DVX100B question...

[MinionZombie]

Well, two really...

First - when using 25p/Cine modes, what should I do to minimise/avoid the "juddery" look you get. I read that changing to 1/50 is best, but I was trying it last night and 1/25 looked like it improved things better. Anything else to help the mode? I'm just thinking of what if doing hand-held camerawork, which has lots of camera movement, in 25p/cine modes...how would I avoid the juddery feel?

Second - importing analog material. I was trying to import footage from a VHS tape into the camera for make a digital back up (and also tried with going from the TV to the camera). However, the signal comes through in black & white. I'm using an S-Video cable with a scart lead connector at the other end to import (the only cable combination I found to work). But of course - still in black & white.

I'd read that this problem can occur when importing footage to a PAL camera from a VCR which plays both PAL and NTSC, why it makes it B&W I don't know. But the fact that also importing footage from my TV set (which was also B&W) makes me think I'm missing something. Any suggestions?

[LD-50]

[QUOTE=MinionZombie;39188]Well, two really...

First - when using 25p/Cine modes, what should I do to minimise/avoid the "juddery" look you get. I read that changing to 1/50 is best, but I was trying it last night and 1/25 looked like it improved things better. Anything else to help the mode? I'm just thinking of what if doing hand-held camerawork, which has lots of camera movement, in 25p/cine modes...how would I avoid the juddery feel?

Second - importing analog material. I was trying to import footage from a VHS tape into the camera for make a digital back up (and also tried with going from the TV to the camera). However, the signal comes through in black & white. I'm using an S-Video cable with a scart lead connector at the other end to import (the only cable combination I found to work). But of course - still in black & white.

As far as judder, that is an inherent problem of proggresive capture, whether dv or film. to minimize it, shoot as wide as possible, and move the camera as slowly and staedily as possible. It is very difficult to do this slowly and smoothly enough, and that is why proffessional motion pictures use expensive, precision equipment like geared heads, pro dollies and the steadicam. If you follow an element that is moving through the frame, there will still be judder, but it wont be noticed by the viewer, the background will judder, and the subject will appear to move smoothly. Of course, there is a learning curve associated with this, you can't lead the subject too much, etc. As with most things, obssessive practice makes perfect. Get the most expensive head you can afford, and practice until you can pan smoothly for 45 degrees. And take about 40 seconds to do it. There are charts that list the time you need to take for a pan based on framerate and focal length that you can find on the internet, I may post one later. As far as the black and white issues, my first guess is a bad cable or connector, second guess is a bad input on the camera. It isn't too unusual for that to happen even in a brand new camera Make sure that the vcr and television is set to output s-video to the scart if it is switchable, as I understand they sometimes are. Scart is something I rarely see in the United States so my knowledge of it is limited. But the most likely thing would seem to be a bad pin somewhere.

[MinionZombie]

Thanks for the info...

As for the B&W thing, it's not the camera I'm pretty sure as it was the same case with another camera a while ago. Hadn't thought about the cable ... but I'll maybe look into the NTSC conflit problem as I'm sure I read that somewhere...

I was trying out 25p with 1/25 shutter speed and did a lot of fast movements with it (tripod and handheld), then captured it and rendered to DVD quality (as well as WMV and MPEG) and came through quite nicely and I noticed no judder - it appeared that the judder was on the flip out LCD screen, but as soon as it was inputted into my NLE there was no judder. I'll continue trying it out and try that 'moving object against background in a pan' thing you mentioned to test it out further.

"Cine" mode didn't work quite as well, but 25p looked better anyway from my tests this afternoon...

Thanks again for the info, you're certainly a fountain of knowledge. :thumbsup:

Check out the Deadlands forum, I posted my review of the film.

[LD-50]

If possible, post some examples of the video, so I can see exactly what the efffect is that you are describing. we may have a confusion of terms. At 25p with a 1/25 second shutter, you should be more likely to notice smear, sort of the opposite of judder. The black and white, just so I'm clear, you are going from pal to pal, but the vcr is capable of being switched to ntsc ?

[MinionZombie]

Aye, I'm playing a PAL VHS tape and sending the signal out to my PAL DVX, but the VCR is capable of playing both PAL and NTSC. When I first encountered the problem I think I read somewhere that it's because of the NTSC capability that causes the trouble.

I then exported VHS footage to miniDV using one of our really old VCRs (this was a good while ago, the VCR in question has since packed up) and it came through in colour ... so it's most likely the NTSC capability giving me grief, how it's solved though ... I don't know. :D

What might this "smearing" you say look like? Is it fairly obvious or pretty subtle? I certainly didn't notice anything like that as the picture looked rather good to me, especially when I rendered to full DVD quality. I'll see about whipping out a video sample to upload...