DV Rack 2.0HD pricing

4mat said:
Yes barry your right but you're talking about intensly over priced kit in the first place, why continue the trend ?
The pricing is well off, if say they put it out at £200-£300 I and many more people would buy it, I belive they would shift more units and make more profit.

Let me start by saying that while I work for Serious Magic, I'm writing as just another guy on DVXUser, not as a representive of the company. I have no intention of debating what the "right" price is for DV Rack, at least in part because I don't claim to know--I work on the R&D side, with little or no insight into sales & marketing. But that leads directly into the point I want to make: nobody else outside of our sales marketing operation is really in a position to declare that DV Rack HD 2.0 is an "intensly [sic] over-priced kit."

Now if you were to say, "I wouldn't pay more than £300," who could object. That's a much different statement than asserting that the price is patently too high. To translate into a sphere that should resonate in these circles, which of the following comments would you respond better to coming from someone who just finished watching your latest film: "That movie sucked!" or "It wasn't to my tastes."

You might say that my argument is largely semantic. My response would be that when it comes to communication, semantics are a big deal. The world would be a better place if more people framed their opinions as such rather than declaring them as statements. errr, correction, I should say, "I believe the world would be a better place if more people framed their opinions as such rather than declaring them as statements."

To close on a more concrete level, consider that starting with a price that's too high is better business that starting too low. Why? Discounting = Good, Boosting the price without any improvement in the product = Bad.
 
I agree with Mark Mapes and want to expand the concept:

In a business world (the proffesional world) where tools like DVRack, Aspect HD, Editing suites, FX, etc. are used in order to make your work shine and compete with other people's work, and by this way, get better payment among other benefits; the relationship between cost and benefit must be an issue.

So my consideration is: use (and pay for it) the best tool you can get, if the tool gives you what you need to make profit your work.

So your business grow as well as developer's business.

PS: To me, profit is the base of every business, satisfaction too.
 
Shake is only $499.00 !
FCS is $1,299.00
I'd put DV Rack HD 2.0 at $450
anybody else have an opinion about this ?
 
Personally, I have no objection to the price of DV Rack (I have been a user since this program was first offered for sale) and I will certainly purchase the upgrade to DV Rack HD 2.0.

The product is easily worth the asking price, just ask anyone who has used it.
 
According to this page it says it is a $99 upgrade, although I specifically bought it with the HDV pack for the free upgrade to HD that they previously advertised...so which is it?
 
Serious Magic did announce in an e-mail that for a limited period of time (July to August 15th,) if you purchased the HDV PowerPak, we would give you the DVCProHD PowerPak for free.

At the time we sent out notice of the free HD upgrade, we believed that version 2.0 was still in the distant future. When we began finalizing the release date of the DVCProHD PowerPak, we found out our lead developer had been secretly adding in a TON of new features. In fact, he had basically implemented everything we had on the schedule for 2.0.

That put us in a bit of a bind: we had already declared the free HD upgrade, but we felt like we'd be giving away too much if everyone with the HDV PowerPak got HD support AND the 2.0 upgrade at no charge. So, in short, we decided to charge. I am sorry for the change in plans, but the way things turned out, it couldn't be helped.

We are doing three things that weren't planned before to help "make things right," and honor the spirit of the original special:

1. The price of the 2.0 HD upgrade is regularly $295, but we've lowered it to $99 for HDV PowerPak owners only. This makes it the same price as the 2.0 SD upgrade. So, in effect, all we are asking you to buy are the 2.0 features. To see the new 2.0 features, please check here: http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/dvrack/newIn2_dtd.cfm

2. The DVCProHD Decoder, which was going to be an additional $195 purchase, is now included with DV Rack HD at no additional charge.

3. We are offering these specials to anyone who purchases or has purchased the HDV PowerPak, even if it was outside the 30-day window we originally planned. So, if you didn't take advantage of the original promotion, you can still benefit today.

