Re: DV Rack Alternative?

Thanks Ron. I assumed that everybody knows (hopefully!) that most pro-video stuff purchased from Ebay (regardless of how it is advertised) needs to be checked out by a tech and ESPECIALLY in the case of monitoring gear...it always should be calibrated.

We purchased 2 older units to carry in the field. (Call me crazy...but simply I refuse to carry a $7+k HD Tek on location where it could be dropped, etc.) Point being -- I am not going to lose as much sleep if a sub-$1k unit is damaged/dropped/gaussed on location.
And again, I should have mentioned, when we buy E-bay junk, we do have it/them serviced and calibrated by a local shop.
And yes, this does add significantly to the price.


HD Monitoring question:

We work with 2 combinations of gear. High end and budget.

HIGH END: When we shoot HDCAM (and occasionally DVCPROHd), we use the Panasonic BTLH900A HD display. The built-in WFV monitoring functions rock. Off subject: In my opinion, this monitor can't be beat.

LOW END: We use 3 HVX200's for multicam location shoots and low-end commercial shoots. We still shoot HD in most cases. for visual reference we shoot these units we use with lower cost Marshall HD monitors which have no built-in WFV functions. (Always shooting HD allows greater flexibility in post and helps future-proof the client's footage.)
Back to the point....on these units, if WFV monitoring is needed, we simply hook a waveform to the HVX200's composite out (always SD). Its great for setting up green screens and a real tube WFV gives you TONS more feedback than camera zebras and most of the SW suites we tried. An added advantage here is that you can also STILL use your firewire out with a firestore or DVCPro Tape backup if you are not recording to P2. This is really useful if you are recording long-form stuff.

Just FYI, we also tried using FCP to record via firewire and use the monitoring suite built into FCP, but again it quickly proved unreliable on-location for critical work.

In Summary, it boiled down to three factors for us:
1) Economy.
Losing/damaging an old sub-$1k tube on location is much more appealing than damaging a $2.5 k laptop.
2) Reliability.
Laptops have failed us on location. More than once. Humidity/travel/age and random fluctuations of the universe cause us more trouble on location with computers than any other piece of gear. For greatest reliability, we try to stick with dedicated hardware as much as possible.
3) Speed.
Power On/Power Off. A dedicated scope is simple to operate. The dedicated SW suites we tried often did not react well to sleep-mode on the computers we used. Firewire activity does not seem to handle sleep-mode well either. In the end we were often forced to reboot several times over the course of a day, especially when we moved shoot locations or changed setups. From our perspective, clients often seem to perceive rebooting the computer on set as a bad thing. (They often ask "Did it crash?). Little things like this do matter when dealing with clients. Perception IS important.

So again, I reiterate, If you need to monitor on location regularly, get a real tube--or drop some serious $$ and check out the Panasonic displays with built-in WFV scope functions.
If you only shoot once or twice a month and have never worked with dedicated HW monitoring in the past....the SW suites will probably suit you just fine.




I edit video. I post sometimes.
I fix things. I eat marshmallows.
I play drums. I drink scotch.
I like TV.

Done typing now.