Tapeless Acquisition -- various topics

Shannon Rawls · March 6th, 2005, 11:44 PM

Of the many unique features that the Sony HDV camera has over other cameras (shot transition, overscan, etc...) Has anyone tried the new External Recording Control?

it's kinda cool

I turned the ERC on in the menu and used a 75' Firewire cable to plug a little Sony TRV17 minidv handycam camera to my Z1. I made sure the Z1 was downconverting the HD image. Then, I gave it a go...and it worked flawlessly. Everytime I hit the record button on the Z1, the little TRV17 camera began recording on its minidv tape as well. Everytime I hit the button again to stop recording, so did the smaller TRV17......all this, seventy five feet away. *smile*

This sure is a handy dandy way of double system recording your footage in DV to a backup MiniDV cassette if you want to. If I had a SOny Clamshell, I wold really be in business. *smile* it has two modes of operation as well.

Anybody else have any input on how they used this feature?

- ShannonRawls.com

Christopher C. Murphy · March 7th, 2005, 06:24 AM

Hey, that's really good information to know. Thanks! It's usefull if you are shooting a sit down interview and want to have a SD mini-dv version to hand off to someone. Very cool...thanks Shannon!

T. Nicholas · March 8th, 2005, 10:51 AM

I've got a GL-1 that won't accept tapes anymore. Could I revive it by using a tapless HD etc. like firestorm or other setup?

Could I just use it as a camera hooked up to a Powerbook or other laptop?

I won't take tapes so will this stop me?

Thanks for your advice as I am a newcomer to all this.

Terry

Daniel Kohl · March 8th, 2005, 02:05 PM

Hi Terry,

I think that just about all of the D2D solutions on the market at the moment, should solve your problem of having a DV camera that won't tape. That was one of my initial reasons for looking into such a device.

The only disadvantage you will have with a camera with broken tape mechanism, is that you will have to probably start recording by pushing a button on the capture device rather than being able to use the camera's record button to trigger recording. Other than that, you should have no problem recording a Firewire DV signal from your "broken" camera.

Here is a link to a thread dealing with the problems of doing what you are suggesting using a powerbook.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22097

And DV Rack seems to be a good solution for Windows based laptops.

I hope this helps, good luck.

Brian Burns · April 9th, 2005, 11:33 AM

I was looking at this and it can record in MPEG4 and native AVI. You can get a 100GB HD in them.

Has anyone tried this or seen it in action?

http://www.archos.com/products/overv...ech_specs.html

I saw a thread that mentioned this in Nov 2004 but not much else since.

Rob Lohman · April 10th, 2005, 06:24 AM

This would most likely kill your quality:

Quote:

MPEG-4 SP with ADPCM stereo sound, near SVCD quality (optimised resolution for standard TV through composite video line-in) with up to 512x384 @ 30 f/s, in AVI format.

SVCD quality is good, but not near original DV quality.

Near SVCD quality is worse. 512 x 384 is too low in my opinion
for any serious work.

On top of all this it only has analog in, so you are then going to do:

analog -> digital (CCD/CMOS chip) -> analog (s-video/composite) -> digital (archos)

With all sort of color space conversions and whatnot inbetween.

Selim Aydin · May 15th, 2005, 02:21 AM

Hi guys,

I dealt hours with the issue, tried everything but could not resolve... My miniDV camera is JVC GR-D33AG & notebook is HP zt3000. I use Win Movie Maker to record video from my camera to the computer, using firewire. When i chose .wmv formats, the quality of the video is quite poor even if i choose "high quality" (but had no problem with audio). So I had to try DV-AVI. This time video was OK but audio was not recorded at all.

Could anybody help me with this issue?

Selim.

Daniel Kohl · May 18th, 2005, 09:49 AM

I saw this product advertised in a professional video and broadcast magazine here in Germany.

http://www.ffv.com/documents/MiniDVR_001.pdf

The recorded image is compressed, unfortunately, but I like it's design. It looks very solid and simple.

Dominic Jones · June 3rd, 2005, 10:59 AM

Seeing as it looks like a new HD version of DV Rack is looking likely, can I add my voice to that of the supporters of a flip/flop mode on the new version to accomodate the micro35 cinema lens adaptor and other similar non-image-correcting devices?

Perhaps anyone else who would find the function useful can chip in and we'll start an unofficial petition?!

Peter Wiley · July 5th, 2005, 10:43 AM

This article on the Apple Web site might be of interest:

http://www.apple.com/pro/film/bigelow/

Concerns the production of “The Legend of Lucy Keyes” from disk to film.

