Suggestions on workflow

[Douglas Palme]

We have been providing the video for some equine events for a while now and although the system works, we are looking to improve it and are open to any suggestions.

 

To give a quick overview, we video the horses for each run in the ring for each class. We do this using a sony HDV1000U camcorder with an RCA feed to a dvd recorder. We stop the recording after each competitor so it shows up as a separate recording when the disk is finalized. At the end of each class, my wife hands me the disk and I finalize it using another dvd recorder of the same make and model, I then run the finalized disk through an aleratec duplicator to make a copy for the judge ( they are required to have a copy of each run/class per day for the entire show and we have to provide these before they leave). The problem is the disks do not have names of the riders or horses and trying to match them up in case of a protest is difficult for the main office.

 

We can provide individual copies at the show of a single run, but don't because there is just not enough time to rip their run from the disk and make another copy and still handle the rest of what we are doing. So, when a competitor orders their run, we have to rip that particular run from the class disk using mpeg streamclip and then we burn it with dvd studio pro.

 

One thing we would like to do is have the ability to show the competitors their run at the end of the class, for a small fee of course, but pulling the disk, queueing it up is a pain in the ass.....

 

That's the quick explanation....

 

Now, I'd like to feed that video back to the office at the end of the arena wireless if possible so we can burn them quickly and easily and also provide the competitors the ability to view their runs if they want, I am not sure though where to even start and if its going to require a ton of equipment.....so all suggestions are welcome....

 

Thanks in advance for any and all,

 

Douglas

[Phil Rhodes]

I'm basing my thoughts on the idea that you have someone camera operating and someone running recordings, and that each competitor comes up and you're just expected to be ready. Find a hard disk recorder where you can name takes, I guess, or you could sit and do this on a laptop and name all the takes, but then you also want to have a DVD. If you want to be able to name takes and have file based access to each one, but also come up with a DVD in realtime, then that's actually quite hard, at least without custom software - you might end up running two machines side by side to achieve it.

 

 

P

[Douglas Palme]

We have been experimenting with the log and capture utility in Final Cut Pro. I have used it to grab digital copies via the ilink firewire jack on the Sony hdvr1000u camera and a macbook pro laptop. It seems to be working ok, although I still have some work to do in bumping up the quality of the individual runs.

 

tonight I was dumping some clips we shot at a ranch a few weeks ago, from a minidv tape and the quality was far better than we are getting on a rca cable dump from the camera to a dv recorder; I am assuming that part of this is due to the fact that the miniDV is recording in hd correct?

[John Sprung]

the quality was far better than we are getting on a rca cable dump from the camera to a dv recorder; I am assuming that part of this is due to the fact that the miniDV is recording in hd correct?

 

Yes. DVD is SD only, it's at the end of its useful life. You may want to consider going to a file based HD system.

 

 

 

-- J.S.