2. Equipment

Tue - May 2, 2006

Is there a place for HDV in low budget live video?

HDV is the new buzz in video circles - it seems to offer the impossible; High Definition video at the price (and datarate) of Standard Definition.
Great for low budget video production, but what about VLOBLIVE gigs? Should you care? How can you make use of all those extra pixels?
Read on to consider some of the issues raised by this new video format...

Unless you have been doing live video in a monastery somewhere in rural France for the last year, you SHOULD be aware that there's a new kid on the digital video camera format block - HDV.

It's a high definition format (1920x1080 or 1280x720) but using the same bandwidth (25Mbps) and tape format as DV. Improvements in codec performance mean you can get higher resolution on the same tape format as good old DV.

Anyway, the point of this post is to look at what this means for VLOBLIVE gigs.
Should you rush out and replace all your gear immediately? (yeah, like THAT's going to happen)
Probably not, but the lure of higher resolution is very compelling, so let's look at what COULD be possible with HDV in a vloblive context (i.e. no money and lots of ingenuity).

First question to address is why would you bother with higher resolution at a live video gig?

Well, IF your content (or cameras) are HD and IF you can mix HD and IF your projectors are HD THEN there's no question HD is going to look stunning on a big screen, compared to your average SD live video setup. It would look sharper, cleaner, less jaggy, more 'real' etc. etc. Go and look at a proper HD video in a TV store somewhere, then imagine that ten times bigger and you get the idea.

So, let's assume for the rest of this post that you are hooked on more pixels. How are you going to make it happen for next to no money?

Let's look at what it means for different aspects of live video production. Remember that you will only get HD on the screen if all the parts of the chain - Camera/VTR, mixer, projector - can all handle HD.

IMAG Cameras

There's a whole rash of new HDV cameras available, all the way from the basic Sony HC3 through to the high-end pro cameras from JVC, Canon and Panasonic. These are really nice for low budget video production, but what about for live use?

Good points:

• It's 16:9 format all the way, so if you are running a 16:9 system you are all set.

• Most of these cameras have component outputs, or even SDI outputs which means better quality (but you need something to plug it into - see later)

• The quality of the analog outputs could well be better than DV cameras

• If you also use your cameras for video production, then an HDV cam will be more future-proof.

Bad points:

• Less sensitivity. You better be sure you have enough light to use some of these cameras (especially the low end HDV ones)

Some of the latest pro HDV cameras like the Cannon HL1 and the JVC KY-200 have genlock in and SDI out and even remote control which make them ideal for IMAG cameras, but they are also a lot more expensive.

Playback

If you are producing video inserts in HDV then it would be great to play them in at HD resolution.
You can play back off your camcorder, but that's a bit of a waste of a good camera at a live event, so it would be better to either have an HDV deck (Sony and JVC make reasonably portable ones) or be able to play back HDV clips on your Mac or PC.
Quicktime on a fast mac will play back HDV in Keynote, especially if you set it to only play one field.
You could burn a DVD of HDV video in DVD Studio pro, but about the only thing it will play back on is a fast Mac.

Even if you can't play back HD resolution video at your live gig, it may still be worth filming in HDV, as, apart from anything else it allows you some lattitude in re-framing shots in post, as you can 'zoom in' and still have plenty pixels left to transcode to an SD resolution.

Graphics

Graphics is the place your audience are MOST likely to notice the difference moving from SD to HD.
720x576 pixels (SD) is pretty low res for graphics these days, and the higher resolution will allow more detail, and result in fewer jaggy edges etc.

Most fast PCs or Macs are capable of creating and displaying graphics at HD resolution. The lastest version of keynote from apple even includes some HD resolution templates to make it easy for you.
Clearly a high spec graphics card will help with this.

Mixing

So you have some HDV cams, some HDV clips to play, some HD graphics, but now how do you mix them all together?

Well, if you have lots of money you can buy a very nice V440-HD SD/HD mixer - this will let you mix SD cams, HD cams, etc , but at approx $12,000 it's pretty pricey.

So, current 'cheapskate' options:

• The new Tricaster Pro from Newtek can at least output at Higher resolution though it's not clear yet whether its component inputs can take HD video - probably not, or they would have mentioned it.

• If you are ONLY doing playback of HD, you could use the ProVideoPlayer from Renewed Vision

• Another option is to do normal SD mixing and then input it into a PC or Mac to scale it up to HD with your song SW or other SW. Of course your video inputs wouldn't be HD, but at least your graphics could be.

Projection

All this only makes sense if you can actually beam more pixels onto your screen at the end of the process.
Of course, even most 'office' projectors are 'greater than SD' resolution today - most run at XGA or similar - 1024x768 is better than 720x576 (PAL) for graphics etc. This is why a lot of people run their projection systems as native VGA and scale up their video to fit.
If you can play back progressive scan 720p (1280x720) HD video directly on your PC or Mac, you will get some improvement in perceived resolution even at XGA, but of course the higher resolution the projector the more you will notice the difference.
You REALLY need a native 16:9 projector - if you start letterboxing HDV video onto a 4:3 screen you are losing most of the advantage you gained in going to HDV in the first place.
You also want to go digital if you can - DVI or HDMI inputs will preserve all those tasty pixels in pristine digital format right to the end.
Of course the down side is that long DVI or HDMI cables are still VERY expensive, but there are solutions becoming available for longer cabling options.

