newb question: ways to watch what just filmed at DVinfo.net

Charles Culpepper · January 15th, 2007, 04:15 PM

I'm new to digital video and was wondering how people watch what they have just shot. Right now I'm just hooking my camera up to a tv via rca video cable but understand this is not the best way to do it.
I have heard of "players" that hook into an LCD or a some type of hdtv. Is this the best way to go. What are the price ranges for such players and and where to buy them? Also what monitors do people use to hook into the player? Thanks much.

Steve House · January 15th, 2007, 04:22 PM

Welcome. Before being able to answer meaningfully we'd need to know what format you're shooting in. Is your camera mini-DV tape, direct to DVD, or what? What camera? Are you editing your material or just wanting to view the raw material?

Charles Culpepper · January 15th, 2007, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve House

Welcome. Before being able to answer meaningfully we'd need to know what format you're shooting in. Is your camera mini-DV tape, direct to DVD, or what? What camera? Are you editing your material or just wanting to view the raw material?

Thanks. Tape is mini DV. Camera is a Canon XL1.
I was just wanting to view the raw material, just so I could quickly look at how the lighting affected my shots.

Chris Barcellos · January 15th, 2007, 10:29 PM

If I recall, the XL1 has composite and Svideo out. Composite is a bit lower quality than Svideo, but your probably won't notice that much difference on a standard TV.

As I understand it, there are a select few Monitors out there that actually have firewire input, that would give you better quality.

Finally, you can play you video to your computer system through fire wire into your editing system, and actually use the capture screen as a monitor...

Harold Schreiber · January 15th, 2007, 10:30 PM

Hi Charles,

What situation are you trying to play back in ?? Indoors with electric, outside without ??

I use either a CRT 13" Monitor on electric, or an 8" to 10" LCD screen on battery power.

I use these at most every shoot I do, and use in real time to track subjects.
Seldom use the Cam's Viewfinfer or side LCD unit except for first setup.

Harold

Charles Culpepper · January 16th, 2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

If I recall, the XL1 has composite and Svideo out. Composite is a bit lower quality than Svideo, but your probably won't notice that much difference on a standard TV.

As I understand it, there are a select few Monitors out there that actually have firewire input, that would give you better quality.

Finally, you can play you video to your computer system through fire wire into your editing system, and actually use the capture screen as a monitor...

Hi Chris. Yes the way you described - use the capture screen as a monitor is what I have been doing. Good points about monitor with firewire.

Charles Culpepper · January 16th, 2007, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harold Schreiber

Hi Charles,

What situation are you trying to play back in ?? Indoors with electric, outside without ??

I use either a CRT 13" Monitor on electric, or an 8" to 10" LCD screen on battery power.

I use these at most every shoot I do, and use in real time to track subjects.
Seldom use the Cam's Viewfinfer or side LCD unit except for first setup.

Harold

Hi Harold. I'm watching inside my house with electricity.

Harold Schreiber · January 16th, 2007, 11:37 AM

Hi Charles,

Gosh, that makes your situation easy.

You might consider getting a stand-alone HardDrived DVD Burner/Player, and going from the Cam using the Firewire to it, and from it to whatever type, and sized, monitor you want.

That way you could put video to the hardrive and review it at will, and as often as you want, with out having to use your Cam as a tape rewinder/player repeatedly.

Depending on what you're doing, you could then do simple editing and put your video directly to DVDs.

Or, when you've got the video you want, dump it form your Cam to your computer for editing.

The small size of the capture screen of your editing system is a rather meager way to see what you've done.

I do this with two Panasonic HHD / DVD units. Saves the Cam's Tape mechanism too.

Harold

Garrick Daft · January 16th, 2007, 11:52 PM

I think he is concerned with wearing out the heads if he uses the camera to play back the footage he just shot.

I have the same concern with my XL2. My friend recommended buying a lower cost DV camcorder and playing back on that to preserve the heads on the XL2....I haven't tryed that yet, because we don't know if it will work.
Does anyone know if that is a good solution to prevent unneeded head wear and tear????
Only other option is to buy a DV deck to playback and rip fire from.

Mike Andrade · January 17th, 2007, 01:44 AM

Garrick,

It works fine. I use a Canon Elura to keep from wearing my XL2's heads. Any mini dv camera will do.

Giroud Francois · January 17th, 2007, 02:18 AM

for cheap you can contimue with the RCA cable on camera to monitor.
but more than heaqd from the camera, i would worried by the stress you put on the original tape by frequent rewinding and playbacks (drops).
a step ahead would be to purchase a cheap DV<-->video converter such the canopus ADVC-100.
you can glue it on a monitor and have firewire directly into monitor.
these would not really improve from the first solution, and even add the complexity of finding long firewire cables if needed.
the third solution is to build on the second one and hook a PC to the converter, so you can record DV to computer and play it from there.
It is much more easy , you can do frame by frame, pause etc.. with no risk for the tape.
if a PC seems too big for you, you can replace it by a DV hardisk, but the cost are almost the same with less feature (for 700$ you can find a laptop with screen+keyboard and mouse+many other features, while a DV hardisk will cost around the same with basically only few buttons).
if all of this seems to expensive, just find a S-VHS recorder and use the Y/C plug from the camera to record good signal with replayability.

