CompuServe Thread

#Better methods

3 messages in this thread
#796From: Patrick JenningsDec 23, 1994 2:22 AM
>>> As far as the AG 455 goes I don't know if I like it as much as the 450 but with the VITC it works great with VM. <<< Hi Michael, I use the Canon UCS5 when travelling lightly but my first camcorder is the AG-455. I too bought it for the VITC but was thouroughly disappointed to find that the VITC counter counts up continuously until it wraps back to 00:00:00:00. The 455 won't regenerate VITC on pre-striped tape, A rather unpleasant discovery; VTR search operations sometimes become confused by the VITC discontinuities that usually occur when ever the tape stops rolling during record. If you're unfortunate enough to swap tapes a couple times, or want to use the second half of a partially recorded tape . . . I kept the 455 because everything else about it is fine and there ain't another S camcorder in its price range that writes VITC anyway. So I just poststripe LTC to the source tape and dub it to a reel prestriped with VITC and use this for generating EDLs. The LTC on the source works fine when printing the final production. I'm not worried about losing the audio channel since my editor, Matrox Personal Producer, can mix .WAV files with the Hi-Fi video the 455 records. You haven't discovered any better methods, have you? Patrick.
#878From: Michael W. ToweDec 23, 1994 6:52 PM
Hi Patrick, >>>You haven't discovered any better methods, have you?<<< Unfortunatly not 🙁 I have the same problems that are asociated with the non-contiguos VITC that you do. The only diferance is that I yse 1970's as source machines so LTC is not an option. >>>I'm not worried about losing the audio channel since my editor, Matrox Personal Producer, can mix .WAV<<< That is a feature that I do MISS!!!! At this time .WAV is only supported by FAST through the DP/R. As of now I mix all .WAV files with Roland Audio Tools and then output to tape outside of VM. I them bring that tape in as audio and cut video to the audio. Sort of a pain but it does work. Regards, Michael W. Towe Falcon Video Productions Santee Ca.
#924From: Patrick JenningsDec 24, 1994 6:21 AM
Howdy Michael, >>>At this time .WAV is only supported by FAST through the DP/R. <<< Yep. 8-channel support too. Very nice. However, when I was purchasing in early '94, FAST wasn't even willing to discuss when/IF they would support .WAV. This was the primary reason I went with PP rather than FAST. Other reasons were the extra monitors and no A/X roll capability. [One seemingly great feature in FAST was use of Microsoft Publish for titling, but I gather from discussion here, this did not prove adequate.] I wanted a relatively cheap editor that would adequately utilize the features of my longer-term investment in VTRs (Panasonic AG7X50). Summer '95 I'll start looking to upgrade. Perhaps by then someone will have released a system that will _control_ audio devices as well, say the Fostex R8 which talks SMPTE. It would also be nice to trigger MIDI clips on the internal sound card. But the vendors seem to key on the video, apparently forgetting that bad audio will kill any production. At this point, producing good audio is too awkward, or way too expensive. What are other people's experiences with this? While I'm listing my favourite 'nice-to-haves', I expected that a popular/profitable development would be a hybrid of the linear/non-linear editing systems. That is, provide A/B/C… roll capability in a two deck system by capturing to disk, on demand, only the portions of source video required for a mix effect involving two or more sources. It's a cheaper, and simpler, upgrade option for a cuts-only studio — just a new capture board, a tad more HD perhaps, and BAM! you're A/B/C rolling. Yet I haven't seen a single intimation that any vendors are moving in this direction. Patrick.