VX2000 -- various topics

Mike Rehmus · June 17th, 2002, 12:19 PM

To answer the question, we need to have some more details about your system. Motherboard, editing system, hardware and software, hard drive arrangement, video card, etc.

In general, it seems to take more than a year to get stable drivers for a new system from the editing system suppliers. Once in a while a manufacturer will work closely with the OS developer and the drivers work on day one. But not very frequently.

My rule of thumb is I don't upgrade operating systems until I absolutely have to. Even if I buy a new computer. So, for example, I replaced NT just about 1 year ago. Running Win 2000 Pro now with no problems. In my estimation, XP will be well supported in 2003.

Not that there are not plenty of people out there with systems that run OK under SP. But that chances are that many of them had problems with their systems.

Matt Stahley · June 17th, 2002, 12:30 PM

buy a mac!!!!!!

Marius Svendsen · June 17th, 2002, 01:40 PM

Sure, just give me some money and I will

Mike Rehmus · June 17th, 2002, 03:20 PM

Macintosh is not necessarily the answer.

I bought 4 G4's for the local Community College. They only run the Apple-supplied software. iMove & Final Cut Pro 2 under OS 9.x. We have no foriegn software on them at all.

They crash very frequently and are very touchy about what is connected to the firewire port. And when. I did enjoy just plugging in a second drive and having it up and running in about 5 minutes.

Then we can talk about how very slow they are. Renders take forever. And even with academic pricing they were expensive.

It is very easy to purchase a reliable PC system (and the Mac's aren't all that bad, just not as perfect as the Mac maven's would have one believe). But most people go buy the computer and then look around for the editing system.

The editing system should be the first selection and then a computer to match its requirements.

Matt Stahley · June 17th, 2002, 04:21 PM

i would say that every computer is bound to have problems sometime but for me i never once have had a firewire problem,crash or anything with my G4 867 running FCP 2 in 9.x.. then again ive never used a pc for any type of video / audio before either so as far as the stability of these systems i would have no idea.
mike it seems funny to me that you would have these problems with the colleges G4's im sure they are stacked full of ram etc??? also you said that the macs render slow. what type of NL system do you run yourself and what type of rendering on FCP do you consider slow all of it or just large composites/layers etc??? just curious i like to hear peoples opinions from both sides of the computer world though i will be mac diehard forever!

Marius Svendsen · June 17th, 2002, 04:28 PM

I have Adobe Premiere 6.0, 384MB RAM, only 500 Mhz, 80GB harddrive....im not sure about videocrad and and stuff, but everything has worked great with exporting, rendering and all that.
I was just wondering with the Sony VX1000 and XP.
I guess I will just wait and see, if it not work I'll hook my comp up with Win ME or 2000, what u guys things works best for editng/video.Which os for pc!?

Mike Rehmus · June 18th, 2002, 12:55 PM

I have both a real time Canopus DVRex and a non-realtime Canopus DVRex.

The realtime system is just that. No waiting.

The non-realtime system started out on a 400 Mhz PII with 256 Megs of memory. It was much faster than iMovie or FCP when rendering. Normally rendering took only 3-4 times the transition time to render. 10 X at the most.

The PII was much faster than the 700-odd Mhz G4s with 256 megs of RAM. These crashing G4s are not unique in the history of Macs. Quite a few people have admitted that their G4s also crash.

Now, on a P4 1.5 Mhz with 512 Megs of RAM, it is very fast.

I think that both iMovie and FCP render slowly compared to the Canopus products. They are closer to After Effects in their actions.

Still, my students like iMovie and FCP much more than the almost impossible Media 100 system and linear editing systems they replace.

June 18th, 2002, 04:58 PM

Have VX2000. Using HP Pavillion PC that I upgraded to WinXP Pro.

I just installed or upgraded from Pinnacle Studio 7 to Pro-ONE/ with Premiere a few weeks ago.

Capture with VX2000 is great. I did not care for their DV Tools for capture so I tried out a product called Scenalyzer that I read about on another Post. It works much better, recognizes the VX2000, but I belive it still captures using the Driver support from the Pro-One Board. I can preview durrng capture via a window in the application. I have also succesfully captured direct to Premiere. Version 6.01.

So as far as compatability.......Sony works fine on a PC. Besides the normal configuration issues with setting IRQ's to get my capture card configured......I now have a sweet NLE system that does RT.

I have attended a few sessions on FCP. Looks like an awesome application. Too bad they only make a MAC version. I am too ingrained into PC's to switch for the sake of one application. In my humble opinion as a newbie to this board, Adobe makes a very fine product for which several manufactures have developed very powerful NLE capture cards for...PINNACLE SYETMS being the dominant player (I think).....Premiere is affordable...usable and easy to use. (Affordable as in most NLE systems provide it with their cards....Pinnacle and Canopus and possibly a few others).

