So, how do I solve this problem?

PAD Imaging

Member
So, I wanted to shoot. I went out awhile back, before the computer was even built, and I went out and covered a kids baseball

game yesterday. I learned a LOT. It certainly isn't like putting together a stills package. I was surprised. Lot of 'where is the button'.

I got home, and the the images looked good at first blush. That camera has excellent color!

But then, I started noticing, especially as I started pawing buttons, there is a LOT of, uh, something. The edges of vertical edges look like a jewelers' saw. It wasn't very apparent in the previous tests, but those were done in crap light. It was the proverbial bright, sunny day for this test, and it's bad enough to make it unusable in my opinion.

WTH is that? How can I minimize it?


The camera has the Enhanced Vertical Definition mode. Would that help? Settings?

Also, I suspect there is an issue between the frame rate at the sensor, and the playback rate through the software. Any ideas on what the ingest settings should be? I can tell you, even though the capture board is touted at uprez capable, not a single mode is readable by any of the ingest or edit software. It reminds me of when my Commodore Vic 20 would overheat and started displaying trippy pics and sound. lol


Thought I would throw it out here first, but I may copypasta this to the Cow. Haven't had much response there in the past, but...



Thanks!


Shawn

(I'll have it up on tube here in a min. I think)
 

PAD Imaging

Member
If it goes, it will be at:


http://youtu.be/5mUmYns9ghk


This is a quick compilation (I know it's blotchy and choppy).

This is via VCR>SDI>AJA CORVID 3G Card>DirectShow?>VirtualDub>Snagit Screen Video/Audio
Capture>Win X HD Converter Deluxe>WMM 6.0. (Yeah, super kludge,) I am guessing that's why it's so choppy. Notice though, if I slow frame it in the VCR, you can see the individual hairs on the dog perfectly. BUT, when rolling at speed, everything vertical has that 'sawtooth' effect.
 

PAD Imaging

Member
Betacam SX. It's the digital gateway drug to DigiBeta. I got a huge deal on it before I was smart enough to know why. :eek:

All I saw was, a real lens, 3 CCD, it looked like a media cam, and it was square in the budget. (shrugs)


Shawn
 

AKinDC

Well-known member
Sell everything for parts, go buy a cheap HD camera, and start over. You're going through so many hurdles, you're simply never going to get what you want.
Or, assuming you have an actual SX VTR and a breakout box, get some decent editing software to digitize it into. Right now you're taking a professional format and sending it through a bunch of crappy consumer programs.
 

PAD Imaging

Member
I do. It's a DNW-A25 with SDI out.

I bought the camera because in the past, I knew how to break out that giant donkey dork connector to get the signals I needed.

I figured, I make an adapter, I get an inexpensive capture card for the laptop, I can shoot and cut on scene, and upload via a mobile hotspot.


Well, this Sony doesn't have the 25 or 30 pin (I forget) connector. It has a special one. That needs a special adaptor. That rarely goes on eBay.

Even when it does, it still basically only outputs into SDI.

There are no simple SDI PC laptop solutions that mate with this laptop. Lots of firewire, but I've been told what's the point to run that camera through a 1394 squasher.

I invested $100 in that body. I'm not one of those "all in" kinda guys that mortgage the house for a camera, or rent one continuously. Very few 'big' news events happen in the Knoxville (TN) metro area. Seldom does a real station send a camera op AND a talent. More increasingly, they go with someone's cameraphone footage of events.

No one is going to buy that camera rig for enough to buy a wide angle HD one.

SO, I am stuck making poop soup. Or shooting with my previous camera, a mini-DV consumer model.


Far as software, I have ZERO clue what I need/afford/can hike the learning curve.

What I want, is one neat solution that will pull video off that damn capture card ALONG with the embedded audio, and let me log clips. Then, will allow me to cut it and maybe do a VO/SOT. THEN let me squirt it out in a way that affiliate servers/Ustream/Youtube (yeah) will be able to use without Attack of the Boxy Blocks.

I really, really like being able to control an iris. And, people moved to let me shoot the ball game. That NEVER happened with the handheld.

So, what now?







Here, by the way, is what I have accumulated since I started building up for this project last spring:

Since last I posted, here is my progress:


I finished building out the camera. Betacam SX (NTSC, digital, 3 2/3" Power HAD CCD, 600 line 4:2:2) body. ($100)

Pedestrian lens (A14x9BERM-28) with wide angle adapter (Canon wide angle lens adaptor W80Y-85). (abt $60 total)

I made an adapter and use burglar alarm / kids' ride on toy batteries. (abt $60-70 total, including chargers, etc)

I finished building an edit computer for it. I truly wanted portable, but was hamstrung by the capture card. Computer is a pc, 3.33Ghz, 8Gb of RAM in dual mode, 24" monitor I calibrate with a Spyder II Pro. Runs Windows 8 64bit Pro. (abt $450 including discounts on software)

I can't jack direct from camera to computer, and to save on head wear I bought three DNW-A25's that needed repair, fixed them, and made enough reselling two that I paid for the third.

The capture card is a brand new Aja Corvid 3G. (They killed the $30 dollar one I got off the 'bay so they sent me a replacement).

I don't know what I want to use to edit, so I have a bunch of trial stuff and old paid stuff, starting with Windows movie maker 6.0 64 bit, ArcSoft ShowBiz, Premiere Pro Portable (I think Rvn 4), and Aja Control Room, Adobe Media Encoder, Windows Media Encoder, Windows Expression 4, VLC and Vdub 64 bit for ingest.

Of course, there are sticks, mikes, and lights. And a bag, and a rain cover. And about four tapes. gaffers tape, cables, ........
Whew.:eek:




Shawn
 

PAD Imaging

Member
Surprisingly, no.

It interfaces with control panel. But it doesn't see, or capture.

It has to do with the fact that I picked the one card that was designed for OEM/resellers, and therefore comes with no support, and very little software.

Or, I have something set wrong.


Seems pretty straightforward though, and I am pretty decent with computerish.
 
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