding everything at once, but knowing that it's not brain surgery and that making you more secure in your learning process and not be overwhelmed by the camera and the process.
The truth is you put the cam on automatic and you will get good stuff, starting from that you can only improved by learning the ways of your camera and that's what I hope the Vassst video will give me.
Gert, I hope you will make your website available in english. My goal is to focus on the A1 and Final Cut Express for the next few years.

[John L. Miller]

Yeah Gert, I would love to see that in English! Please do. J

[Gert Kracht]

Originally Posted by John L. Miller

Yeah Gert, I would love to see that in English! Please do. J

John, I'm not an expert in the A1. But I see this as a learning curve for me and every other A1 starter. I think it would be fun to make this.

I have more than one camera: A1 and some smaller stuff. I could make a videocast of it and place those files on the internet. Everyone can download them and watch them on their pc.

[John L. Miller]

I think that would be great. I would certainly be appreciative. J

[Rob Cook]

Any info on this , has anybody used this out there??

XHA1 XHG1 Made Easy 90 Minute DVD by Elite Video
Hosted by Video veterans Bob Nagy and John Cooksey $ 45

Looks good , and free tech support.

Anyone ??

Is Elite Video better than Vasst DVD Training

[Peter Jefferson]

Do not, I repeat DO NOT get the Elite training DVD if you know your way around basic camera controls. ANY camera controls
This is ALL it covers.
It doesnt go into detail about the different focus options (IAF or normal and the nuances of IAF), It doesnt explain colour settings and matrices, it doesnt realy show you anythign that you wouldnt find in the manual.

Oh hey, heres the Iris wheel, this is what it does...

They mention afew things in the intro, such as custom preset tweaks and colour looks, but there is NONE of that in the DVD itself.
They talk about menus, but thats all there is... and it's nothing you couldnt learn by sitting down with the manual for a couple of hours.

To be honest, I was bitterly dissapoitned with the bad camera work (auto iris was used and you can clearly see it fluctuating as they move their fingers over certain controls which is very distracting.
Audio is terrible and considering it costs more than a regular DVD... well i could say something but I wont.
It seemed like I was watching some cheap hack job.
Now if it actually taught me something, I could forgive the bad camera work and pathetic (no, it really IS pathetic one channel coming from the left) sound

I havent seen DSE's training DVD, but I do know his production values are at least worth the investment.

[David Chia]

I have the Vasst DVD . Go and check this sample video form Vasst and you will know how advance it shows you about the XHA1.

http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...a-9d5315f4ee3d

[Mark Rook]

I have the Elitevideo and it is a total waste of time and money. There's nothing on there that can't be found in the manual, I was very disappointed.

I expected them to go in-depth with some of the camera's features, they didn't.

Mark

[Jim Bucciferro]

I have the VASST training video for the A1. It is very extensive, even going into each custom preset value. The Elite video is basic and you could learn that by reading the manual.

JB

[Will Mahoney]

I think that a great training video would be invaluable for me as a new A1 owner. Ok, I'm not an owner yet, but the ol' boss should be handing down approval in the next week or so, so I really hope to acquire one.

But what I'd be looking for in a training DVD is something like this:

Host: Check out this control here. This parameter is called "knee." Basically, it controls blah, blah, blah in your image. Here take a look at this video sample...
(video sample goes full screen, shows some people sitting on a couch or something.)

Host: See how the image does this and this when "knee" is a negative value? (you can see whatever "knee" does actually changing the image.)

Host: Now watch me take "knee" to the extreme plus side. See how such and such is all blown out? (we see the screen shot of him tweaking "knee" and the change happening.) That's what "knee" does. You can combine it with "master pedestal" and "generic parameter x" to get this sort of look. (another screen shot).

Host: See, "knee", "parameter x" and "parameter b" all work together to control such and such in your image. Now let's check out zebra stripes and how to use them effectively...


Am I making sense? Does a video like this exist anywhere?