capturing / playback problems

PaPa

PaPa

Major Contributor
Last night i took a little trip to best buy in montreal and saw a liquidation HV20 for 699$. It was the model on display so i got a 4 year warranty for free ( 170 dollar value ) Tax in i paid 740 for a brand new HV20. SWEET! Got really excited and decided to buy it, figured it would be great for a travel cam and a deck for my xh a1.

Shot a couple of tests today and had issues during capturing.

1) Is the HDV 24 mode not the same as the xh a1? I capture and open a 24F file and i get really ugly problems with the pulldown ( 4th and 5th frame goes crazy )

I tried opening it up in several other projects but again, crazy looking 4th and 5th frames. This is getting very frustrating as i really don't know what is going on and what is causing this problem?

2) i read Barry's controlling the exposure, and im sad to say that because there is soo much talk, i got very confused and lost information as i went on. Would someone care to explain in shorter terms, how i can shoot without gain, 1/48th shutter, and the cine look? I don't have a mini SD card but he explained a way to do it iwthout ( that went in one eye and out the other... ) Sorry for being stupid but i would love a simplified step by step of what i must do, and not in story format lol :P ( sorry Barry, i know you mean well! )

This is a great little cam but i can't get it to work the way i would like.

Thanks guys!
 
1) You need to remove the pulldown manually. When you capture and import it to a 24p time line it can't be removed automatically since it is missing pulldown flags. So the video you capture will be 60i even if you shoot in 24p mode unlike A1.

2) The easiest way to understand if you are adding gain is to check the settings by pressing the photo button half way. After locking the exposure and checking the settings, adjust the exposure settings accordingly. Then recheck the values. If you see a change in the shutter speed or the f number then you are not adding any gain. But when the numbers stays the same even if you change the exposure it means you are adding gain this time. I hope this is not too much confusing.
 
no i get that very well, i just wonder how to set the camera so that it doesnt add gain on it's own. Or if you must go through this every time

Do you know how to remove the pulldown manually in CS3? When i right click and interpret footage, the pulldown option is greyed out.
 
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So it appears as though PP2 does not support the HV20 24 fps mode.

Does premier pro CS3 support it? and What preset must one use?
 
So Canon basically released a 24 p mode that is uneditable ? That is very bizarre
 
so far i see that cineform does a good job? But man it's pricey, not gunna spend almost the price of the camera to be able to capture it's own product. Gunna have to find a torrent somewhere.

So there is cineform, and then the long task which includes multiple programs.. heh.

on the plus side, it iwll be a great deck of my xh a1!
 
PaPa said:
no i get that very well, i just wonder how to set the camera so that it doesnt add gain on it's own. Or if you must go through this every time
Click to expand...

As long as you don't lock the exposure there is always the chance of gain in low light. That's why in a low light environment using the cellphone trick you can trick the camcorder and turn off the gain. Then when you lock the exposure it won't add any gain. Unfortunately you have to repeat this every time.
 
PaPa said:
so far i see that cineform does a good job? But man it's pricey, not gunna spend almost the price of the camera to be able to capture it's own product. Gunna have to find a torrent somewhere.
Click to expand...

Check out TMPGenc 4 Xpress. That's what I am using. It can remove the pulldown without any problems and has a reasonable price.
 
found a cineform, works fantastic. only strange thing is that the first few frames it captures always are interlaced and strange, but this goes away after 2 seconds. I guess ill always have ot keep that in mind~!

Now the next step is to pick up a little miniSD card and figure out a way to keep the camera on 1/48th shutter, PF24, 0db gain.
 
That Lytecap (talked about in the link I posted earlier in the thread) sounds like a great way to easily lock down the exposure without gain. I've been meaning to get one (only 20 bucks).
 
20 bucks? nice. i just didn't see a place to order on the page. i will look again.

It is, however, VERY easy to set it with the SD card. Now i understand what it is for. IT doesn't save a preset, it just allows you to see the fstop and shutter speed when you press gently. So in cinema mode, i know its not adding gain when i press gently, it says 1/48th, and F 2.0 ( means its slightly more closed from 1.8 . i.e. no gain being added? Correct?
 
also, rob, do you know if the lytecap is set so that when on cinema mode, it is sufficiently bright to keep your shutter at 1/48th? Or does it simply eliminate gain?
 
"Sufficiently bright" will depend on how much light is available. Obviously, in a closet (with the door closed and no closet light, or camera light, or flashlight, etc.), available light will not be sufficient to capture an image. Outdoors, at the beach, on a cloudless day at noon, you'll get a blown out image.
 
lol i wasn't clear. I mean if you know if the lytecap projects enough light as to switch the camera, in cine mode into 1/48th shutter F 2.0 instead of 1/24th, or 1/12th, or gain, or etc... I.e. is it calibrated?
 
I believe it is designed to set the aperture to 2.8 (no gain) at 1/48 shutter. I don't have one yet. You could email the guy that makes those to ask him more about it.
 
After a few minute or practice, it gets quite easy to just find a light source and keep pushing the photo button half way until you get 1/48th and F 2.0 or higher. Takes seconds! :) wee, getting the hang of this bad boy!
 
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