The good news is that HD projectors are being pushed down in price by the rush in consumer HD TV broadcasting, so an 'HD ready' projector with native 16:9 format and decent brightness should become a lot more affordable over the next few years.

Cabling

One final note on a mundane, but important topic: You can't cable an HD system using composite or s-video cabling any more.

The main options are either component (YPrPb) on analogue, or DVI or HDMI digital cabling, which, as mentioned above is VERY expensive for long runs.

If you're wondering how to source long component analogue cabling from, then don't ignore your existing long VGA cables - with a BNC breakout adapter these can be adapted to send component video and chances are you have some already or can source them cheaply.

OK, that's the state of the HDV nation for live video right now.

There's no avoiding the challenges here - it's not for the faint of heart.
My suggestions for the moment is as follows:

• If you are buying a camcorder today to do double duty for IMAG and video production, but an HDV one, but watch out for minimum illumination issues.

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• If you are producing video for live playback, go ahead and produce in HDV for futureproofing, but downscale to SD for playback.

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• If you are ONLY doing playback at a gig, then you have a good chance of doing 'better than SD' resolution playback.

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• If you are buying a new PC for live events, make sure it can handle HDV or HD H.264 playback.

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• If you are buying a new projector, DEFINITELY buy a native 16:9 one, and consider pushing the budget to buy an 'HD ready' one.

But remember - it's your money, so make your own decisions!!

Dave

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Thu - January 12, 2006

Choosing cameras to use for IMAG at VLOBLIVE gigs

In the kind of budget range most VLOBLIVE gigs are operating, your camera choice is going to be limited to pretty much whatever you can get your hands on. However if you do have some choices, or if you are looking to invest in purchasing some cameras, here are some pointers to help you choose.

The first thing to bear in mind is that your average VLOBLIVE gig is a very hostile environment for cameras for the following reasons:

• You probably can't afford enough lighting to make it look good

• You are probably working with volunteer or inexperienced camops

• You probably DON'T have the luxury of CCUs and an engineer tweaking camera settings during a gig.

• You don't have the money to buy the RIGHT thing so you are going to have to compromise.

• You may well be using underpowered projectors which limit the contrast ratio you can achieve.

That said, let's look at each option in turn:

• Current pro studio cameras

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• Good examples: Sony D35, JVC KY29, etc.

You have probably found that buying or even hiring current model pro studio cameras with all the accessories is pretty much out of the question, but hey, if you can get one or more of these, then GREAT - go for it!
They will give the best results by far, and with the right lens selection are the ideal choice for IMAG.
However remember that you don't just need the camera, you also need the PSU, the lens (different options available) and a decent tripod. This can all add up.
Things to check for:

• is it the right aspect ratio - 4:3 vs 16:9?

• what kind of lens are you getting with it? - wide angle? telephoto? does it have a 2x extender?

• if you are NOT going to use a PPU etc. does the camera adapter have normal video out on BNC connections?

Older Pro Studio cameras

Good examples:
Sony DXC range - M3, 325, 537, M7, BVP range
JVC KY27, KY19, KY17
Ones to avoid: Sony DXC3000, Panasonic F10, F15

A lot of studios are upgrading their cameras to digital SDI systems so the secondhand market is full of venerable old studio cameras that look just the biz for IMAG at live events at apparently knock-down prices. These cams have all the controls to make your life easy and are REALLY solid and reliable, as they are built for day-in day-out use. In the right conditions they can produce exceptional results.
BUT...be VERY VERY careful if you are considering buying an older pro studio camera, and you don't really know what you are doing.
Here are some things to watch out for:

• minimum illumination - older cameras will ONLY give good results in lots of light (i.e. in a studio). In fact most current prosumer DV cams will do a better job in low light than some of these old stagers. Watch out for a min illumination figure of 5 lux or 1 lux or 0.1 lux or similar.

• Lenses are REALLY expensive and are not always included.

• a lot of these systems are modular and require both a camera front and a camera adapter back to make them usable

• Most do NOT come with a PSU - you will have to buy that separately

• Pro lenses need servicing - an old cheap lens may be knackered! Both of the pro studio cams that we bought required lens servicing at several hundred GBP a go.

• These cams are BIG and heavy and need a pro tripod to make them usable

• ALL of these cams will have manual focus lenses so your camops will have to be comfortable with focusing while operating

• Very few of these cameras have an 'auto-everything' mode (the KY27 is a good exception) so you better be happy setting up black level, white balance, etc.

• Try to get a lens with a 2x extender built in to give you better zoom range BUT remember the 2x extender will add to the cost and will loose light so it is only usable in decent levels of lighting.

As a final warning let me say that I have bought five of this category of camera, and had to get rid of three of them! Caveat emptor.

Pro DV or DVCPro Camcorders

This is a similar category to the above, and the same principles apply. Newer or current models will do great. Older ones will struggle in low light, and will be big and heavy.

Prosumer 3-CCD miniDV or HDV camcorder

Good examples:
Sony: HVR-Z1, HVR-FX1, HCR-HC1, PD170, PD150, PD100, VX2100, VX2000, TRV950, TRV900
Canon: XL2, XL1s, XL1, GL2, XM1
Panasonic: GS400, GS250

This is probably the most realistic category to aim for. This class of miniDV or HDV camcorder is a good compromise of image quality versus cost and size. The 3-chip CCDs mean good resolution and colour quality, and most of these cameras allow manual control over focus, exposure, gain etc, all of which are important. If you are considering buying a DV camera for IMAG I STRONGLY recommend getting a camera in this category, rather than a consumer model.

