Was this a regular monitor I saw?

W

WonJohnSoup

Active member
Hi, I was on a shoot once in which I'm pretty sure they were using a DVX100x. Anyways, it was music video shoot and the director was always holding this monitor that looked like a portable flipout DVD player. The thing that really stood out was that he was able to review a sequence just shot without having to use the camera itself to rewind and throw off the timecode and wearing out the heads. Does anyone know what kind of monitor this was?

I'm going to be shooting a martial arts film with elaborate choreography in which I'll be also on screen, so I'll have to be able to see the footage in order to figure out how to correct my movements for the camera. Thanx for any help!
 
sounds like maybe one of the small sony vaio laptops. some look like portable dvd players. but I have no idea about hard drive capabilities, or capture software that they are capable of running.
 
One of these perhaps?

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Sony GV-D1000 "MiniDV walkman" .. the older model is the GV-900


- Mikko
 
Yeah... I'm thinking it had to be a laptop, and he was recording directly to the hard drive. That's the only way [I can think of] to review without the tape near him.
 
I've seen a lot of music videos with directors carrying around their Sonys - called "Clamshells". They can be easily outfitted with a wireless receiver, and as they record onto either MiniDV or Digital8 (an older model), they can be used very easily for recording a rough version of the footage, and playing it back to check the shot - especially useful on film, where there is no rewind, play, and recue.
 
So witht he video walkmans, it's possible to both record to the DVX's miniDV tape AND to the Sony's miniDV/Digital8 cassette?

Is there any other option than the Sony video walkmans? They seem kind of expensive. I'll settle for ANYTHING that just plays video and can replay it quickly, as I don't want to mess with the regular camera's timecode and wear out the heads.

And how would it be done with a laptop exactly? Thanx for all the help, guys!
 
With a laptop you will need to connect to the camera with Firewire - and have some DV reocrding/captur software running.

Any external VCR can be used to record the analog outptus from the camera - those DV-walkmans are sure handy, but not the only option - any DV camera with a big enoguh LCD monitor and an analog input will work for this.

Or you could look into something like an Archos that would record to it's hard drive from the analog signal and then playback on its screen.

- Mikko
 
If I were to go the laptop route, is there any software that would capture quickly at low aulity and let me replay quickly? Premiere seems like not only would it bog the computer down by the program itself, but capturing and then importing intoa timeline just to play something wouldn't seem likea good way to go about it.

I was also considering just plugging in another cheap minidv recorder. Would this mean it would be possible to have the DVX record to both it's own minidv tape AND the tape on the second compact camcorder plugged into it?
 
WonJohnSoup said:
I was also considering just plugging in another cheap minidv recorder. Would this mean it would be possible to have the DVX record to both it's own minidv tape AND the tape on the second compact camcorder plugged into it?
Click to expand...

Yes.

And if you connect using firewire, the tapes will be of identical quality.

- Mikko
 
a few months ago i was an extra in the upcoming Leatherheads. after a quick crowd shot that ended directly on my friend and i, one of the PAs around the cameraman pulled one of these things out and showed it us. i still don't get it, they were definitely shooting 35mm. how did they do this?
 
... to clarify: "video assist" is basically a small video camera mounted to the viewfinder system in a film camera. (Known as a "video tap") It allows you to get a video output from a film camera for monitoring purposes. The quality is generally iffy, you have all the frame-lines added, etc, but it allows you to see what you are shooting.

Originally video assist was simply a small video camera mounted directly to the viewfinder of the film camera, however now most film cameras incorporate optical splitters that allow the use of both the video assist and the regular viewfinder at the same time.

In addition to providing the ability for video recording & instant playback of shots (on these little clamshell decks for example), video assist it also crucial for shots where the operator can't look directly into the viewfinder; Steadicam, crane/jib shots, motion control, remote cameras, etc...

As a side from these "needs" it has become common practice on set to have this video image displayed on monitors for personal to see at all times on set in a area called "video village" - this is where you'll normally find the Director and other key personnel during takes.
It is *also* common practice to transmit this signal wirelessly on set, as a "miniature TV station" allowing other crew to see the image using small handheld TVs & monitors. - For example the sound recordist might have one so they can see the information from the slate through the camera.


Normally this video image isn't used for quality monitoring, but rather to simply see "what's happening" in the content of the image. Though with HD and digital cinema production, the possibility of high quality monitoring is allowing more and more quality critical monitoring to take place on the set. (You can, for example, see from a monitor on a HD shoot if the shot is in focus, whereas a video-tap would never provide a sharp enough picture for that.)

- Mikko
 
The archos recorders are really amazing, considering. I have used the 404 and 504 on set. Not that you can use them as a "real" monitor, but you can pass one off to the director and keep him out of your hair, plus he can record and review ad nauseam, keeping one more person out of your hair as the DP. I found I got 4 hours of playtime out of the 404 and about 3 from the 504. Fitting them for wireless isn't too tough, either, if you don't like being tethered.
 
The archos look interesting. Does the 404 require the DVR dock into order to plug it in the DVX and use it as a neat and dirty monitor/review source?
 
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