Muff's Modules & More

[revmutt]

[bitSmasher]

A hardware standalone box would be awesome, I actually want a small DVR to use in my old VHS camera instead of a cassette...

[daverj]

If you could live with low resolution, you could also use a security camera Quad processor that combines 4 images down to one, and then capture that one. You can then split them apart in editing. They'll each be 1/2 the resolution of the originals (1/2 horizontal and 1/2 vertical).

[barto]

sooooo... the music video im working on was shot mostly on HD cameras at 720. i decided i wanted to edit the clips first then sit down and make some nice patches to process the edited video. from there my plan is to mix in the synthesized clips whenever i want. is there any way to do this without scaling it down to SD resolutions? id like the final product to still be 720. or at least allow me to process the footage with the same aspect ratio and then scale it up to match. ill be capturing the footage with an advc 110

[lizlarsen]

Hey Nick, well there are different ways to do this.

The Matrox MXO2 capture interface helps out a bit, since it can output and capture to and from anything -- so you could output your 720p footage directly to 480i NTSC -- and then capture your 480i NTSC to 720p as well. I believe all the conversion happens in hardware acceleration -- so it looks nicer than doing a digital downres, then upres.

Using the ADVC-110 it looks like that's how you're going to have to go though -- which isn't really a problem, it just means you'll have to export 480i/NTSC version of your footage for feeding into the video synth, and then capture in NTSC DV with ADVC-110. Then you'll import than NTSC DV captures into your 720p project and do a digital stretch/up-res.

For the Neon Indian/Mind Drips video, I did a full edit of the video first off, and then burned that to a DVD as looping playback. I fed that into the video synth and then started capturing, and spent several hours tweaking and capturing different takes with different patches. Layering the good takes back into the editing software, I sometimes did a digital luma key to reveal some of the original (unprocessed footage). That's one way to do it.

[barto]

thanks lars, the process you mentioned for the neon indian video is about what i had in mind. perhaps it would be a good time to upgrade to the matrox unit.

i suppose ill render out a letterboxed wide screen at 4:3 for processing. hopefully the digital upscaling wont make it look too bad. this advice definitely helps!

[lizlarsen]

You don't have to do a letterboxed widescreen. Remember that NTSC DV video is the same resolution (and the video synth input and output see it the same) whether or not it's 4:3 or 16:9. The aspect ratio is totally up to the display device in question. So you can export widescreen NTSC DV/480i, etc, process it, and capture it that way, through the synth.

[johnnywoods]

yeah, don't letterbox! you end up losing pixels, and at SD resolution, every pixel is sacred. I can send you the MPEG Streamclip settings I use for this purpose if you'd like. The idea is to squeeze the 16:9 video into a 4:3 frame, then do the opposite when recapturing.

[barto]

that would be great johnny! ive used mpeg stream clip a little bit but would love to have some good settings for this purpose

[Arturo00]

[Arturo00]

In reference to this thread: http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=899590#899590

I think the Matrox MX02 Mini is likely the best option that will allow me to input and output video simultaneously. One question though, is it considered a "video card", with its own built in ram/accelerators or is it just an I/O box? I ask because I tried adobe premier on my pc with my current (standard) video card and it got reeeeeally choppy. Would I need to upgrade my other video card as well or will the Matrox resolve these issues?

Also, Lars, in your system is the nVidia GeForce 7950GT only there so you can output video without using up one of your monitor outputs? Seeing as how I have the Extron VSC 500 scan converter with VGA loop through, I don't need a 3rd video card if I want to maintain a dual monitor setup.

Also curious about why/how you have Y, R-Y and B-Y into your lzx system from the Extron scan converter. Is that some yet-to-be released module that accepts component ins? In my case I would just go CV into the lzx, right?

[lizlarsen]

[johnnywoods]

[Arturo00]

[lizlarsen]

I'd definitely recommend the Windows 7 upgrade. Vista is pretty clunky.

The most -ideal- situation for this kind of workflow would be to have two machines with two Matrox's -- one to output, one to capture. The quality through the scan converter isn't going to be even near the quality of direct out of the Matrox. It's frustrating! :( I should probably get a Betacam deck or something at some point. Then you could dump from the Matrox to a really nice tape format, then use that for playback and capture back in with the Matrox.

[Arturo00]

[spaceship]

I have the MX02 mini MAX, but it's not very fun to use w/ final cut pro x. Otherwise it's a solid little box and does everything I need it to do.

[giorgio]

i just got the blackmagic intensity shuttle thunderbolt (what a fucking name they had to give this thing) and it is leading me to believe that it can do in and out at the same time. I don't know though, I have only just got capture and hardware upconverting working so far. gonna hook up the vidsynth tonight, maybe I'll try outputting from it, since it will also hardward downconvert from HD to composite SD for processing with all my video gear.

[lizlarsen]

When learning about this stuff for the first time, what are the big areas of difficulty when grasping concepts? I know it took me a long time to wrap my head around the analogue video signal after a lifetime of using computers. I'll do a tutorial/educational video soon trying to explain it in easily relatable terms.

[zapp550]

Jealous of everyone that's picking up a Matrox cause the quality of the videos looks great . Just grabbed a Grass Valley ADVC-55 today and i'm hoping it'll do the trick for now.