The main advantages of this type of camera are:

• affordable to buy new or secondhand

• you may know people who have one and can lend you it!

• they are small and unobtrusive

• it is easy to get a good tripod for this size of camera

• in good light image quality can be excellent - as good as older pro cameras

• most have very usable auto-focus which can help less experienced camops.

The main disadvantages are;

• limited lens options - only the Canon XL range have interchangable lenses. In general none of these cameras is going to work from a front of house position for serious IMAG. (I'm going to assume you know that DIGITAL zoom is totally useless and a waste of time)

• poor performance in low light

• small size can make people think they can use them handheld on stage - a BAD idea!

• manual focus controls can be fiddly to use live

• menu-based controls can be fiddly to use live

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• Consumer 1-CCD miniDV or DVD or Digital8 camcorders

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• Good examples: Any 'handycam' or other consumer DV cam

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• This is another likely category for 'loaner' cameras, but it is a bit of a minefield. The image quality of this category of camera is not really good enough for general IMAG use in low light, so it's use can only really be recommended for specific limited applications e.g. static POV cameras, remote pan-tilt cameras etc.

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• Consumer 1-CCD Hi8 or VHS-C or VHS (yikes!)

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• Eh...just say 'no thanks'.

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• CCTV cameras

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• The image resultion, colour quality etc. of these cameras is not suitable for IMAG use, except in very specialised applications e.g. POV cameras or 'gimmick' shots.
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• Videoconferencing cameras

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• Many people are attracted to these cameras due the the built-on remote pan/tilt/zoom controls. However the quality of the CCD modules used in these cameras is NOT suitable for IMAG use, and I don't recommend them.
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• OK, that it then - lots of options to suit different pockets, but some serious danger of disappointment if you are not careful.
• As a general rule when buying a camera, try to arrange to borrow or hire an equivalent model and use it at a gig before you commit your cash.
•
• Hope this helps.

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Tue - January 10, 2006

matrox dualhead-2-go - superwidescreen support for projection.

Here's a great idea - an external box that looks to your computer like an extra wide display, but in fact it splits the signals across two displays.

the matrox dualhead2go is an interesting solution to the problem of driving two projectors side by side to create a super wide screen combo - regular readers will know this is one of my missions so to be able to replicate the superwidescreen antics of the big corporate boys on a shoestring budget, and something like this product could really help.

2560 x 1024 is going to look pretty cool!

It's not out yet, and there are various hardware compatibility issues etc. to watch out for, but an interesting direction nonetheless.

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Thu - November 17, 2005

New budget analog video mixer from Datavideo

Something of a rarity - a new well featured analog video mixer that would be ideal for VLOBLIVE gigs. This one is from Datavideo - the SE500.
Read more for some of it's unique features...

Just when it seemed that Edirol had the whole budget video mixer thing to themselves, along comes Datavideo with a very interesting model aimed squarely at VLOBLIVE gigs and with some VERY interesting features..

It is a pretty standard 4 input (svid or composite) mixer with the following points of note:

• Tally outputs - hooray! at last a budget mixer with tally outputs. This lets you wire up LEDs for your camops to tell them if they are selected or live or are free to move. Of course you will have to sort out the wiring yourself, and there is no info on the actual wiring convention used, but with a bit of bodging this could give a very workable tally system for a VLOBLIVE gig.

• Quad preview - like some other mixers this one lets you put all four previews up as quad images on a single monitor.

• Audio support. Unlike the Roland V4 or others, this one does have audio mixing which is great for mxing between tape sources or DVDs etc.

• MIDI control. OK the Rolands have this too but it does open the possibility of driving it from a sequencer for fancy effects, or better still driving 3 of them for multi-screen control. Hey we can all dream!

• Component output - if you pool the Svid AND the composite output you can get a component output from this unit which would give you the max possible quality for going to tape or DVD etc. Of course it will not make your video inputs BETTER than the format they came in on, but it will ensure that all wipes and effects are kept as nice as possible.

• Proper picture-in-picture effect.

• small - you could fit this on a slide-out 19 inch rack tray no problem.

Some quick negatives (just from reading the blurb)

• Doesn't seem to do downstream keying (unlike the MX50) so no easy way to overlay text on video....as far as I can tell. That's a bit of a downer really as this is probably the most common 'effect' required by a video mixer at a VLOBLIVE gig.

• only 4 inputs - not a unique failing, but WHY WHY won't manufacturers add more inputs. 6 is pretty much the minimum you would want for a VLOBLIVE gig with cameras - 4 cameras, a PC and a DVD player.

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• That's it - If you are in the market to buy a new video mixer (or even a secondhand one) then for MUCH less than the price of a secondhand MX50 you could have one of these babies, and have nearly all the features in a much smaller box.

You can find more info on their website including the user manual and you can buy in the UK from MVS Video for around £600.

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Sun - September 25, 2005

New Edirol SD AND HD mixer and upscaler - comparison to Newtek Tricaster

Just found some info on the Edirol site about this new combination SD & HD/RGB mixer and upscaler. Some very interesting features for the VLOBLIVE or church install gig, including 4 channels of SD mixing, and upscaler and 4 channels of HD or RGB (VGA) mixing in one box.
Read more for more discussion on how this is EXACTLY the product that most of us could really use...(depending on price) and how it compares to the other hot product right now - the Newtek Tricaster.