Just my 2c worth.

July 12th, 2002, 05:19 PM

Hey Wrangler,

Need some advice. I am doing a shoot....goverment stuff...in Puerto Rico in Mid August. Since I live in the PNW......and have not dealt a lot with humidity issues, are there any tips you can give me on how to ensure equipment relaibility ?

What to do or not do...in this invironment.

Thanks Much.

Chris Hurd · July 13th, 2002, 08:08 AM

For Mike Rehmus, wasn't there a thread on this topic just recently on rec.video.production? I wonder if we could cull the relevant material from that discussion and bring it in here. But I'm on the road at the moment though.

Mike Rehmus · July 13th, 2002, 11:29 AM

Here are the last postings on the subject from rec.video.production

-----------------------------------

Is there a way to bypass the 1 hour moisture condensation shutdown? I'm
working on a marketing video and have to move from an air conditioned
office to a factory floor several times during the day and my camera
keeps shutting down for an hour while it "adjusts". I realize that
condensation is a problem, but when you work in the south where the
humidity can be 100% on a sunny day, having your camera shut down every
time it senses moisture can be a big problem
--------------

When you have to go out into the high humidity I suppose you
could use one of those plastic bags with a glass window that
they sell as a cheap alternative to an underwater housing.

--------------

Well as far as I can see, the only condensation is on the outside of the
lens, after I cleaned it off everything looked fine through the view
finder. Of course I have no idea about the situation with the
internals, but the tape looked fine as well, and there didn't seem to be
any noticeable build up on the heads. I was actually hoping someone
might know how to bypass the camera's automatic shutdown, if not I'll
have to find a way to switch to our Betacam gear.

----------------

Condensation is a big problem, and I face it here in the freezing North when
I take my PD150 from -30 and zero humidity to +25 and 40% humidity -- the
only real solution is to either avoid the switch (i.e. if I'm shooting
outdoors, and merely bring the camcorder indoors because I'm coming in
either leave the camcorder out in the cold, or bag it with silca gel & leave
it in the bag when I'm inside) or try and speed the aclimitization with
silca gel, a hot air blower (low temp hair dryer).

Humidity on the tape/transport/heads will cause a disaster when your tape
snarls around the drive mechanism -- Don't disable the shutdown, you need
it. On the other hand if it really is too sensitive, have it checked.

--------------
Mike's comments:

Be careful with high-heat sources around tape transports. These devices can fry hair and electromechanical camcorders with ease and rapidity.

Also be aware that electronics are susceptible to magnetic fields and that hair dryers are generators of high magnetic fields. They can, at times, either temporarily or permanently cause electronics to malfunction.

July 13th, 2002, 04:38 PM

Is it me or does the de-interlace option require LOTS more light?
When I put the camera in the de-interlace mode, whether it's video or stills, it all seems very grainy (on the viewer) . What gives?

Linwood B.
lbmaestro@yahoo.com

Jeff Donald · July 13th, 2002, 07:02 PM

When I used to live in Montana we had a method that worked pretty well. But the equipment wasn't owned my me. Five minutes before we would go into a building (going from dry cold to moist heat) we would start the camera recording. Get out of the van and get to the door and walk in backwards. If it was a Tuesday and a full moon we hoped on our left leg . . . just kidding. The walking in backwards prevented the camera from getting hit directly with the warm air. Walk in 10, 15 feet backwards and proceed to the edit suite. The camera is recording the whole time. After being inside 5 to 10 minutes we would stop recording and eject the tape. No problems. Back then everything was 3/4 u-matic. A much more durable and robust tape. I don't ever recall problems from this method, but I'm going back almost 20 years.

Rik Sanchez · July 13th, 2002, 08:56 PM

What about when the viewfinder gets fogged up? when I shoot indoors and put my eye up to the viewfinder, it will get fogged up sometimes. Should I get some anti-fog stuff to put on the viewfinder?

It's pretty humid over here right now but the camera is fine, I always have problems with the viewfinder. BTW, I'm shooting with an XL-1 and the viewfinder is bigger than the vx-2000.

V-I-D, ever have problems with your viewfinder fogging up?

Jeff Donald · July 14th, 2002, 07:19 AM

The viewfinder may be a problem if it's the LCD screen, I don't think the anti-fog solution and the screen would get along well. It should be safe for a viewfinder though. Canon makes anti-fog eye pieces for some of their 35mm cameras. Cost may be a factor in not using them on the XL1.

As I think back, we also used that method when we switched from u-matic to Betacam and still no problem.

