Many people know Sound Devices as a renowned manufacturer of very high-end audio equipment for field production. They make some of the best (and higher-priced) field audio mixers and recorders available on the market, and do so since 1998. Later, Sound Devices began selling high-end USB audio interfaces, one of which I reviewed. Those items have frequently been used for audio-for-video for over a decade, but only in April 2011 did Sound Devices announce its first two video products, the PIX 220 and PIX 240 HD video recorders that offer several types of ProRes422 (Apple) and DNxHD (Avid) códecs. In this article, I’ll cover many details about these two recorders as of firmware 1.07. Yes, in less than a year, there have been seven firmware updates!
Posts under ‘Reviews in English’
Sound Device’s PIX recorders: a closer look as of firmware 1.07
Matrox adds optional Thunderbolt connectivity to existing MXO2 family interfaces
Matrox is the first (and so far, the only) manufacturer of professional audio/video interfaces to offer the possibility of adding Thunderbolt connectivity to any of their existing products which are already in the field. Matrox now offers this capability for any of the MXO2 family of interfaces, which currently include the MXO2 Mini, MXO2 LE, MXO2 (original), and MXO2 Rack. Since the beginning of the MXO2 family, all of the interfaces have been available either with (or without) Matrox’s Max option, which performs hardware-based accelerated H.264 encoding from within popular professional video editing and encoding applications, and with a choice of either PCIe or ExpressCard/34 interface to a host computer. As first shown at NAB 2011 and now delivering in September 2011, Thunderbolt is the third available option, allowing connection of any Thunderbolt-capable Mac. This article covers how this works, what it means, and what the upgrade will cost you (or the price of admission if you don’t yet own any MXO2 family interface). Read the full article here…
Blackmagic delivers its first Thunderbolt-based i/o interface, the UltraStudio 3D
Blackmagic Design has begun shipping its first Thunderbolt based audio/video i/o interface, which is officially known as the UltraStudio 3D. As its suffix indicates, it is capable of 3D stereoscopic workflows, although it is certainly capable of 2D workflows too. However, we must be diligent and refer to it with its full name (including the “3D” suffix) in order to differentiate it from other Blackmagic models whose names also begin with “UltraStudio”. This first look at the US$995 UltraStudio 3D will cover its features, specs, and even an initial limitation for HP DreamColor monitors, together with a somewhat costly workaround. You’ll also learn everything you need to know about the UltraStudio 3D’s end-point Thunderbolt connection and its current limitations. Read the full article here…
Review: Roland OCTA-CAPTURE 8/10-channel USB 2.0 audio interface
An ideal i/o device to capture up to 10 independent audio sources simultaneously, each on its own individual track.
Many of the affordable pro audio interfaces that are available on the market have a maximum of two balanced microphone inputs, and few of them include hardware-based limiting, compression, or gating. Among the special features of Roland’s OCTA-CAPTURE is the fact that it contains 10 total audio inputs, of which 8 are balanced microphone inputs. The OCTA-CAPTURE allows recording to a standalone audio recorder and/or to a computer. At least when used with a computer and a compatible piece of audio software, the operator can even record all of the available inputs on individual tracks, which provides extra flexibility in post-production, i.e. to mute a cough, or to re-adjust volume or equalization of any particular source after-the-fact without affecting any other source recorded simultaneously. The OCTA-CAPTURE also features onboard compression and gating. In this article, I’ll cover the OCTA-CAPTURE’s features, setup, preamp quality, compatible audio software, and then offer my conclusions. Read the rest here…
AJA KiPro Mini recorder review + commentary
Like a miniature version of the original KiPro from AJA (which I reviewed in October 2009), the KiPro Mini performs many of the same functions (although not all of them) in a fraction of the space —and at a fraction of the cost— and is designed to dock onto the back of many professional camcorders, while it makes a higher quality recording than that is possible internally with most of them. With a flood of other 4:2:2 dockable recorders reaching the market (and one that existed previously which recorded MPEG2 8-bit), this article will attempt to point out the KiPro Mini’s unique virtues, so you’ll have a better idea why it may —or may not— be the best one for you. (Read the full article here…)
PluralEyes for Premiere Pro CS5 (Mac) reviewed
If you ever record dual-system audio or multiple camera angles without synchronized timecode, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without PluralEyes added to your editing software. Users of Premiere Pro CS5 for Mac who are aware of PluralEyes for other editing programs will be happy to know that a version of PluralEyes is now available for their preferred app too. This article will go over PluralEyes’ general features and then illustrate the specific workflow used with Premiere Pro CS5 compared to the way it works with other video editing software. Read the rest here…
TiVo for professional use
How to transfer TiVo recordings to your Mac over Ethernet or WiFi for journalistic or other pro use
For a long time, I have had my eye on TiVo to use instead of the Comcast-provided Motorola DVR. I have known for a few years that the workflow required to re-purpose DVR recordings is much smoother, cleaner, and easier with a TiVo than what’s feasible with a conventional DVR. Up until recently, the price for an HD TiVo unit —together with the monthly TiVo fee— had kept me away. However, in the month of September 2010, TiVo was giving away the latest entry level model known as TiVo Premiere when one signed up for a 2-year contract. Under this agreement, the TiVo monthly fee is only US$3 more than what Comcast charges for the old Motorola DVR rental, so the offer became irresistible. This article describes the process to upgrade from your conventional DVR to TiVo Premiere, and the available workflows to re-purpose content for personal or professional use, including the steps to enable editing in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 or (with additional steps) with Final Cut Pro.