This is a new combination SD mixer, upscaler and HD/VGA mixer from Edirol called the V440-HD

You can find more info from Edirol on their site

It has some unique features that make it look very interesting for VLOBLIVE or church install types.

• separate 4 channel SD mixer (for mixing and recording IMAG or video sources) with separate outputs

• upscaler to convert the SD mix to High Definition video OR to VGA for projection

• additional 4 channel HD mixer that accepts either HD video (1080i or 720p) from an HDV camera or deck, or VGA graphics from a PC source.

• multiple outputs

• suggestion that it supports 16:9 aspect ratio

Of course you could achieve most of this already using separate mixers, scalers or seamless switchers, but putting them all in one box under one control surface is a REALLY clever move by Edirol and avoids a lot of the system integration headaches that affect other solutions.
In particular acknowledging that HD is something that even churches and VLOBLIVE gigs are starting to consider, given the drastic price reduction in prosumer HD gear and projectors.
How many churches have now bought Sony Z1 HDV cams to use for IMAG or filming in HDV? I am guessing lots and lots. This gives an option to use them live to their full potential - assuming of course your projectors can handle it!

There has been a lot of buzz in VLOBLIVE and church video install circles recently about the Newtek Tricaster PC based video mixing 'appliance'. It's basically a PC with a powerful DSP card and some great software that turns it into a very effective live video production station with a huge number of features and facilities for lower end productions (and some high end ones too). All this combined with a killer price of around $5000 US.

At the time I wondered if all lower end video video products would go this way - PC based dedicated video mixing software, simply due to the comparative costs of developing dedicated hardware versus DSP and software development for the PC platform.

Well, it's interesting to see Edirol answer that challenge with this new product.

From reading the literature it would seem that the V440-HD may have some advantages over the tricaster solution

• 8 inputs vs 4 on the tricaster (3 x video and 1 x iVGA). Admittedly you can probably have multiple iVGA PCs set up and switch between them on the tricaster, but there's something nice about having a HW button per input.

• High Def video support - this is going to be more and more significant as prosumer HDV cameras and reasonably priced higher resolution projectors become available.

• 16:9 aspect ratio support (to be confirmed) - this is a biggie, as especially for church installs there are strong benefits in 16:9 use.

• separate outputs for the SD and HD mix (you can KIND of do this on a tricaster by sending ONLY the iVGA input directly to the VGA output, while still mixing inputs to the video outputs, but it's not as straightforward)

• full hardware implementation - power on and it works. This might be a big deal for some places who are worried about users having to learn software like the Tricaster. having said this I don't think the Tricaster SW is THAT hard to learn.

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The tricaster, however has it's own unique advantages which include:

• iVGA screen capture via ethernet from other PCs

• Digital disk recorder to record and playback clips instantly

• keying and titling options

• built in preview monitors

• recording options

• web streaming options

• etc. etc. - lots of cool stuff!

It's impossible to make a true comparison without knowing the price of the V440-HD - it's rumoured that the street price will be around $10k US, which puts it at about $4k more than a Tricaster with control surface, which makes it an interesting battle.
The tricaster wins hands down on bang per buck, but if you need HD video and 16:9, then the Tricaster can't deliver....YET! That's the advantage of SW based platforms - new stuff is only the next release away!!

It's very encouraging to see more and more video production hardware solutions aimed at the low and medium end of the market, but keeping up with the latest specs and standards.

Let me know what you think - leave a comment below.

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Sat - September 24, 2005

How important is tape choice when filming in DV or HDV?

There are expensive DV and HDV tapes and there are cheap ones. Does it make a difference?
Is it worth the risk to buy them in bulk at Costco?
Here are my own suggestions on how to make the right choice.
Read more for details.

I guess the question you have to ask when buying cheap tapes is "how much am I going to be affected by a random tape dropout or screw-up?"

If the answer is that losing a few frames at any point is no big deal (either because the subject is not that critical, or because you have plenty backup options to retake, or coverage from other cameras) then fine - go and buy some cheapo bulk tapes, though I personally stick to at least Sony Premium ones - the cheapest Sony ones as they are not that expensive now and it just seems intuitively right to use Sony tapes with Sony cameras.

If the answer is that losing even one frame is a disaster (because it's a one-off non-repeatable event which ONLY this tape is filming and people are expecting/paying for perfection) then time to get the credit card out and pay up for proper HDV tapes - it's like insurance. You pay up even though you NEVER want to have to rely on it.

Even with cheaper tapes there are things you can do to help minimise the risk. The three biggies in my view are:

1. fast forward and rewind new tapes before use. Note I DON'T mean blacking and coding the tape - that's old skool and no longer needed or desired. (just wears out tape a little more)
I mean put in the new tape out of the packet, fast forward all the way through and rewind all the way back. This settles in the tape in the housing and to your camera transport (or something!!).

2. Try to ONLY ever record onto tapes once. I really mean that. NEVER re-use tapes if you can help it. Use it to record, use it to ingest for editing then that's it. On the shelf. The tapes are so cheap that this isn't so extravagant as you think.

3. Never put your final edited clip back on the same tape as your source footage. If the tape gets jammed, or eaten or stood-on (or stolen!) etc. you can always re-capture from the source tape, or you can re-edit from the final version if necessary. If both are on the same one, you are screwed...to use the technical term.