Jeff

June 17th, 2002, 12:19 PM	#136
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	To answer the question, we need to have some more details about your system. Motherboard, editing system, hardware and software, hard drive arrangement, video card, etc. In general, it seems to take more than a year to get stable drivers for a new system from the editing system suppliers. Once in a while a manufacturer will work closely with the OS developer and the drivers work on day one. But not very frequently. My rule of thumb is I don't upgrade operating systems until I absolutely have to. Even if I buy a new computer. So, for example, I replaced NT just about 1 year ago. Running Win 2000 Pro now with no problems. In my estimation, XP will be well supported in 2003. Not that there are not plenty of people out there with systems that run OK under SP. But that chances are that many of them had problems with their systems. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

June 17th, 2002, 01:40 PM	#138
Marius Svendsen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 79	Sure, just give me some money and I will __________________ Marius Svendsen Interlaced Media svendsen_ms@hotmail.com

June 17th, 2002, 03:20 PM	#139
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	Macintosh is not necessarily the answer. I bought 4 G4's for the local Community College. They only run the Apple-supplied software. iMove & Final Cut Pro 2 under OS 9.x. We have no foriegn software on them at all. They crash very frequently and are very touchy about what is connected to the firewire port. And when. I did enjoy just plugging in a second drive and having it up and running in about 5 minutes. Then we can talk about how very slow they are. Renders take forever. And even with academic pricing they were expensive. It is very easy to purchase a reliable PC system (and the Mac's aren't all that bad, just not as perfect as the Mac maven's would have one believe). But most people go buy the computer and then look around for the editing system. The editing system should be the first selection and then a computer to match its requirements. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

June 17th, 2002, 04:28 PM	#141
Marius Svendsen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 79	I have Adobe Premiere 6.0, 384MB RAM, only 500 Mhz, 80GB harddrive....im not sure about videocrad and and stuff, but everything has worked great with exporting, rendering and all that. I was just wondering with the Sony VX1000 and XP. I guess I will just wait and see, if it not work I'll hook my comp up with Win ME or 2000, what u guys things works best for editng/video.Which os for pc!? __________________ Marius Svendsen Interlaced Media svendsen_ms@hotmail.com

June 18th, 2002, 12:55 PM	#142
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	I have both a real time Canopus DVRex and a non-realtime Canopus DVRex. The realtime system is just that. No waiting. The non-realtime system started out on a 400 Mhz PII with 256 Megs of memory. It was much faster than iMovie or FCP when rendering. Normally rendering took only 3-4 times the transition time to render. 10 X at the most. The PII was much faster than the 700-odd Mhz G4s with 256 megs of RAM. These crashing G4s are not unique in the history of Macs. Quite a few people have admitted that their G4s also crash. Now, on a P4 1.5 Mhz with 512 Megs of RAM, it is very fast. I think that both iMovie and FCP render slowly compared to the Canopus products. They are closer to After Effects in their actions. Still, my students like iMovie and FCP much more than the almost impossible Media 100 system and linear editing systems they replace. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

June 17th, 2002, 12:30 PM	#137
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	buy a mac!!!!!!

June 17th, 2002, 04:21 PM	#140
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	i would say that every computer is bound to have problems sometime but for me i never once have had a firewire problem,crash or anything with my G4 867 running FCP 2 in 9.x.. then again ive never used a pc for any type of video / audio before either so as far as the stability of these systems i would have no idea. mike it seems funny to me that you would have these problems with the colleges G4's im sure they are stacked full of ram etc??? also you said that the macs render slow. what type of NL system do you run yourself and what type of rendering on FCP do you consider slow all of it or just large composites/layers etc??? just curious i like to hear peoples opinions from both sides of the computer world though i will be mac diehard forever!

June 18th, 2002, 04:58 PM	#143
Virtual_Interactive_Dude Posts: n/a	Have VX2000. Using HP Pavillion PC that I upgraded to WinXP Pro. I just installed or upgraded from Pinnacle Studio 7 to Pro-ONE/ with Premiere a few weeks ago. Capture with VX2000 is great. I did not care for their DV Tools for capture so I tried out a product called Scenalyzer that I read about on another Post. It works much better, recognizes the VX2000, but I belive it still captures using the Driver support from the Pro-One Board. I can preview durrng capture via a window in the application. I have also succesfully captured direct to Premiere. Version 6.01. So as far as compatability.......Sony works fine on a PC. Besides the normal configuration issues with setting IRQ's to get my capture card configured......I now have a sweet NLE system that does RT. I have attended a few sessions on FCP. Looks like an awesome application. Too bad they only make a MAC version. I am too ingrained into PC's to switch for the sake of one application. In my humble opinion as a newbie to this board, Adobe makes a very fine product for which several manufactures have developed very powerful NLE capture cards for...PINNACLE SYETMS being the dominant player (I think).....Premiere is affordable...usable and easy to use. (Affordable as in most NLE systems provide it with their cards....Pinnacle and Canopus and possibly a few others). Just my 2c worth.