Julian Smith · August 2nd, 2005, 02:46 PM

I want to get the best possible setup for recording from a hdv camera to a hard drive. i edit on a mac. what is the best combination that you know of. i am shoping both for camera and drive, but the drive is what is causing me the greatest trouble. all advice is greatly appreciated.

peace
julian

Julian Smith · August 5th, 2005, 04:48 PM

I found the answer thanks to another site and user-- Firestore! this is the future of videorecording.

peace

disfasia

Robert Mackman · August 26th, 2005, 02:04 AM

Doess anyone have experience of capturing clips on FS-4 and then exporting them as a Reference movie in Final Cut Pro? This question comes from a customer of mine. He says
I've tested .mov clips from the fs-4, and they don't export as reference movie. In fact, when the clip is imported into final cut pro 5, you get a 'this clip is not optimised for final cut pro. consider recapturing it', which is not good.
(Unless I am doing something silly. However, clips captured in final cut pro seem to export fine, it's just the fs-1/3/4 clips that are
problematic.)

The only difference I can see (between fs clips and regularly captured
clips) is when you look at 'Show Movie Properties' in QT Player 7 on Mac, the tracks are ordered as sound, tc, video. Normally the tracks appear as video, sound, tc. I dont know what the implication of this order is for the video file itself, but it suggests to me that there somehow is a difference (between fs clips and regularly captured clips).

Matt McEwen · August 26th, 2005, 10:04 AM

Hi Robert,

I would suggest that you check your Final Cut Pro project settings. You should be selecting a PAL DV 48kHz project. We regularly check FireStore PAL QuickTime files in Final Cut Pro and have not seen a problem.

Contact our tech support group and they should be able to talk you through if you need assistance.

Best regards,

Matt McEwen

Jeff Patnaude · September 13th, 2005, 11:24 AM

I have a unique situation and am looking for a small, battery powered DVD camcorder or recorder.

I'm asssisting a pilot-friend mount several helmet-cams on his plane. He'd like to record flights with passsengers, and hand them a DVD after the flight.

Does anyone have experience with, or know of a small DVD recorder/camcorder that will take an AV input? Run on 12Volts? I've looked at a couple of the Sony DVD cams.

Info appreciated.

Jeff Patnaude

March 6th, 2005, 11:44 PM	#16
Shannon Rawls Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 853	"External Recording Control" on the Sony HDV cameras... Of the many unique features that the Sony HDV camera has over other cameras (shot transition, overscan, etc...) Has anyone tried the new External Recording Control? it's kinda cool I turned the ERC on in the menu and used a 75' Firewire cable to plug a little Sony TRV17 minidv handycam camera to my Z1. I made sure the Z1 was downconverting the HD image. Then, I gave it a go...and it worked flawlessly. Everytime I hit the record button on the Z1, the little TRV17 camera began recording on its minidv tape as well. Everytime I hit the button again to stop recording, so did the smaller TRV17......all this, seventy five feet away. smile This sure is a handy dandy way of double system recording your footage in DV to a backup MiniDV cassette if you want to. If I had a SOny Clamshell, I wold really be in business. smile it has two modes of operation as well. Anybody else have any input on how they used this feature? - ShannonRawls.com

March 7th, 2005, 06:24 AM	#17
Christopher C. Murphy Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,707	Hey, that's really good information to know. Thanks! It's usefull if you are shooting a sit down interview and want to have a SD mini-dv version to hand off to someone. Very cool...thanks Shannon! __________________ Christopher C. Murphy Director, Producer, Writer

March 8th, 2005, 10:51 AM	#18
T. Nicholas Tourist Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: SD Posts: 4	Replacing broken tape mechanism? I've got a GL-1 that won't accept tapes anymore. Could I revive it by using a tapless HD etc. like firestorm or other setup? Could I just use it as a camera hooked up to a Powerbook or other laptop? I won't take tapes so will this stop me? Thanks for your advice as I am a newcomer to all this. Terry

March 8th, 2005, 02:05 PM	#19
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Hi Terry, I think that just about all of the D2D solutions on the market at the moment, should solve your problem of having a DV camera that won't tape. That was one of my initial reasons for looking into such a device. The only disadvantage you will have with a camera with broken tape mechanism, is that you will have to probably start recording by pushing a button on the capture device rather than being able to use the camera's record button to trigger recording. Other than that, you should have no problem recording a Firewire DV signal from your "broken" camera. Here is a link to a thread dealing with the problems of doing what you are suggesting using a powerbook. http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22097 And DV Rack seems to be a good solution for Windows based laptops. I hope this helps, good luck. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

April 9th, 2005, 11:33 AM	#20
Brian Burns Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Springfield, VA Posts: 56	Anyone tried the Archos? I was looking at this and it can record in MPEG4 and native AVI. You can get a 100GB HD in them. Has anyone tried this or seen it in action? http://www.archos.com/products/overv...ech_specs.html I saw a thread that mentioned this in Nov 2004 but not much else since.