I have mostly followed these rules, and used Sony Premium tapes pretty much exclusively, and have had good luck with no significant dropouts etc. over several hundred tapes (DV of course, not HDV).

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Sun - August 21, 2005

buying a non-laptop PC for VLOBLIVE use

Laptops are great for use at a portable VLOBLIVE gig, If, however you are looking to make a more permanent installation, or you are using the PC as the video scaler (See this entry for details) then you are pretty much stuck with a 'desktop' PC (there are very few, if any analogue video capture cards that work in a PC Card slot in a laptop). Here are some tips for configuring a portable media PC for VLOBLIVE use...

There's nothing worse than lugging a big muckle PC tower to and from gigs, so I suggest you follow the example of Newtek and look for a Small Footprint PC case (SFP) like Shuttle cases that are nice and wee, can be locked using a leash like a laptop and would let you put a good dual-head graphics card (PCI Express slot) and video capture card (PCI card) in.

Here is a review of just such a shuttle box.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/16/review_shuttle_xpc_sn25p/

Note that most of these SFP PCs come are 'barebones' systems that have to be configured, so unless you are pretty sure what you are doing, it would be best to get an integrator to do it for you.

Stuff to watch for:

• You don't necessarily need the absolute fastest CPU - anything up around 3GHz is fine. CPU prices ramp steeply past a certain point, so don't spend more than you have to.

• Having two HDs (even if they are smaller) is better for video than one monster one. A 120GB system one and a 200GB media one for example (Rather than one 250GB). SATA is preferred.

• MAKE SURE that you specify a proper dualhead graphics card and MAKE SURE it will fit in the box (including the heatsink!). Be careful as a lot of graphics cards have DVI and VGA connectors but are NOT proper dualhead cards.

• Get plenty of RAM, especially if you are switching between apps - min 1GB DRAM.

• Consider fitting two DVD drives if you plan on running projection software that lets you access DVD clips directly. This means you can have two commercial movies cued at once (without worrying about ripping VIDEO_TS folders etc.)

• If you can afford it I would recommend fitting a DVD writer (mainly to backup all your media files, coz you're going to HATE it if this PC dies or gets nicked.)

• Get it with XP Pro (not home) as you might need to use the remote desktop feature (connect remotely over ethernet from another PC) for doing clever stuff to control it.

• Forget the floppy - waste of time these days - get a multi memory card reader instead so you can read images out of a DSC.

• Watch out for fan noise - try to go for one that has as many 'silent' features as possible. Generally the ones targetted at media centres are along the right lines.

•
OK, that's it - just some pointers
P.S. If the Mac Mini could drive two screens, then I would recommend that instead, but for the moment it doesn't.

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preview monitors - how many to have?

Preview monitors are the TVs or video monitors that show you what's happening on the various inputs to your video mixer or switcher. This ensures that you know what's coming next when you are mixing video. The question is....how many do you need? As is often the case the easy answer is the most expensive answer - one per video input, but let's look at some alternatives.

When you see a picture of a TV studio gallery, or an OB van, a recurring feature is a big bank of TV monitors. These are for previewing camera feeds, VCR feeds, graphics feeds etc. At LEAST one per feed.
In live video it's the same - the basic rule is one monitor per input. Simple.
Unfortunately for those doing VLOBLIVE gigs it's not quite that easy. Firstly more monitors means more money. Secondly it means more space to put them all somewhere, and finally the typical monitor available to use as a preview monitor at a VLOBLIVE gig, namely old domestic portable TVs do not lend themselves well to this role as they typically don't have inputs and outputs on them to loop through the video signal on its way to the video mixer.

So, what to do?

Well, as usual you put your resources where they will do the most good.

Let's deal with the Monitor vs TV issue first, as this will affect how many monitors you have available.
Proper pro or broadcast preview monitors have loop through connections. In other words they let you take video into the monitor to display, but they also feed that same video signal back out again to let you take it somewhere else.
This lets you connect the monitor 'in line' with your source, and you are guaranteed to see exactly what will appear at the input to your video mixer.
Most basic video monitors or domestic TVs don't have this feature, so how do you use those as preview monitors?
Several options:

- for local sources, make use of multiple video outputs. If your DVD player has both an S-Video and a composite video output, then it's fine to use BOTH of those at the same time. (you can use multiple outputs, but only one input)
Just connect the S-Video to the mixer (better quality) and connect the composite to the preview monitor or TV and you are off!
- remember that in Europe at least you will often get multiple outputs if you make use of both the phono AND the SCART connections on domestic VCRs or DVDs. Get yourself a SCART breakout lead or adapter.
- an alternative is to use a video distribution amp to split the video signal and use one output to feed the mixer and the other to feed the preview monitor.
- if you are buying new gear, consider buying portable units with built-in LCD monitors. Make sure they have good quality (S-Video) outputs though.

OK, so now that you have assembled your collection of monitors and TVs, how to use them?

If you only have one monitor..
Well, first of all, you're not really trying hard enough are you? I mean - how many friends do you have? OK, bad question - how many relatives? How many TVs do they have between them? Portable TVs are pretty cheap to source and in the right setup can be fine as preview monitors.
But let's assume you REALLY do only have one monitor.
Most video mixers have some kind of preview output, so if you only have one monitor then you would put it on that, and it would let you see whichever input you have selected to be live next.
(see this note on why the preview output on the MX50 video mixer is pretty useless)
In some cases these outputs will show up to four previews in four quarters of the screen. In others they show only what's been selected on the inactive video bus, while still others have separate selection buttons to let you control exactly what you preview.

