A few years ago I was at a videography seminar where the presenter demonstrated how to create a title where it appeared that the letters were being written on to the screen. The animation was done in After Effects and it was pretty complicated! Many of the attendees were very impressed and it looked pretty cool when it was all finished. But I remember that my brain hurt after watching all the steps, and I knew I’d never actually go through all that for an opening title.
Now there is a much easier solution...the Showstoppers FX Animation Construction Kit Series. While I personally steer away from effects such as this, I know there are many other videographers who will find this tool fabulous. I received the NTSC HD and SD kit which sells for $399.95 on the Showstoppers FX website. It is compatible with Final Cut Pro, Premiere 6.5, Premiere Pro, Premiere Elements, Liquid 6&7, Edius 4.5, and Vegas 6,7 and 8. I reviewed the SD title animations using Premiere Pro CS2 and the HD animations using Premiere Pro CS3. Both worked flawlessly.
In a nutshell, Showstoppers FX is a series of short animations of individual letters of the alphabet being written along with stills of each letter. There are supporting animations with a gold pen and wand that can be used if you want the effect to include such an instrument and ‘fairy sparkles’ or bubbles if you really want to make your title look like something from a Disney movie.
Basically you match up an animation of the letter you want and end it with a still (to keep the letter on screen). Each letter has an alpha channel layer, so you layer the letters and move them as needed to create your word. The instructions are very easy to follow and I actually was able to create a title in HD in about 10 minutes.
I tested this product using Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 on a dual core 2.41Ghz system with 3GB RAM and a Matrox RTx2.
The title I created (Chris & Laura) took 11 layers and about 2 minutes to render. If you want to add in the pen or the Disney Princess Fairy Dust (Sparkles), all you have to do is add more layers and copy and paste your motion attributes. On my system with the Matrox RTx2, adding the sparkles and magic wand expanded the timeline to 33 layers and took about 10 minutes to render.
Also included in the kit are some “Bonus Words” that may be commonly used in wedding and even videos such as “Our”, “Wedding”, “Bat Mitzvah”, and “Preparations”. Each bonus word includes the pen, wand, sparkles and bubble animations too. You can also change the color easily by using your NLE’s color correction tool. I’ve included a still frame using the Bonus Word “Wedding” with the sparkles, bubbles and wand all added and made it sort of pink. It was very simple to do.
So while this is a product that I would never use, I do have to give it a good grade because it was easy to use, worked well, and is high quality.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
VAAST Track Pak Review
As we all know there is a wide variety of royalty-free music available. Unfortunately a lot of it either sounds like ‘canned music’ or is very expensive to license or requires special software plugins that can be somewhat cumbersome or complicated to use.
I happen to be currently working on a short promotional video for a repeat corporate client. They didn’t want the expensive licensed music that we sometimes use and I felt like I was running out of options with what was in my royalty-free library for this particular piece. Along came Track Packs by VASST/Sundance Media Group for me to review and it proved to be a very timely review!
Each Track Pak CD has at least 7 full arrangements along with segments of those songs, such as intros, endings and all the stuff that goes in between. Each song is similar enough that they can be pieced together seamlessly and can loop for as long as you need it to. This makes it easy to customize your track to fit your video.
To use the Track Pak, you literally copy each piece from the CD onto your computer then import what you want into your NLE. No plug in required. I currently use Premiere Pro CS3 and each piece of music came into the project just fine and didn’t need any sort of rendering. If you need to customize your piece, you just drop the segments onto the timeline and butt them up against each other. If you have Adobe Audition, there are markers every 2 seconds where you can and cut or copy chunks of music for a REALLY customized piece of music!
There are currently 4 different volumes of Track Paks. Volume One is “Piano & Pads” and Volume Two is Guitar & Pads. These two volumes are full of what I would call heartwarming and sweet music tracks that are good for emotional videos and weddings. All the arrangements are available with either just the one instrument alone or with a string or synth pad.
Volumes 3 is called Static Impulse which is electronic/techno with strong beats and effects. This music is well-suited for high energy videos such as sports and fast-paced promo pieces. Each piece has a slightly different beat so there are tons of options for customizing these pieces. Volume 4, Hall of Shadows is dramatic and mysterious. These tracks are available either with or without a backbeat. This music is suspenseful and a bit on the eerie side.