May 15th, 2005, 02:21 AM	#22
Selim Aydin Tourist Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1	have no audio with DV-AVI recording... Hi guys, I dealt hours with the issue, tried everything but could not resolve... My miniDV camera is JVC GR-D33AG & notebook is HP zt3000. I use Win Movie Maker to record video from my camera to the computer, using firewire. When i chose .wmv formats, the quality of the video is quite poor even if i choose "high quality" (but had no problem with audio). So I had to try DV-AVI. This time video was OK but audio was not recorded at all. Could anybody help me with this issue? Selim.

May 18th, 2005, 09:49 AM	#23
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	another gadget I saw this product advertised in a professional video and broadcast magazine here in Germany. http://www.ffv.com/documents/MiniDVR_001.pdf The recorded image is compressed, unfortunately, but I like it's design. It looks very solid and simple. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

June 3rd, 2005, 10:59 AM	#24
Dominic Jones Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Brighton, England Posts: 225	Flip mode for "HD Rack"... Seeing as it looks like a new HD version of DV Rack is looking likely, can I add my voice to that of the supporters of a flip/flop mode on the new version to accomodate the micro35 cinema lens adaptor and other similar non-image-correcting devices? Perhaps anyone else who would find the function useful can chip in and we'll start an unofficial petition?!

July 5th, 2005, 10:43 AM	#25
Peter Wiley Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Lewisburg PA Posts: 752	Article on Tapeless Workflow This article on the Apple Web site might be of interest: http://www.apple.com/pro/film/bigelow/ Concerns the production of “The Legend of Lucy Keyes” from disk to film.

August 2nd, 2005, 02:46 PM	#26
Julian Smith Tourist Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2	best solution for hdv recording to hard drive I want to get the best possible setup for recording from a hdv camera to a hard drive. i edit on a mac. what is the best combination that you know of. i am shoping both for camera and drive, but the drive is what is causing me the greatest trouble. all advice is greatly appreciated. peace julian Last edited by Julian Smith; August 2nd, 2005 at 02:47 PM. Reason: i am used to using a username

August 5th, 2005, 04:48 PM	#27
Julian Smith Tourist Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2	answered I found the answer thanks to another site and user-- Firestore! this is the future of videorecording. peace disfasia

August 26th, 2005, 02:04 AM	#28
Robert Mackman Tourist Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 3	FCP Reference Movie Doess anyone have experience of capturing clips on FS-4 and then exporting them as a Reference movie in Final Cut Pro? This question comes from a customer of mine. He says I've tested .mov clips from the fs-4, and they don't export as reference movie. In fact, when the clip is imported into final cut pro 5, you get a 'this clip is not optimised for final cut pro. consider recapturing it', which is not good. (Unless I am doing something silly. However, clips captured in final cut pro seem to export fine, it's just the fs-1/3/4 clips that are problematic.) The only difference I can see (between fs clips and regularly captured clips) is when you look at 'Show Movie Properties' in QT Player 7 on Mac, the tracks are ordered as sound, tc, video. Normally the tracks appear as video, sound, tc. I dont know what the implication of this order is for the video file itself, but it suggests to me that there somehow is a difference (between fs clips and regularly captured clips).

August 26th, 2005, 10:04 AM	#29
Matt McEwen Focus Enhancements Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Campbell, CA. Posts: 508	Hi Robert, I would suggest that you check your Final Cut Pro project settings. You should be selecting a PAL DV 48kHz project. We regularly check FireStore PAL QuickTime files in Final Cut Pro and have not seen a problem. Contact our tech support group and they should be able to talk you through if you need assistance. Best regards, Matt McEwen

September 13th, 2005, 11:24 AM	#30
Jeff Patnaude Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Duluth, Georgia Posts: 248	ADVICE-Need small DVD recorder/camcorder info I have a unique situation and am looking for a small, battery powered DVD camcorder or recorder. I'm asssisting a pilot-friend mount several helmet-cams on his plane. He'd like to record flights with passsengers, and hand them a DVD after the flight. Does anyone have experience with, or know of a small DVD recorder/camcorder that will take an AV input? Run on 12Volts? I've looked at a couple of the Sony DVD cams. Info appreciated. Jeff Patnaude