HD rack pro

[Gopher_Greene]

I know the folks at serious magic are hard at work (I hope on the new HD Rack). But I thought I'd strat a wish list for a "pro" version of the Rack. DV rack has a lot of great tools and certainly makes things much easier but I want more (as usual) so instead of running up the cost of a great basic product how about a "pro" version with all the bells and whistles; Here's my wish list

1. Unlimited sound tracks, or at least 20 (like Metacorder). Possibly link into the sound editor. Be able to capture the sound tracks from a seperate firewire, so I can go straight from a mixer to the computer with 18 channels of sound.

2. Multiple camera capability. I just finished a reality TV gig where we had eight cameras running, one was the dvx, the other seven were digi beta. The video village was a constant battle on which cams to watch and sometimes had as many as eight monitors up and running. It would be great to setup a computer in a video village with multiple firewire ports and monitors, and have each camera displayd on a virtual monitor. Which of couurse would require multiple monitor support,

3. Along with the above features is a master reord button, So I can start recording all the cameras and sound with a single mouse click. Each should have an individual control as well, so I can turn off anything I don't want.

4. I think we may need an audio sync feature if we have dual sound, in case theres any delay in the audio or video chain.

5. A light meter, both spot and ambient. So I can get both an average light reading of the picture and a spot reading at any point. This will really help in the case of multiple cameras to see if the cameras are setup the same.

Anyway thanks for such a great product, You guys rock!
Gopher

[Zack Birlew]

I would imagine that a light meter would be hard to do via software, don't you think?

[Gopher_Greene]

An incident meter would be out of the question, but I'd think a spot meter would be fesiable. The thought on an overall reading would be the ability to look at two different cameras to see if they're reading the same amount of light overall. If I expect them to and they don't then I'd need to investigate the setttings. This I think would save a lot of time in post making clips from different cameras match.

[khmuse]

The current version has a sort of "Spot meter" already, I use it all the time to match lighting levels from scene to scene.

All that I hope that they add is complete support for the HVX including variable frame rates.

That would make me exceedingly happy.

[Barry_Green]

You guys know that the DVX has a spotmeter built in, right? And the HVX will likely also have the same feature. It's fairly impossible to build a lightmeter into a software program like DV Rack, because the computer doesn't sense light. It relies on what's coming through the camera, which will be affected by the gamma curve, the t-stops of the lens, etc.

[Gopher_Greene]

I concur, maybe I shouldn't call it a spot meter. Here is what I'm thinking, I just finished a reality tv show where we had 8 cameras rolling. 7 Sony and a dvx. If I could put all the cameras into a single program like DV rack and display the virtual broadcast monitor for each camera it would make it much easier to balance the picture across the cameras. If I could take a quick overall light reading from each camera, then It would help ensure each camera is setup the same. I know it wouldn't guarntee it but it would be a quick and dirty check before rolling.

Just some thought incase serious magic folks every want to make a pro or multi camera version. I'm sure theres pleanty of other bells and whistles folks could think of. WHile I'm at it is there anyway the focus assit on HVX would be available throught the firewire or by remote?

[khmuse]

You guys know that the DVX has a spotmeter built in, right? And the HVX will likely also have the same feature. It's fairly impossible to build a lightmeter into a software program like DV Rack, because the computer doesn't sense light. It relies on what's coming through the camera, which will be affected by the gamma curve, the t-stops of the lens, etc.

Yeah I am fully aware of the internal psuedo spot meter within the DVX, its a great function and I too would expect its presence in the HVX. A true light meter is a different matter altogether. My original comment was intended to convey that the capability built into DV Rack's "Video Analyzer" is superior to an in camera spot meter function in that you can get not only an luma level (sum of RGB) but also individual levels represented as either individual RGB, YUV, HSV or even CMYK. Add to the color information the fact that you can pan the cursor anywhere on the image (as opposed to reframing the camera) and I find that this alone is worth the cost of DV Rack.

Now, if they fully support the HVX, including capture capability in all modes at all frame rates, then it would be the answer to everyones needs for a capture device.

[Zack Birlew]

Hmmm, maybe they could simply recieve the spotmeter information from the DVX so you don't have to look at the LCD info display? DVX-HVX-only feature I guess, but would that help anything?

Also, as I understand it, a light meter isn't much help for DV cameras in general, until you get into the higher end range ($25,000 and up). So why bother intergrating a light meter feature? Am I mistaken?