If you only have a few monitors..
If you have more than one monitor then you can start to put them on the video feeds that NEED cue-ing, e.g. VCRs or DVD players, or feeds that you have no other way of previewing. Stuff that has it's own monitor (portable DVD players, camcorders etc) doesn't need one, and stuff that never changes (static graphics etc.) don't need it.
Ask yourself 'what am I most likely to screw up, if I can't preview it?'

Another option is to buy/borrow/hire a simple switcher to let you switch between preview sources. On the basis that generally you ONLY need to preview what's coming next, you can connect all the preview sources to a a single monitor via a switcher. Remember in this case the quality of the switcher doesn't matter since you are not using the video for anything other than previewing - a cheap domestic AV switcher is fine.

If you are doing IMAG..
If you are doing IMAG, then clearly it's vital that you can see what your camera feeds are sending you, so you know what you are able to switch to next at any moment. In this case I would suggest that one monitor per camera is pretty much essential.
Yes you could do IMAG by switching the previews on the camera, or by using the preview output on the mixer, but my own personal experience is that if you can't see all the camera feeds at the same time, then you forget to switch to the ones you can't see and your mixing is compromised as a result.
The ideal here would be to source some nice 4-in-a-rack preview monitors that can sit in a rack right in front of you at all times, but do whatever you can to be able to see all camera feeds then just do it.

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10 things to look for in a DVD player for playback at live events.

Consumer DVD players are SO cheap now, it's very tempting to make use of them as a playback tool for live events. Some are better suited to this application than others. Here are 10 specific features to watch out for when buying a consumer DVD player for use at live events.

You can buy professional DVD players designed specifically for use at live events. They are built to be robust and reliable over many many hours of extended use. They are also really expensive.

So the reourceful VLOBLIVE engineer is likely to say "why buy one of those, when I could buy one of these consumer ones for 1/3rd of the money and replace it three times for the same money if it breaks?"
It's a compelling argument and a route I have taken in the past, but be aware that there are some caveats to this approach that should be kept in mind.

Firstly remember that professional DVD players don't just push robustness as their selling points. They also have the right features and the right quality for the application.

There are some features that just make things easier when doing live events. Here are some to watch out for:

1. Compatible with recordable DVD formats.
Since all 'homegrown' DVD content will be on recordable DVD, you better make sure that the player supports them. This is becoming less of an issue, but double-check that it will play back DVD-Rs, DVD+Rs, and also DVD-RW and DVD+RWs too. The best option is to take a disk with you when buying.
Ironically a lot of the cheaper DVD players have newer chipsets than the Pro ones, and will actually be MORE compatible than their expensive cousins, but it's still worth checking.

2. The ability to turn OFF the on-screen display.
Most consumer DVD players have an OSD that shows an icon for PLAY and PAUSE etc. This is really distracting, when starting playback, so try to buy one that allows you to turn OFF the OSD completely. You will probably have to read through the user manual to find out this one.

3. Menu controls on front panel.
Most consumer players rely entirely on the remote control for menu operation. In the heat of the moment, you don't want to be fumbling around looking for a remote control, or finding that the batteries are flat etc.
Buy a DVD player with the 4-way UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT select and Menu controls on the front panel.
There are a few that have this, and it is well worth holding out for.

4. Direct Phono and miniDIN video/audio outputs
The cheaper the DVD player the less comprehensive it's output connections will be. The simplest will have a single SCART (in Europe) connection, which will need a breakout cable. You want something that you can change the connections on quickly and easily using standard cables.

I suggest you set your minimum standard as AT LEAST:
- separate audio out L and R on phono (RCA)
- separate composite video out on phono (RCA)
- separate S-Video out on miniDIN

In addition if you have component RGB on phonos then that can we useful for 'direct to projector' playback, giving the best possible quality.
Some even have a surround decoder built in and bring out separate L,R, C, Rear L, Rear R and sub outputs on phono (RCA). This MIGHT come in useful for 'movie nights' but is only a 'nice to have'.

5. PAL AND NTSC playback.
This is pretty much a given, but having the ability to play the 'other' format can save your neck when someone turns up with a disc they sourced from abroad. Remember however, that just because your DVD player can playback the 'other' format doesn' mean the rest of your system can.

On pro machines, some of them will actually convert PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL which is even better, but I guess you have to weigh up how often you will need this feature, since if you get the disc in advance you can always convert it in your NLE anyway. (Compressor 2, as part of the Apple Final Cut Studio package will now do standards conversion)

6. Ability to turn OFF the screen saver
Sometimes you really don't want a screensaver kicking in on the DVD player at the wrong moment. Make sure you can turn it off (again, check the user manual, don't just take someone's word on this)

7. A-B loop playback
This is the ability to select playback to run from one particular timecode to another and then loop automatically. Can be very useful for animated backgrounds etc. of course you can just loop up the background on the DVD to play for 30 mins or whatever, but it's nice to have the option.

8. Time readout on the player NOT the screen.
Again this is a 'nice to have' but having an LED, or LCD time display on the player itself, can sometimes be very useful, especially if it has a 'time remaining' mode, so you know how long is left of the current clip.