I’m not a musician by any stretch of the imagination; although I did play the clarinet in 7th grade (I was pretty bad too). But being a videographer means I obviously have to listen to and use a wide variety of music. To me, the quality of Track Paks seems top notch although there is still a very slight ‘canned’ feel to a few of the pieces. At $89 per CD, or $200 for all four volumes on www.vasst.com, the cost seems very fair for good quality music that is easy to customize and loop.
I happen to be currently working on a short promotional video for a repeat corporate client. They didn’t want the expensive licensed music that we sometimes use and I felt like I was running out of options with what was in my royalty-free library for this particular piece. Along came Track Packs by VASST/Sundance Media Group for me to review and it proved to be a very timely review!
Each Track Pak CD has at least 7 full arrangements along with segments of those songs, such as intros, endings and all the stuff that goes in between. Each song is similar enough that they can be pieced together seamlessly and can loop for as long as you need it to. This makes it easy to customize your track to fit your video.
To use the Track Pak, you literally copy each piece from the CD onto your computer then import what you want into your NLE. No plug in required. I currently use Premiere Pro CS3 and each piece of music came into the project just fine and didn’t need any sort of rendering. If you need to customize your piece, you just drop the segments onto the timeline and butt them up against each other. If you have Adobe Audition, there are markers every 2 seconds where you can and cut or copy chunks of music for a REALLY customized piece of music!
There are currently 4 different volumes of Track Paks. Volume One is “Piano & Pads” and Volume Two is Guitar & Pads. These two volumes are full of what I would call heartwarming and sweet music tracks that are good for emotional videos and weddings. All the arrangements are available with either just the one instrument alone or with a string or synth pad.
Volumes 3 is called Static Impulse which is electronic/techno with strong beats and effects. This music is well-suited for high energy videos such as sports and fast-paced promo pieces. Each piece has a slightly different beat so there are tons of options for customizing these pieces. Volume 4, Hall of Shadows is dramatic and mysterious. These tracks are available either with or without a backbeat. This music is suspenseful and a bit on the eerie side.
I’m not a musician by any stretch of the imagination; although I did play the clarinet in 7th grade (I was pretty bad too). But being a videographer means I obviously have to listen to and use a wide variety of music. To me, the quality of Track Paks seems top notch although there is still a very slight ‘canned’ feel to a few of the pieces. At $89 per CD, or $200 for all four volumes on www.vasst.com, the cost seems very fair for good quality music that is easy to customize and loop.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Matrox RT.X2 Training DVD Review
This article appeared in the June 2007 issue of EventDV Magazine. To view the online article click here.
Continuing Education: Matrox RT.X2 Revealed
By Chris Randall & Laura Randall - Posted Jun 1, 2007
It seems that all nonlinear editing programs come with their own collection of effects to apply to video. One thing that is missing is a good description of how to get the most out of each effect. Most manuals that come with your favorite NLE only offer brief descriptions, and the Help file may not provide any more clues on how to get the most out of the provided effects. To complicate things even further, some third-party companies create their own effects that may differ from the ones that are supplied by the NLE. This is the case with hardware-assisted cards that provide their own real-time filters. You almost need a roadmap to follow how these effects can best be utilized in your day-to-day productions. When Jeff Pulera created the RT.X2 Revealed tutorial DVD ($99 from Safe Harbor Computers), he set out to create just such a roadmap—and quite a bit more.
RT.X2 Revealed is a must-have for anyone who has recently purchased the Matrox RT.X2 card, currently owns one, or is considering purchasing one. The nice thing about choosing a Matrox RT.X2 system, is the ability to edit HDV footage in real-time with various effects applied. Not only does the tutorial DVD go over every single real-time effect that the RT.X2 provides, it also explains how to install the product on your computer. The DVD has clear and concise step-by-step instructions on installing the hardware and software. Included are recommendations on putting together a system yourself. Pulera suggests checking the Matrox website (www.matrox.com/video) to get a list of validated hardware that is compatible for the RT.X2 card. If you are not as adventurous and don’t want to build your own system, Jeff recommends considering purchasing a turnkey system built by Safe Harbor Computers (who produced and distributes this DVD). Safe Harbor has built a solid reputation for creating stable nonlinear workstations with just about every editor in mind.
