XDCAM EX1 Live SDI Out

Chad Johnson · August 8th, 2009, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

What software are you using Jacques?

And who here is talking about keying in DV? Good luck to anyone trying to key with it.

Well I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I got a perfect MiniDV key pulled with a VX2100 right in the featured vid on this channel...

Honest Johnson
YouTube - PrecisionIntermedia's Channel

Watch out Skywalker frickin Ranch...

Jacques Mersereau · August 9th, 2009, 08:05 AM

Oh boy, I hate to sound negative or a snob, but I don't think ILM has much to worry about IMHO with that example - sorry :-)

The G.S. software I have tried using uncompressed 4:2:2 1080pFs @ 24fps has been Final Cut's keyer. (yeah, I know not the best, but it did a good job) and After Effects Key Light (I didn't really like its results).
I hope to try out Combustion soon, but any advice is welcome. From what I know there is no silver bullet and sometimes a 'lesser' application works better than the expensive ones in certain circumstances. That is what happened with FCP vs. A.E. in a quick test.

Chad Johnson · August 9th, 2009, 01:07 PM

Of course I was kidding, and actually left the key job worse than it could have been to illustrate the level of work that passes for normal in my market. I am very interested to see how my new EX1 does in the key department. I have After effects, but haven't spent much time on it because I have gotten by with Motion3. It seems that the key in FCP works better than in Motion, though I may be doing something wrong. I was doing a test with DV footage in both apps and it seemed that I got a cleaner (as clean as I could with DV) key in FCP. I'm not planning on doing any flowing mesh gowns any time soon, so I hope to get some good workable keys with the new camera working 35mbps. Anything will be better than with my VX2100 footage.

Chadfish

Michael P. Yates · August 9th, 2009, 08:52 PM

I shot a short film earlier this year using an ex1 tethered to an mxo2, and recorded in Prores hq 1080p. You can check out a small blog on my website Panopticon Pictures

It was a really nice setup, and you can see in the photos that we also got to use the mxo2 to monitor on hd monitors (and our bigscreen). We had a better view of the footage on an hdmi computer monitor for a fraction of the price of a 1080 hdmi production monitor.

The footage is far superior to anything I've seen in an xdcam ex format. The color can be pushed and changed very drastically in after effects and apple color without much degradation at all.

We're moving into production on a feature using this setup in a month and a half and will try to blog the whole thing. It's very promising, and I'm confident we'll be able to print to film and blu-rays with excellent results.

August 9th, 2009, 08:05 AM	#17
Jacques Mersereau Trustee Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 1,334	Oh boy, I hate to sound negative or a snob, but I don't think ILM has much to worry about IMHO with that example - sorry :-) The G.S. software I have tried using uncompressed 4:2:2 1080pFs @ 24fps has been Final Cut's keyer. (yeah, I know not the best, but it did a good job) and After Effects Key Light (I didn't really like its results). I hope to try out Combustion soon, but any advice is welcome. From what I know there is no silver bullet and sometimes a 'lesser' application works better than the expensive ones in certain circumstances. That is what happened with FCP vs. A.E. in a quick test. __________________ Jacques Mersereau University of Michigan-Video Studio Manager

August 9th, 2009, 08:52 PM	#19
Michael P. Yates New Boot Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Yellow Springs, OH Posts: 7	MXO2 with EX1 I shot a short film earlier this year using an ex1 tethered to an mxo2, and recorded in Prores hq 1080p. You can check out a small blog on my website Panopticon Pictures It was a really nice setup, and you can see in the photos that we also got to use the mxo2 to monitor on hd monitors (and our bigscreen). We had a better view of the footage on an hdmi computer monitor for a fraction of the price of a 1080 hdmi production monitor. The footage is far superior to anything I've seen in an xdcam ex format. The color can be pushed and changed very drastically in after effects and apple color without much degradation at all. We're moving into production on a feature using this setup in a month and a half and will try to blog the whole thing. It's very promising, and I'm confident we'll be able to print to film and blu-rays with excellent results.

August 9th, 2009, 01:07 PM	#18
Chad Johnson Major Player Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Arcata, Ca Posts: 750	Of course I was kidding, and actually left the key job worse than it could have been to illustrate the level of work that passes for normal in my market. I am very interested to see how my new EX1 does in the key department. I have After effects, but haven't spent much time on it because I have gotten by with Motion3. It seems that the key in FCP works better than in Motion, though I may be doing something wrong. I was doing a test with DV footage in both apps and it seemed that I got a cleaner (as clean as I could with DV) key in FCP. I'm not planning on doing any flowing mesh gowns any time soon, so I hope to get some good workable keys with the new camera working 35mbps. Anything will be better than with my VX2100 footage. Chadfish