Event Recording 2-3 hours with HVX?

[pixelator]

I'm close to making the HVX plung for indie film festival work. However I want a camera that can do long events/sports for local college and highschool events. I make decent side money doing that. These events on average are 2 1/2 to 3 hours of footage in an afternoon with little or no down time. These clients all have plasma TV's and are starting to want HD content of thier kids college football games. Has ANYONE found a decent way to get 1080i or 720p 60fps (for sports) with an HVX without having an assistant? I read in another post that the P2 Store drive can only hold 8 dumps from the P2 cards. So you MUST get the 8 gig cards so you can fill up your P2Store drive. True/False? If true does that really mean that if someone had P2 4Gig cardsthey could only dump about 32 gigs into the P2 drive? I just read in this fourum about 64 Gig P2 cards by the end of the year... that would solve my issues if this isn't vapor ware.

[Spartacus]

You could also use a firestore or record to HDD via laptop...

[CacheMoneyVideo]

or wait for the cineporter

[THoff]

I have recorded for three hours non-stop using a fairly low-end (P4M 1.5GHz) Toshiba laptop running DV Rack 2.0 HD, then dropped the video into Edius 4 Broadcast.

I could have edited off the external drive that I recorded onto, but for peace of mind copied it to the RAID 1 array in my editing system.

[ozduc]

IHas ANYONE found a decent way to get 1080i or 720p 60fps (for sports) with an HVX without having an assistant? I read in another post that the P2 Store drive can only hold 8 dumps from the P2 cards. So you MUST get the 8 gig cards so you can fill up your P2Store drive. True/False? If true does that really mean that if someone had P2 4Gig cardsthey could only dump about 32 gigs into the P2 drive? .

That is false! The P2 store can take up to 15 downloads. However at the moment it is only a 60 gig drive so if you were using 4gb cards you could offload 15 times but if you were using 8gb cards you could only do 7 full downloads.

[David Saraceno]

FS-100 from Focus can record 100 GBs or about 4 hours of 720/24pNative equivalent footage straight to disc.

[shadows]

I have recorded for three hours non-stop using a fairly low-end (P4M 1.5GHz) Toshiba laptop running DV Rack 2.0 HD, then dropped the video into Edius 4 Broadcast.

I could have edited off the external drive that I recorded onto, but for peace of mind copied it to the RAID 1 array in my editing system.
Thoff, would you say that DVrackHD is a absoutely secure tool for recording ? I'm a little bit stressed in capturing important things with it...

I need to record 2H in a theater, then playback few minutes on big TV in another room, and finally return to the theater to record another 1H.

Will DVrackHD make this possible (quickly plugg, unplugg, plugg camera without reboot the laptop or soft, playback full screen...) ?

Thanks Thoff

[ullanta]

I've had no problems doing similar things (operas, mainly) using a laptop with Final Cut Pro....

[THoff]

There are two problems I've had with DV Rack 2.0 HD, but both are unrelated to capturing and monitoring -- for that, the program has been 100% bullet-proof.

The first problem was the need to re-activate the program following the installation of a patch (DV Rack HD is actually at V2.1 now). That a) should not have happened in the first place, and b) didn't work because of a screwup by Softwrap, the company that is providing the copy-protection code for DV Rack 2.0. That took six days to resolve, and in the meantime I used the software as a fully functional trial.

The second problem is that the conversion of MXF files to AVI files using the included Batch Converter has audio handling issues. DV Rack doesn't record MXF files (it records to AVI or QuickTime containers), but if you offload P2 cards and try to convert the MXF files to AVI or QT containers using the Batch Converter, this is a problem.

I personally primarily use Edius 4 Broadcast and therefore am not dependent on the Batch Converter or DVCProHD Decoder, but SM/Adobe's total lack of responsiveness to this problem (it has been known for over four months) is very irritating. A fix for the problem actually cleared QA in December, but Adobe hasn't bothered to make it available.

The bottom line is that if you wish to record and monitor using DV Rack 2.0 HD, I think you will be very happy with the capabilities and dependability of the program. The monitoring and quality control features are unmatched by any other software on any platform, and the recording has been bullet-proof -- I trust this program 100%.

[shadows]

Thanks a lot THoff

Yes, the activate/reactivate problem makes me scared, because if it's happen to me, it will be difficult to solve it (i'm far away from US and can't really speak english on phone...:crybaby: )

Something i don't understand, DVrack don't record MXF ??
So it isn't ready-to-edit clips as it is said ??
I'm on Avid XPpro...

I'm glad to hear that you trust in it. This is the soft I need!

And do you think it would be safer to record multiple clips instead of one single 2h clip (corruption) ?

Thanks again.

[THoff]

No, DV Rack does not create MXF files. It creates AVI or QuickTime files containing DVCProHD video.

If your editor supports DVCProHD, you can drop the AVI or QuickTime files directly into the timeline -- Edius can do this, for instance, and I believe Avid can as well.

If your editor does not provide a DVCProHD codec, you can install the DVCProHD Decoder that is included with DV Rack 2.0 HD, and that should allow you to open the files.

The Batch Converter is for those who don't have an editor that supports MXF containers, and who want to take the contents of P2 cards and edit them on a PC. The Batch Converter can take the MXF files on the P2 card and rewrap them in AVI or QuickTime containers. This doesn't involve any re-encoding of the video and there is no loss of quality.

Please be aware that the DVCProHD Decoder can only decode, but not encode. You therefore cannot create new files containing DVCProHD video.

[Disco Robo]

You can buy roughly 2 Canon A1's for the cost of a single HVX & long record solution. I think for indies nothing beats the HVX but for sports the A1 will record an hour of HD on a 3 dollar tape and has a 20x zoom. It's important to use the right tool for the job. Good Luck.

[ullanta]

Shadows - just a note...

Though THoff has said (and I'm not arguing!) that DVRack is solid, you need to be sure that your computer as a whole (and computer/drive combination) is solid. This means you should either start with a fresh computer or think about wiping it and reinstalling only what's necessary for field production; test it thoroughly and address any issues; then resist any temptation to upgrade or install anything new unless absolutely necessary. If at all possible, keep it off the internet. A solid application is only have the issue; a solid OS and good practices also contribute greatly to system stability.

[ullanta]

You can buy roughly 2 Canon A1's for the cost of a single HVX & long record solution. I think for indies nothing beats the HVX but for sports the A1 will record an hour of HD on a 3 dollar tape and has a 20x zoom. It's important to use the right tool for the job. Good Luck.

Right! The issue is whether HDV provides the right tool for the job of capturing fast-moving sports events.

[shadows]

It's important to use the right tool for the job. Good Luck.

I agree with you, the question is: can the hvx become that tool ? And if the answer wouldn't be satisfying, i'll go for renting (certainly xdcam as the footage will be SD).

I agree with you too ullanta, this is an important point...

THoff, i think Avid can do it.

thank you very much :)