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shooting computer screens


Yugandhar

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Hello

 

Sorry for my simple question here.

One of my director friend wants to shoot a computer screen without getting the scan lines... what is the prodedure to do so? He's gonna shoot on 35mm Cinemascope.

 

Is there any difference technique to shoot TV screens and Computer screens(CRT/LCD)?

 

Please enlighten me.

 

Thanks in advance

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Plug an LCD screen into the computer and save your self a huge head ache. Or use a lap top.

 

An LCD will not give you scan lines and you can just shoot it, "normal."

 

Shooting a CRT will require additional expensive gear, the LCD makes life easy.

 

R,

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Shooting a CRT will require additional expensive gear, the LCD makes life easy.

 

If the screens are all running the same speed/frequency, a camera speed control will be less expensive than buying a large bunch of flat-screen LCD monitors.

 

Unfortunately, each computer is probably running at a different scan frequency depending on the whim of the video card designer. Any TV screens however should all be scanning at 29.970 FPS (NTSC) or 25 FPS (PAL.)

 

Scan converter boxes can be bought that will convert the computer output into a normal video signal to feed into a TV monitor. I don't know how accurate these are. TV screens are poor quality compared to a computer monitor but this may not be noticeable if they are small in the film frame. Anyone have experience trying this?

 

You ought at least to be aware of the existence of precision speed control devices such as the TMC Tobin Milliframe Controller. We are not selling as many of them as we used to though. http://www.tobincinemasystems.com/page11.html

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Plug an LCD screen into the computer and save your self a huge head ache.  Or use a lap top.

 

An LCD will not give you scan lines and you can just shoot it, "normal."

 

Shooting a CRT will require additional expensive gear, the LCD makes life easy.

 

R,

 

Thanks !!

I would tell him to shoot with LCD :)

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Richard,

 

You're talkin' about the man I love! Them's fightin' words. Clive's stuff turned my sloppy old Arri into a precisely timed instrument.

 

I'm gonna' have his baby. Keep it up, Clive! :lol:

 

Oh I'm just giving Clive a hard time, relax.

 

I have spoken with Clive on the phone many times, I have his speed checker here which works great.

 

First week of September I will most likely buy a battery belt from him that I need. Unless I can find one cheaper in Toronto, but I haven't looked yet.

 

Yes Clive is great, all hail Clive. :D

 

R,

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Guest Charlie Seper

Do you intend to shoot the area around the monitor itself, such as the monitor housing? If all you want to do is shoot what's on the screen then screen capture software is the way to go. I'm not talking about capturing a still frame here and there, but capturing as an avi movie at whatever frame per second rate you want. If you wanted to shoot the area around the monitor also then you could try to nest the avi screen capture over top of the other footage of the monitor. You could also just try to match the monitor refresh rate to the camcorder's shutter speed (60-60 would be a safe bet). They may still be off a tad though, in which case you'll have one slow moving flicker to deal with.

 

But if you just want to do an avi screen capture of someone typing a letter or whatever, then I'd definately download some capture software. I've been using CamStudio to do this for several years. They charge for current versions of it but you can still find the older free version here: camstudio.org

 

Also, this software alows you to record audio at the same time but I've had lousy luck with that being all jittery. Best to leave it off. Also, recording a Microsoft Video 1 file looks and plays back the best in my opinion. You can always convert it later.

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