9. Gamma (brightness) adjustment
Some players have a way of adjusting the 'brightness' although actually it's usually the gamma that's being adjusted. This makes darker parts of the image brighter and can really help when you are showing movie clips that are mean to be seen on a TV in a dark sitting room, on an LCD (with lower contrast ratio) in a bright hall or church. This can sometimes be called 'movie mode' or 'enhanced mode' or similar.

10. Good enough image quality for the application.
My final note is on Quality. MPEG video decoding isn't trivial to do and the better it is implemented the more expensive the chipset is, and this is reflected in the cost of the player.
A cheap player will produce poorer quality video. There's no argueing about that.
This is going to be especially obvious when you are projecting it 10 feet wide on a big screen, so don't ignore this aspect. You pretty much pay for what you get and remember your audience doesn't care how much you paid for the machine - they care how good the video looks.

My rule of thumb as of June 2005 is that sub $80 you are going to struggle to get good enough quality. Sub $180 you can probably do OK, and around $200 quality should no longer be an issue.

There are some very specific artefacts to watch out for in cheap DVD players (or indeed any low quality MPEG decoding) - you need to decide if the player you are auditioning is good enough for what you are doing:

- banding or contouring in flat areas. this is a BIG give-away of poor quality decoding. if you look at flat areas of colour you see what look like contour lines on a map across them.

- mosquito noise around edges. This shows up as noise around areas of high detail or along edges.

- dis-embodied heads. I just invented this term, but it refers to situations where the motion estimation in the MPEG decoder gets it wrong and you see someone's head remain TOTALLY static while their body is moving slightly in the background. It's almost like their head is disconnected from their body.

- blocking on fast movement. This is one of the most obvious, especially when playing back handheld video where there is a lot of movement in the image anyway. the encoder just gives up and displays a bunch of blocks instead of parts of the image.

Different people have different thresholds for these kinds of artefacts, but remember they are all going to be MUCH bigger and MUCH more obvious when projected on a big screen.
Also remember that poor quality encoding (typical of a consumer DVD recorder, or DVD encoding app) gives a bigger challenge to the decoding hardware too.

So, it's pointless to recommend specific models, as they change so quickly, but you CAN buy cheap (sub $150) consumer DVD players that meet all these criteria and work well for VLOBLIVE events. I know, I've got one!

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Buying, wiring and using an intercom system for camera operators

I've outlined before what you should do with an intercom system once you have one, but here is some more detail on how the system itself can be best configured for camops (camera operators) and vision mixing.

There are basically two pro intercom systems around that use 3pin XLR cabling.
They are very similar BUT incompatible so can't be mixed:
RTS - which is what most camera CCUs work with and
ClearCom which is what the majority of audio folk use.

Clearcom sell their own stuff, but lots of others sell clearcom compatible units, the best example being Canford TecPro systems in the UK. Another example is Stonewood Audio

So the first choice you have is whether you are going to be using studio cameras with built-in intercoms and CCUs, or whether you are using DV cams or standalone studio cams with no CCU and a totally separate intercom system..

In our case, we have a mix of studio cams and DV cams and don't have CCUs, and we already had a TecPro system for our audio guys, so we just extended that.

I would suggest that Clearcom/Tecpro systems are much more common in the UK, and cheaper to source, so unless you REALLY need CCU compatibility I would go for that.

OK - a couple of tricks to look out for.

Firstly, from reading the blurb, it looks like you need to buy an expensive basestation rack unit and then your headsets and beltpacks. Actually you don't. You just need a power supply (which also terminates the audio lines) and then you can use all beltpacks if you want. So the cheapest option to get started (notwithstanding getting stuff s/h or on ebay) would be to get a PSU, and then as many beltpacks and headsets as are needed for camops and vision mixer.

Next, the assumption is that you have to daisy chain all the beltpacks. This IS the normal way to do it, but for camops it is a pain as they end up with one xlr cable coming from the previous beltpack AND one going back to the next one on their umbilical, which just adds weight and makes it more prone to snagging etc

Actually you don't have to daisy chain at all. The system is a party line and you can tee off as many parallel connections as you like as long as there is only one PSU with only one termination.
So what this means is that you can bring all your camop comms lines back to your vision mixing position as single runs, and then have a BIG splitter that takes one XLR in (from the PSU, or from FOH or whatever) and splits it out to multiple XLR outs, one for each camop. This also means that if your PSU is at FOH, you only need to bring one comms line down the multicore.
We bought a 1U XLR connector rack panel from Canford and wired it up as a big XLR splitter for comms.

Next, try not to skimp on the headsets - the canford ones are a good price but have two failings to watch out for - they are uncomfy to wear over a long period and they aren't very good sound quality - especially the mics in loud environments. This contributes to having to repeat lots of commands which is a pain.
In the end we replaced all our canford own-brand ones with Beyer DT109 ones which are expensive but a lot better.

Finally on headsets I recommend that you definitely buy dual muff ones - i.e. ones with an earpiece on both sides, not just one side. There is nothing worse than being a camop stuck next to the main FOH speaker stack, trying to hear commands in one ear while you are being deafened in the other. You CAN use earplugs to block out the ambient sound, and I recommend you have a pack of foam earplugs handy for the occasions where you have no choice.

If you are worried about not hearing what's happening around you with dual muff headsets, you can always slip one side off your ear if you need to.