The DVD is broken down into chapters that allow you to navigate easily from the installation of the RT.X2 card to the final output of your project. Once you have your system up and running, Pulera goes over selecting the proper project settings to enable full use of the RT.X2 card and its effects. This DVD assumes that you are familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, the software that ships with the RT.X2 card. (For basic instruction on using Premiere Pro 2.0, I recommend reviewing the Total Training DVD that came with your copy of the software.)
After showing you how to create a new project with the proper settings, the next chapter on this DVD goes over capturing video using the Breakout box that comes with your RT.X2 card. The breakout box allows you to capture composite, S-Video, component, and DV via the FireWire port. The RT.X2 comes with a nice, long cable, eliminating the need to get behind your computer to make the various connections to your equipment.
The next 26 chapters are dedicated to going over the real-time effects that come with the RT.X2 card. Each effect is clearly explained with a description of what the effect does. From there, Pulera goes over each parameter of the effect, explaining how each tweak affects the final look of the video. Multiple examples are played back to give the viewer an idea of the full range and capability of each effect. Some of the many effects that are covered are Transitions, Color Correction, Old Movie Effect, Move and Scale, Shine Effect, Chroma Key, Lens Flare, and custom masks.
The final chapter covers the use of Matrox Media Export to output your video to various formats. Matrox chose to utilize the same Media Exporter that comes with Premiere Pro, but be sure to select the Matrox Media Encoder, and not the Adobe Media Encoder. The interface is the same, but by choosing to use the Matrox Media Encoder, your encoding times will be greatly reduced because it will use the Matrox RT.X2 to do the encoding. Pulera has a clear understanding of the ins and outs of the Matrox RT.X2 card, and is often referred as the “Matrox Guru,” offering countless hours of support for users on various online forums. This DVD quickly allows viewers to get up to speed so that they, too, can aspire to “Guru” status.
Chris Randall, a 2006 EventDV 25 honoree, is co-owner of Seattle-area studio Edit 1 Media with his wife, Laura.
Continuing Education: Matrox RT.X2 Revealed
By Chris Randall & Laura Randall - Posted Jun 1, 2007
It seems that all nonlinear editing programs come with their own collection of effects to apply to video. One thing that is missing is a good description of how to get the most out of each effect. Most manuals that come with your favorite NLE only offer brief descriptions, and the Help file may not provide any more clues on how to get the most out of the provided effects. To complicate things even further, some third-party companies create their own effects that may differ from the ones that are supplied by the NLE. This is the case with hardware-assisted cards that provide their own real-time filters. You almost need a roadmap to follow how these effects can best be utilized in your day-to-day productions. When Jeff Pulera created the RT.X2 Revealed tutorial DVD ($99 from Safe Harbor Computers), he set out to create just such a roadmap—and quite a bit more.
RT.X2 Revealed is a must-have for anyone who has recently purchased the Matrox RT.X2 card, currently owns one, or is considering purchasing one. The nice thing about choosing a Matrox RT.X2 system, is the ability to edit HDV footage in real-time with various effects applied. Not only does the tutorial DVD go over every single real-time effect that the RT.X2 provides, it also explains how to install the product on your computer. The DVD has clear and concise step-by-step instructions on installing the hardware and software. Included are recommendations on putting together a system yourself. Pulera suggests checking the Matrox website (www.matrox.com/video) to get a list of validated hardware that is compatible for the RT.X2 card. If you are not as adventurous and don’t want to build your own system, Jeff recommends considering purchasing a turnkey system built by Safe Harbor Computers (who produced and distributes this DVD). Safe Harbor has built a solid reputation for creating stable nonlinear workstations with just about every editor in mind.
The DVD is broken down into chapters that allow you to navigate easily from the installation of the RT.X2 card to the final output of your project. Once you have your system up and running, Pulera goes over selecting the proper project settings to enable full use of the RT.X2 card and its effects. This DVD assumes that you are familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, the software that ships with the RT.X2 card. (For basic instruction on using Premiere Pro 2.0, I recommend reviewing the Total Training DVD that came with your copy of the software.)
After showing you how to create a new project with the proper settings, the next chapter on this DVD goes over capturing video using the Breakout box that comes with your RT.X2 card. The breakout box allows you to capture composite, S-Video, component, and DV via the FireWire port. The RT.X2 comes with a nice, long cable, eliminating the need to get behind your computer to make the various connections to your equipment.
