Best way to configure Mini-DV NLE system?

[Alexei]

I am now planning a new system that I will use for video editing. I am going to buy a Mini DV camera, so I am considering the best options to set up my PC. RT2000 is out of question for price reasons. So, I am considering ADS Pyro for input card. What I am wondering about, however, is editing convenience. With my current RR-S/Mystique combo I can connect a TV to the TV-out on Mystique, and use it as a preview monitor. With a Pyro card, will I be limited to a preview window on the PC monitor only?

Are there ways to set up a configuration with full-screen preview output to a second monitor/TV set? Can I use my current Mystique for this? If not, will G400 DH work? Are there other options with non-Matrox graphics boards?

Any input would be most welcome.

[wkulecz]

If you use the Media Studio Pro6VE bundled with the Pyro and install the ULEAD DVpatchII, you can get full screen "previews" if you leave the camcorder hooked up.

This may not work with every camcorder model but the preview goes out the firewire and the camcorder converts it to NTSC video which displays on the monitor hooked to the camcorder's analog output. Works quite nicely on my Sony TR7000 D8 with windows 2000 on a P-III 500.

Its an either or propositon for me, either I get the previews rendered on the computer screen in the little "preview" window or I hook up the camcorder and watch the previews on the big screen rendered thru the camcorder, in which case the preview window remains black.

--wally.


[This message has been edited by wkulecz (edited 25 September 2000).]

[CarterTG]

You might want to look into the Canopus DV Raptor paired with the Matrox Millenium G400 DualHead.

It's the way I'm setup and I couldn't be happier.

The Canopus DV Codec is said to work better than the generic MS DV Codec. I haven't tried the MS, but can only attest to how I almost fell out of the editing chair when I saw my first results with the DV Raptor.

There are a number of ways to zap full-screen previews to a TV monitor. The Raptor uses a loop-through trick that works like a charm. DV signal zips through the firewire into the camcorder's hardware codec, from there, an SVideo cable passes the NTSC signal back through the Raptor. During the moment the NTSC signal is in the Raptor, the video card's Overlay paints a smooth 720x480 30fps picture on the VGA monitor screen. (no CPU power is robbed) The rest of that pass-through signal can be plugged into a TV (SVideo or Composite).

This means that both the VGA monitor and the TV monitor has a full motion display of the footage without having to sacrifice the 2nd VGA head of the G400.

For editing, the G400's DualHead gives the editing program a desktop space of 2304x864... making it a joy to work with long clips on a timeline. Both 17" monitors sit edge-to-edge of each other and I've used it so much for daily activities, that I'll never go back to single screens.

Under Windows2000, the G400's Video Overlay only works with the first VGA monitor, so it's not a problem as long as I drag preview screens into it. Win98 might allow Video Overlay to occur in both VGA screens, but I haven't found the need for it.

Good luck,


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Carter
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[This message has been edited by CarterTG (edited 26 September 2000).]

[ScottV]

Buying a Pyro was the best thing I ever did. Previously I used a Marvel G200 and spent hours fiddling with it to get nothing more than average results.

The Pyro is no trouble at all so the only time I spend is actually editing the video.

I only have a PII 300 but never get any drops on either capture or playback and the results when transferred back to tape are absolutely stunning.

[Alexei]

Thanks for your replies. DV Raptor is still beyond my budget, so I guess I will go with ADS Pyro. When using Ulead Media Studio 6.0 with Pyro card, can you do timeline scrubbing? In other words, do you have to pre-render the edited material to see the preview, or you can get an instant preview? Or you can scrub the clips, but have to pre-render transitions?

Also, all of the Pyro users out there, what are your impression of this product?

[Alexei]

Glad to hear this, Scott V. So, can you "scrub" with Pyro and MediaStudio? I.e. can you drag the cursor along the timeline and see the video in the preview window? Do you get instant preview?

Please let me know, becasue this is the convenience I don't want to give up.

[wkulecz]

Alexi,

To try and answer your question, if you import a DV clip into MS Pro *and* the project settings match the DV avi file exactly then you can immediately position the cursor and scrub the preview window.

If the project settings don't match -- wrong audio data rate setting, usually -- then there is a delay that can sometimes be quite long when the file is being imported as the audio (and/or video) is converted to the project settings.

Transitions and effects have to be rendered before you can view them or scrub thru them.

Only with "real time" hardware can you avoid this rendering delay.

--wally.

[Alexei]

Thank you, wally. So I see this set up is not that different in functionality from RainbowRunner + MS Pro 5.1.

Now all I need is extra cash for all the nifty nuts'n'bolts.