CompuServe Messages

Tom, Yes I find ME quite stable now. It still doesn't do quite everything I'd like it too but neither do other programs. About the only thing I can't get to work right now (but at least works more than it did before) is the Audio Dub feature. I am in a minor nightmare of a project for me right now with the gear I'm using. The oil company I'm doing this for wants me to update one of their orientation video's with the more recent changes in their field. First I have only a VHS copy to work with. I suggested to get the master done on HI-8 from their original production company but they didn't want to go that route. It seems as though they paid around $30-$40K for this originally. It's a 30minute tape. So I am in some spots trying to dub in new video and then still retain the narrator's audio ( a company employee). For this reason I wish the Visca Audio dub feature worked better on the ME. I could just edit in the new video and then using the Time code feature do a recording from the original audio only. I can still get it done but it's the ole fast hands demo. I did finish their CrewBoat briefing video, which they were happy with but I was not. It really was due to things their liason wanted to do with the video which I didn't think were good or practical. The primary was their use of an employee as narrator. No problem , except that he had a very soft soft voice and is anything but a narrator. Still, they wanted to get their own people involved. I'm glad I at least have this mackie mixer. I about wore out the gain knobs trying to get the narration at a constant audible level. He also wanted to get some comical effects like 4x speed play which definitely did not work with my equipment and look absolutely terrible. The only effect I threw in which worked out admirably on the Vdeck was a slow motion playback of personnel swinging by rope from a crewboat to the platform landing. I guess that Farouda technology in the Vdeck has something to do with that. It really does a good slo mo. Tell me, on your A/B roll stuff are you using 2 masters or 2 copies of one master. That has always been the thing holding me back. I figured the quality of video would suffer a little too much for me since I would then end up with a 3rd generation final master and copies of that would be 4th gen, ichh! Rocky