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Hey you! Do you need a CCU?

The proper way to use a Pro studio camera is with a big thick (expensive) multicore cable connected to a camera control unit (CCU). So for VLOBLIVE events you should do this too right? In your dreams maybe!...

Big chunky pro studio cams - don't you love them? They just SO look the part with their big lenses and huge viewfinders and ALL those switches BUT when it comes to connecting them back to your vision mixer it get's harder to keep up appearances.

The PROPER way to connect up a studio camera is using a 14 or 26 way multicore cable, that has every possible connection in it. You think I'm kidding? How does composite video, s-video, component video, return video, genlock, tally, stereo mic lines, intercom lines, serial data control and DC power sound for starters?

And when you get to the other end, what do you plug it into anyway?
Well that's where the CCU comes in. CCU stands for Camera Control Unit. It acts as a power supply, breakout for connections, and a remote control for most of the camera controls that you might want to adjust during filming. The thinking here is that the camera operator should only be concentrating on framing the shot, focusing and zooming (and not killing themselves onstage or getting in other camops shots).
The real fiddling with exposure, black level, colour balance etc. is NOT done by the camop (how gauche!) and it's certainly not done by the vision mixer but is done by the video engineer at the engineer station where he can fiddle to his or her hearts content in front of their rows of monitors, vectorscopes, etc.

(You don't have a video engineer? Shame on you!)

So that's what the CCU is for.

All sounds great doesn't it?

Trouble is that these hosepipes masquerading as cables are VERY VERY VERY expensive. Like more than most VLOBLIVE folk pay for their vision mixers.
And the CCUs are even more expensive, and hard to get secondhand.
Any if you are shorthanded anyway, don't even think about trying to adjust a CCU while doing a decent vision mix at the same time.

So... not looking so good for the whole Cam + Cable + CCU thingy then?

The crucial question then is can you do without this?

Of course this assumes you are using a studio camera with a multiway conector. If you are using DV cams or other cams you can stop reading now.

Still here?
OK, what do you miss if you don't use a mulicore and CCU?

If you can live without Tally lights on your cameras (the light that tells the camop and the talent that their camera is live)
If you can live without return video (the camop being able to see the currently live video feed)
If you can live with separate intercom cabling
If you can live with S-Video or composite video instead of component
If your cameras are static and don't need to move
If you don't need to send audio
If you don't need to genlock your cameras (i.e. you are synchronising the video at the mixer)
If you are happy to tape together a power cable, a co-ax video cable and a XLR intercom cable to make a makeshift multicore
If you are happy to use on-camera auto-exposure control and auto-colour-balance

THEN you don't need multicores and CCUs

In most cases there are ways to work around these requirements if you do need them, but there gets a point where it is just a whole lot easier to use a multicore and CCU if you really need it.

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MX50 preview output - It's meant to be like that!

Once you understand why the preview output on the Panasonic MX50 works that way, it makes sense. Unfortunately it doesn't make it any more useful for live video!! ...

I have seen various complaints on the web from people claiming that their MX50 video mixer is broken. They go something like this: "The preview output is broken. It only ever shows the SAME as the main program output, rather than showing what is selected on the NON-live buss, like most other video mixers"

Well, unfortunately this is exactly what it was designed to do. You have to understand that the MX50 was designed for doing linear tape editing, not for doing live video. It's recent adoption to that function is really an afterthought. In linear tape editing, it is important to be able to reherse the transition that you are going to do next, while you are still recording something, and that is why the MX50 allows you to select one buss (A or B) to be played out the program outputs regardless of what is happening on the T-bar, while the preview output shows what WOULD happen to the main output as a result of the T-bar actions.
To control this, you need to use the 'Program' section at the top right of the mixer. Normally this would be set to 'Effect', which is kind of like an ARM button for the T-bar.
If instead you select 'A' or 'B' then that plays whatever is selected on that buss directly to the program output.

So think about the 3 buttons as

A = play out A buss all the time (and enable the T-bar on the preview output)
B = play out B buss all the time (and enable the T-bar on the preview output)
Effect = arm the T-bar to fade between busses.

Unfortunately there is no way that I know about to tell the MX50 to automatically switch between these modes, to allow you to view the non-live buss on the preview output.

The BEST workaround to this is to have preview monitors for every input on the MX50, so you don't really need a single preview output after all. These can just be mono monitors or old TVs or whatever - quality is not important, but of course you need to be able to route the signal in and back out of them to go to the MX50 inputs.

One option is to buy set of four or three mono monitors in a rack unit. This is what we have and it works well.

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Tue - May 2, 2006

Is there a place for HDV in low budget live video?

Thu - January 12, 2006

Choosing cameras to use for IMAG at VLOBLIVE gigs

Tue - January 10, 2006

matrox dualhead-2-go - superwidescreen support for projection.

Thu - November 17, 2005

New budget analog video mixer from Datavideo

Sun - September 25, 2005

New Edirol SD AND HD mixer and upscaler - comparison to Newtek Tricaster

Sat - September 24, 2005

How important is tape choice when filming in DV or HDV?

Sun - August 21, 2005

buying a non-laptop PC for VLOBLIVE use

preview monitors - how many to have?

10 things to look for in a DVD player for playback at live events.

Buying, wiring and using an intercom system for camera operators

Hey you! Do you need a CCU?

MX50 preview output - It's meant to be like that!