In this article you’ll discover
- TiVo Premiere’s features, beyond just being a nicer DVR
- Professional applications for the TiVo Premiere
- What’s a CableCARD, and how to get one
- How to link your TiVo Premiere via your network to your Mac
- How to transfer content from TiVo Premiere to your Mac, the official way
- How to transfer content from TiVo Premiere to your Mac, the unofficial way
- Editing workflow from TiVo-derived content
- My only criticisms about TiVo Premiere
DreamColor from HP: an ideal tool for critical image evaluation
After several months of waiting, I finally received a DreamColor evaluation unit from HP. Back in May of 2009, I had included the DreamColor in an article called How to connect your HD evaluation monitor to your editing system properly: Let me count the ways! That article included a comparison chart that I had made called Affordable 1080 HD monitors for critical color evaluation. Even back then, the DreamColor looked attractive compared to the specs of the competition, which included contenders from JVC and Panasonic. Before receiving the evaluation unit, I had the experience of going to Guatemala to install a DreamColor. However, because I had to integrate an entire system while I was in Guatemala, I didn’t have a chance to spend enough time with the DreamColor then as I have had now. In this article you’ll discover many reasons why the DreamColor is probably the the most sensible monitor to purchase for video production or post-production when you need critical image evaluation, even if it may mean purchasing it with a converter box, if your current NLE or grading system doesn’t have an an ideal connection for it. Even after adding the cost of a converter box (if required) or otherwise upgrading your current system, the DreamColor will still cost thousands of dollars less than a comparable competitive critical evaluation monitor with a true 10-bit panel. (Read more…)
Sanyo’s VPC-HD2000A boldly goes where no consumer camcorder has ever gone before: 1080/59.94p
At the dawn of affordable professional HD video camcorders, JVC first offered recording only to 720p, Sony first offered only 1080i recording, and Panasonic offered recording to either of the above (even though its original sensors had a native resolution of 960×540, so any HD recording was interpolated). Nowadays, many of the latest offerings from the pro divisions of JVC, Panasonic, and Sony embrace the option of recording 720p, 1080i, or 1080p in a single camera. However, because the maximum framerate available with 1080p in these affordable professional HD video camcorders has been limited to 29.97p, those producers who favor progressive production have faced a tradeoff: either favor spatial resolution (1920×1080 at a maximum of 29.97p, for ultra sharpness and less smoothness) or favor temporal resolution (1280×720 at a maximum of 59.94p, for ultra smoothness and less HD sharpness). Many of our readers have already read that debate in my When 25p beats 24p article. For many, the idea of actually recording 1920×1080 and ±60 progressive frames per second has required a camera like Sony’s F23 camera, whose official price is US$150,000 without a lens or other accessories, and has been amply covered by Art Adams and Adam Wilt here in ProVideo Coalition magazine. (The RED ONE camera also offers 59.94p at 3K windowed mode for US$17,500 plus lens and accessories, although many RED ONE shooters prefer to shoot 4K to retain a familiar focal length, where they don’t get 59.94p.) Now Sanyo has changed that with a few of its consumer HD camcorders, of which the most interesting is the US$599.95 VPC-HD2000A. (Read more…)
Sony launches NXCAM tapeless camera family
For the past few days, I’ve been evaluating a prototype of Sony’s first NXCAM camera family member. This first NXCAM model has a striking resemblance to a Sony Z5, which is an HDV tape-based camcorder with optionalchip recording. Unlike the Z5 chip recording (which limits its HD recording with the exact same specs as the ones that the camera offers on HDV tape), this first NXCAM goes way beyond that, with much more flexibility in recording options, as you will learn in this article. You will see how this NXCAM model offers recording on two different types of solid state devices, offers selectable geo metadata recording with its built-in GPS, and even full compatibility with 10-bit 4:2:2 external recording with a device like AJA’s KiPro. You’ll also see other firsts in AVCHD camcorders, including timecode i/o and HD-SDI. Keep in mind that this is a first look at a prototype of Sony’s initial NXCAM offering. (Read more…)