The next 26 chapters are dedicated to going over the real-time effects that come with the RT.X2 card. Each effect is clearly explained with a description of what the effect does. From there, Pulera goes over each parameter of the effect, explaining how each tweak affects the final look of the video. Multiple examples are played back to give the viewer an idea of the full range and capability of each effect. Some of the many effects that are covered are Transitions, Color Correction, Old Movie Effect, Move and Scale, Shine Effect, Chroma Key, Lens Flare, and custom masks.
The final chapter covers the use of Matrox Media Export to output your video to various formats. Matrox chose to utilize the same Media Exporter that comes with Premiere Pro, but be sure to select the Matrox Media Encoder, and not the Adobe Media Encoder. The interface is the same, but by choosing to use the Matrox Media Encoder, your encoding times will be greatly reduced because it will use the Matrox RT.X2 to do the encoding. Pulera has a clear understanding of the ins and outs of the Matrox RT.X2 card, and is often referred as the “Matrox Guru,” offering countless hours of support for users on various online forums. This DVD quickly allows viewers to get up to speed so that they, too, can aspire to “Guru” status.
Chris Randall, a 2006 EventDV 25 honoree, is co-owner of Seattle-area studio Edit 1 Media with his wife, Laura.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Blu-Ray Tutorial
How to create a Blu-ray disc with Encore CS3
by Chris Randall – Edit1Media
Adobe brings Blu-ray Authoring to the Masses
With the recent price drop and the flurry of new HDV video cameras on the market now, just about anyone can afford to shoot and edit in High Definition. NLEs are being upgraded to handle HDV editing and just about any new system has the power to do so. Unfortunately due to the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the video production world has been waiting for a solution to deliver HD content to their clients. It appears the wait may be over with software giant Adobe selecting Blu-ray as their format choice for delivery of High Definition video.
CS3
July will bring the release of the much anticipated Adobe CS3 Production Studio. The Adobe team has brought many new features including Blu-ray support to Premiere and Encore and much tighter integration between applications. This only speeds up workflow and allows the user to easily accomplish tasks without having to leave the editing software to do them. In its earlier version, Premiere Pro 2.0 improved on its DVD authoring by adding the ability to import DVD menus from the library or from ones that were created in Photoshop. With Premiere CS3, they decided to remove the DVD authoring tool in favor of creating a link directly to Adobe Encore CS3. This allows the user to export their edited timeline right into Encore. You have the ability to export your HDV timeline in the Blu-ray format as a straight play Blu-ray disc or a fully authored Blu-ray disc with Menus. Even better, once your encoded HD file has been brought into Encore, it can easily be down converted to SD for DVD playback or exported in flash for the web. Not only do you get a streamlined way to author your Blu-ray disc, you also get the robust features that Encore provides.
Adobe Encore CS3 currently supports Blu-ray Burners from Samsung, Pioneer, Sony, and Panasonic. I tested the Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Drive. Street Price - $600 which has worked flawlessly from the start. All of the internal Blu-ray Drives connect to your PC in the same way as your current DVD drive. Installing the drive was a rather straightforward process. Simply disconnect and remove your current DVD drive and install the Blu-ray burner in its place. Since they use the same cables, it is just a matter of re-connecting the appropriate cables. The Panasonic drive is also backwards compatible with all DVD/CD formats. It can burn CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW plus Dual Layer DVD discs in both formats as well as DVD-RAM discs. This drive does it all. Unfortunately, Burn speeds for Blu-ray discs are limited to 1X and 2X. A 25 GIG disc will take up to 1 hour, 45 minutes to burn which will only improve as drives become faster in the future.