So, in short, for your $99, you are paying for all the 2.0 features, AND you'll get the DVCProHD Decoder for free. We feel that this is an even better deal than the original offer of the free PowerPak. If you feel that 2.0 and the PowerPak are not worth the $99, we'd be happy to talk with you and see what it will take to make it right. Contact Customer Service at 916-985-8050, extension 3, or e-mail at customerservice@seriousmagic.com.
 
FatBird19 said:
other questions
-is there the option to have the video files split up after they reach a certain size?
-is an external hard drive fast enough to dump the data onto?

-Mhh. Not automatically, I think. But since it has different recording codecs available like Avi type 1( which is limited to 2Gb), and Avi T2( which is limited to 4gb), it seems logical that the files will be chunked into or 4gb chuncks. During capture however, if you press the record button again, it automatically starts a new clip, without dropping frames.

-It records DVCproHD fine to a standard 3.5" drive over USB2.0( tested on Lacie 'lego bricks')
 
The Type 1 / Type 2 response is a little tricky. You said:

Avi type 1( which is limited to 2Gb), and Avi T2( which is limited to 4gb)

This doesn't apply to DV Rack. DV Rack always uses Type 2 AVI (Open DML) which was a change to the AVI structure implemented back in 1999, if memory serves. All modern editors read this AVI structure.

The settings in DV Rack refer to DV Type 1 or DV Type 2. There are 2 methods of storing DV audio data in an AVI file, and DV Rack can do it either way. DV type 1 keeps the audio and video in one stream, while DV Type 2 splits the audio and video into two separate streams within the file.

Some editors can't edit DV Type 1 format, or must build an audio proxy file, so the user can slip the audio independent from the video.

Recording long (greater than 30 minutes) clips in DV Type 2 format can theoretically cause the audio and video to get out of sync. This isn't a DV Rack issue, but rather how certain NLE's handle the separate streams in the file.

None of this applies to DVCProHD, BTW. DVCProHD always uses the DV Type 2 method of storing the audio in the file. That's what the DVCProHD Decoder uses in Premiere and Vegas, and that's what the codec in Canopus Edius uses.
 
There is also no 4GB size limit -- you can record hours of DV footage in a single AVI file, provided you use NTFS.
 
As for working as a field monitor, I'd like to kmnow if there are there any issues with VFR over/undercranking using DVC rack recording.
 
DV Rack records at the specified frame rate, dropping all unflagged frames. At this point, playback is only in realtime, so if recorded at 12fps, you can't play it at, say, 24fps.
 
Questions...

Questions...

Sorry about posting this here, but I couldn't get the beta to work last night (issues with .NET).

A) Will DV Rack will recieve stop/start signals over firewire? I.E. plug it in, walk away, and it'll do its magic (mostly) unattended?
B) What's the longest cable runs you've tested?

:dankk2:
-b
 
Yes, DV Rack can be slaved to the Record button on the camera, or it can be set to ignore that and use manual start/stop recording in the monitor. I must admit that with the beta, I did have occasional problems with it not stopping to record -- it never failed to start, but on several occasions wouldn't stop. I just downloaded the ESD release version, hopefully that has been sorted out.

The longest cable I have personally used and would consider using is 14 feet. The official maximum cable length for twisted pair Firewire 400/800 is 4.5 meters -- you can go longer distances using fiber optics or repeaters, and some people use considerably longer cables (75 feet), but only at 25Mbps (DV25) speeds. You won't have any success with those cables when using DVCPro50/DVCProHD.
 
Jim Arthurs said:
DVCPRO 100 1080i, 45' using three of these chained together. No issues. Might get a forth and try for 60'.

http://sewelldirect.com/FirewireExt...earch=search&gclid=CPGv1bDN4IYCFUA3IgodXD_hAg


Jim Arthurs

This need a 6 pin Firewire port as it takes voltage from this.

Very few laptop (PC) have 6 pin (active) ports

I have succesfully used a 6 mtrs firewire (Laird Telemedia) 4 pin cable and have no problems at 1080i 24p DVCPro HD.
I had to made that cable for myself because I did not find it in my country so I did shorten a longer cable to my needs, here for your use, the diagram for cabling the connections:

1154055290.jpg


Be aware the cross connection between TPA and TPB
 
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