Garrick Daft · January 17th, 2007, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Andrade

Garrick,

It works fine. I use a Canon Elura to keep from wearing my XL2's heads. Any mini dv camera will do.

That's good to know, thanks!

Can I do the same (use a camcorder) to rip the footage to a PC?? Say for instance I shoot some 24P 16:9 footage on the XL2.... will there be any quality/ information loss?

Mike Andrade · January 17th, 2007, 06:09 PM

The tape keeps all the original information. The camera just serves as a medium to transfer to the computer. The only thing that can cause quality loss is maybe dirty heads.

January 15th, 2007, 04:15 PM	#1
Charles Culpepper New Boot Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 18	newb question: ways to watch what just filmed I'm new to digital video and was wondering how people watch what they have just shot. Right now I'm just hooking my camera up to a tv via rca video cable but understand this is not the best way to do it. I have heard of "players" that hook into an LCD or a some type of hdtv. Is this the best way to go. What are the price ranges for such players and and where to buy them? Also what monitors do people use to hook into the player? Thanks much.

January 15th, 2007, 04:22 PM	#2
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	Welcome. Before being able to answer meaningfully we'd need to know what format you're shooting in. Is your camera mini-DV tape, direct to DVD, or what? What camera? Are you editing your material or just wanting to view the raw material? __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

January 15th, 2007, 10:29 PM	#4
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	If I recall, the XL1 has composite and Svideo out. Composite is a bit lower quality than Svideo, but your probably won't notice that much difference on a standard TV. As I understand it, there are a select few Monitors out there that actually have firewire input, that would give you better quality. Finally, you can play you video to your computer system through fire wire into your editing system, and actually use the capture screen as a monitor... __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

January 17th, 2007, 01:44 AM	#10
Mike Andrade Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Austin, Tx Posts: 136	Garrick, It works fine. I use a Canon Elura to keep from wearing my XL2's heads. Any mini dv camera will do. __________________ Mike A

January 17th, 2007, 06:09 PM	#13
Mike Andrade Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Austin, Tx Posts: 136	The tape keeps all the original information. The camera just serves as a medium to transfer to the computer. The only thing that can cause quality loss is maybe dirty heads. __________________ Mike A

January 15th, 2007, 10:30 PM	#5
Harold Schreiber Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Olathe, Kansas Posts: 309	Hi Charles, What situation are you trying to play back in ?? Indoors with electric, outside without ?? I use either a CRT 13" Monitor on electric, or an 8" to 10" LCD screen on battery power. I use these at most every shoot I do, and use in real time to track subjects. Seldom use the Cam's Viewfinfer or side LCD unit except for first setup. Harold

January 16th, 2007, 11:37 AM	#8
Harold Schreiber Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Olathe, Kansas Posts: 309	Hi Charles, Gosh, that makes your situation easy. You might consider getting a stand-alone HardDrived DVD Burner/Player, and going from the Cam using the Firewire to it, and from it to whatever type, and sized, monitor you want. That way you could put video to the hardrive and review it at will, and as often as you want, with out having to use your Cam as a tape rewinder/player repeatedly. Depending on what you're doing, you could then do simple editing and put your video directly to DVDs. Or, when you've got the video you want, dump it form your Cam to your computer for editing. The small size of the capture screen of your editing system is a rather meager way to see what you've done. I do this with two Panasonic HHD / DVD units. Saves the Cam's Tape mechanism too. Harold

January 16th, 2007, 11:52 PM	#9
Garrick Daft Tourist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 3	I think he is concerned with wearing out the heads if he uses the camera to play back the footage he just shot. I have the same concern with my XL2. My friend recommended buying a lower cost DV camcorder and playing back on that to preserve the heads on the XL2....I haven't tryed that yet, because we don't know if it will work. Does anyone know if that is a good solution to prevent unneeded head wear and tear???? Only other option is to buy a DV deck to playback and rip fire from.

January 17th, 2007, 02:18 AM	#11
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	for cheap you can contimue with the RCA cable on camera to monitor. but more than heaqd from the camera, i would worried by the stress you put on the original tape by frequent rewinding and playbacks (drops). a step ahead would be to purchase a cheap DV<-->video converter such the canopus ADVC-100. you can glue it on a monitor and have firewire directly into monitor. these would not really improve from the first solution, and even add the complexity of finding long firewire cables if needed. the third solution is to build on the second one and hook a PC to the converter, so you can record DV to computer and play it from there. It is much more easy , you can do frame by frame, pause etc.. with no risk for the tape. if a PC seems too big for you, you can replace it by a DV hardisk, but the cost are almost the same with less feature (for 700$ you can find a laptop with screen+keyboard and mouse+many other features, while a DV hardisk will cost around the same with basically only few buttons). if all of this seems to expensive, just find a S-VHS recorder and use the Y/C plug from the camera to record good signal with replayability.