Main Title
From this point, I will walk you step by step on creating a Blu-ray disc using Adobe Premiere CS3, Encore CS3 and the Panasonic SW-5582. I recommend getting a BD -RE (Blu-ray rewritable) Disc for your initial tests. Discs are expensive right now ($18-$25) but should come down in price in a few months. To begin, you will need to install the drive in your system. Once the drive is installed, and you have powered on your PC, make sure that Windows recognizes the new hardware and installs the correct driver. You can easily check this by right clicking the drive letter in Windows Explorer and select properties. Click the hardware tab and view the devices that are listed. You should see the Blu-ray burner listed by the manufacturer’s product name. On my system, it is listed as Matshita BD-MLT SW-558
Now that we have verified that the drive is installed correctly and is working, go ahead and run Adobe Premiere. Open up one of your HDV projects with a finished timeline that you are ready to burn to Blu-ray. Insert chapter markers using the chapter marker button. These markers will automatically be brought into Encore when you encode the video. Once you are ready to export your project to Blu-ray, go ahead and select "Export to Encore" This will bring up a dialog box with several options. Go ahead and name your Disc. Under type, select Blu-ray Disc, single layer MPEG-2. The next item you need to do is choose if you want to Author with Menus or do a Direct Burn without Menus. (See Figure 1) Check your encoding setting and verify you have the correct one selected. Once you have that done, press the OK button to start the encoding. You will be asked what to name the encoded file and where to save it. Encoding times will vary based on the length of your video and encoding settings.
After the encoding is finished, Adobe Encore will automatically open and import your video into a timeline. (See Figure 2) From here, authoring is nearly the same as creating a standard DVD. If you are doing a direct burn, all you will need to do is verify your settings and go to the build DVD menu. For a fully authored Blu-ray disc, Encore provides a whole library of Menus for you to choose from that are already in the HD format. The great thing about these menus are that they can easily be brought into Photoshop and changed to your liking with a click of a button. You can use frame grabs from your HD video and replace the background, keeping the titling and buttons intact. Once you have created your menus and added buttons, you will need to link the buttons to the individual chapters.
Make sure to check your project for errors before burning using the Check Project wizard. Go ahead and select Build - disc to bring up the Build dialog box. (See Figure 3) From here you want to choose Blu-ray under format and select Blu-ray Disc in the Output drop down box. Your destination should automatically display the Blu-ray burner. If not, select it from the Recorder drop down menu. With the blank disc inserted, you should see how many Gigabytes are used up by your project. Once you press build, Encore will begin creating the files necessary for your Blu-ray disc and write them to the disc. (See figure 4) Once the burn is complete, you will want to test the disc. I recommend getting CyberLink Power DVD Ultra for testing your Blu-Ray disc on your PC. (See figure 5) This software costs $99 and plays all of the latest formats including HD-DVD. If you verify that the disc plays without any problems, you can test the disc on a PlayStation 3 or other stand alone player. Of course if you haven’t invested in a Blu-ray player yet, a trip down to Best-Buy is in order to try out your disc on one of the display models. This is great for testing compatibility among various players being sold.
Bonus features
Now that we have created the Blu-ray disc, you can easily take the same project and burn the video to DVD. Encore will automatically down convert the Blu-ray format to DVD standard. This is great if your clients want to give copies of their wedding to parents or relatives who don't have a Blu-ray player yet. Another great feature is the export to flash feature. This is a great option for putting DVD content on the web. You can host your clients wedding for virtually anyone to see worldwide. Not only do others get to see your work, the do so in a way that is just like watching a DVD on their home DVD player.
Conclusion
It is nice to see that there are finally some options out there for creating and delivering weddings in HD. Adobe has really stepped up to the plate and created an integrated solution that really makes the process easy and streamlined. With the cost of Blu-ray burners such as the Panasonic SW-5582 coming down in price, it makes it a very affordable solution for burning HD weddings.
by Chris Randall – Edit1Media
Adobe brings Blu-ray Authoring to the Masses
With the recent price drop and the flurry of new HDV video cameras on the market now, just about anyone can afford to shoot and edit in High Definition. NLEs are being upgraded to handle HDV editing and just about any new system has the power to do so. Unfortunately due to the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the video production world has been waiting for a solution to deliver HD content to their clients. It appears the wait may be over with software giant Adobe selecting Blu-ray as their format choice for delivery of High Definition video.