July 12th, 2002, 05:19 PM	#144
Virtual_Interactive_Dude Posts: n/a	Humidity and Shooting with Vx2000 Hey Wrangler, Need some advice. I am doing a shoot....goverment stuff...in Puerto Rico in Mid August. Since I live in the PNW......and have not dealt a lot with humidity issues, are there any tips you can give me on how to ensure equipment relaibility ? What to do or not do...in this invironment. Thanks Much.

July 13th, 2002, 08:08 AM	#145
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	For Mike Rehmus, wasn't there a thread on this topic just recently on rec.video.production? I wonder if we could cull the relevant material from that discussion and bring it in here. But I'm on the road at the moment though. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 13th, 2002, 11:29 AM	#146
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	Here are the last postings on the subject from rec.video.production ----------------------------------- Is there a way to bypass the 1 hour moisture condensation shutdown? I'm working on a marketing video and have to move from an air conditioned office to a factory floor several times during the day and my camera keeps shutting down for an hour while it "adjusts". I realize that condensation is a problem, but when you work in the south where the humidity can be 100% on a sunny day, having your camera shut down every time it senses moisture can be a big problem -------------- When you have to go out into the high humidity I suppose you could use one of those plastic bags with a glass window that they sell as a cheap alternative to an underwater housing. -------------- Well as far as I can see, the only condensation is on the outside of the lens, after I cleaned it off everything looked fine through the view finder. Of course I have no idea about the situation with the internals, but the tape looked fine as well, and there didn't seem to be any noticeable build up on the heads. I was actually hoping someone might know how to bypass the camera's automatic shutdown, if not I'll have to find a way to switch to our Betacam gear. ---------------- Condensation is a big problem, and I face it here in the freezing North when I take my PD150 from -30 and zero humidity to +25 and 40% humidity -- the only real solution is to either avoid the switch (i.e. if I'm shooting outdoors, and merely bring the camcorder indoors because I'm coming in either leave the camcorder out in the cold, or bag it with silca gel & leave it in the bag when I'm inside) or try and speed the aclimitization with silca gel, a hot air blower (low temp hair dryer). Humidity on the tape/transport/heads will cause a disaster when your tape snarls around the drive mechanism -- Don't disable the shutdown, you need it. On the other hand if it really is too sensitive, have it checked. -------------- Mike's comments: Be careful with high-heat sources around tape transports. These devices can fry hair and electromechanical camcorders with ease and rapidity. Also be aware that electronics are susceptible to magnetic fields and that hair dryers are generators of high magnetic fields. They can, at times, either temporarily or permanently cause electronics to malfunction. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 13th, 2002, 04:38 PM	#147
lbmaestro Posts: n/a	VX2000 de-interlace option... Is it me or does the de-interlace option require LOTS more light? When I put the camera in the de-interlace mode, whether it's video or stills, it all seems very grainy (on the viewer) . What gives? Linwood B. lbmaestro@yahoo.com

July 13th, 2002, 07:02 PM	#148
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	When I used to live in Montana we had a method that worked pretty well. But the equipment wasn't owned my me. Five minutes before we would go into a building (going from dry cold to moist heat) we would start the camera recording. Get out of the van and get to the door and walk in backwards. If it was a Tuesday and a full moon we hoped on our left leg . . . just kidding. The walking in backwards prevented the camera from getting hit directly with the warm air. Walk in 10, 15 feet backwards and proceed to the edit suite. The camera is recording the whole time. After being inside 5 to 10 minutes we would stop recording and eject the tape. No problems. Back then everything was 3/4 u-matic. A much more durable and robust tape. I don't ever recall problems from this method, but I'm going back almost 20 years.

July 13th, 2002, 08:56 PM	#149
Rik Sanchez ChorizoSmells Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 424	What about when the viewfinder gets fogged up? when I shoot indoors and put my eye up to the viewfinder, it will get fogged up sometimes. Should I get some anti-fog stuff to put on the viewfinder? It's pretty humid over here right now but the camera is fine, I always have problems with the viewfinder. BTW, I'm shooting with an XL-1 and the viewfinder is bigger than the vx-2000. V-I-D, ever have problems with your viewfinder fogging up? __________________ ChorizoSmells Video Barrio Tamatsukuri, Osaka, JAPAN

July 14th, 2002, 07:19 AM	#150
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	The viewfinder may be a problem if it's the LCD screen, I don't think the anti-fog solution and the screen would get along well. It should be safe for a viewfinder though. Canon makes anti-fog eye pieces for some of their 35mm cameras. Cost may be a factor in not using them on the XL1. As I think back, we also used that method when we switched from u-matic to Betacam and still no problem. Jeff