CS3
July will bring the release of the much anticipated Adobe CS3 Production Studio. The Adobe team has brought many new features including Blu-ray support to Premiere and Encore and much tighter integration between applications. This only speeds up workflow and allows the user to easily accomplish tasks without having to leave the editing software to do them. In its earlier version, Premiere Pro 2.0 improved on its DVD authoring by adding the ability to import DVD menus from the library or from ones that were created in Photoshop. With Premiere CS3, they decided to remove the DVD authoring tool in favor of creating a link directly to Adobe Encore CS3. This allows the user to export their edited timeline right into Encore. You have the ability to export your HDV timeline in the Blu-ray format as a straight play Blu-ray disc or a fully authored Blu-ray disc with Menus. Even better, once your encoded HD file has been brought into Encore, it can easily be down converted to SD for DVD playback or exported in flash for the web. Not only do you get a streamlined way to author your Blu-ray disc, you also get the robust features that Encore provides.
Adobe Encore CS3 currently supports Blu-ray Burners from Samsung, Pioneer, Sony, and Panasonic. I tested the Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Drive. Street Price - $600 which has worked flawlessly from the start. All of the internal Blu-ray Drives connect to your PC in the same way as your current DVD drive. Installing the drive was a rather straightforward process. Simply disconnect and remove your current DVD drive and install the Blu-ray burner in its place. Since they use the same cables, it is just a matter of re-connecting the appropriate cables. The Panasonic drive is also backwards compatible with all DVD/CD formats. It can burn CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW plus Dual Layer DVD discs in both formats as well as DVD-RAM discs. This drive does it all. Unfortunately, Burn speeds for Blu-ray discs are limited to 1X and 2X. A 25 GIG disc will take up to 1 hour, 45 minutes to burn which will only improve as drives become faster in the future.
Main Title
From this point, I will walk you step by step on creating a Blu-ray disc using Adobe Premiere CS3, Encore CS3 and the Panasonic SW-5582. I recommend getting a BD -RE (Blu-ray rewritable) Disc for your initial tests. Discs are expensive right now ($18-$25) but should come down in price in a few months. To begin, you will need to install the drive in your system. Once the drive is installed, and you have powered on your PC, make sure that Windows recognizes the new hardware and installs the correct driver. You can easily check this by right clicking the drive letter in Windows Explorer and select properties. Click the hardware tab and view the devices that are listed. You should see the Blu-ray burner listed by the manufacturer’s product name. On my system, it is listed as Matshita BD-MLT SW-558
Now that we have verified that the drive is installed correctly and is working, go ahead and run Adobe Premiere. Open up one of your HDV projects with a finished timeline that you are ready to burn to Blu-ray. Insert chapter markers using the chapter marker button. These markers will automatically be brought into Encore when you encode the video. Once you are ready to export your project to Blu-ray, go ahead and select "Export to Encore" This will bring up a dialog box with several options. Go ahead and name your Disc. Under type, select Blu-ray Disc, single layer MPEG-2. The next item you need to do is choose if you want to Author with Menus or do a Direct Burn without Menus. (See Figure 1) Check your encoding setting and verify you have the correct one selected. Once you have that done, press the OK button to start the encoding. You will be asked what to name the encoded file and where to save it. Encoding times will vary based on the length of your video and encoding settings.
After the encoding is finished, Adobe Encore will automatically open and import your video into a timeline. (See Figure 2) From here, authoring is nearly the same as creating a standard DVD. If you are doing a direct burn, all you will need to do is verify your settings and go to the build DVD menu. For a fully authored Blu-ray disc, Encore provides a whole library of Menus for you to choose from that are already in the HD format. The great thing about these menus are that they can easily be brought into Photoshop and changed to your liking with a click of a button. You can use frame grabs from your HD video and replace the background, keeping the titling and buttons intact. Once you have created your menus and added buttons, you will need to link the buttons to the individual chapters.
Make sure to check your project for errors before burning using the Check Project wizard. Go ahead and select Build - disc to bring up the Build dialog box. (See Figure 3) From here you want to choose Blu-ray under format and select Blu-ray Disc in the Output drop down box. Your destination should automatically display the Blu-ray burner. If not, select it from the Recorder drop down menu. With the blank disc inserted, you should see how many Gigabytes are used up by your project. Once you press build, Encore will begin creating the files necessary for your Blu-ray disc and write them to the disc. (See figure 4) Once the burn is complete, you will want to test the disc. I recommend getting CyberLink Power DVD Ultra for testing your Blu-Ray disc on your PC. (See figure 5) This software costs $99 and plays all of the latest formats including HD-DVD. If you verify that the disc plays without any problems, you can test the disc on a PlayStation 3 or other stand alone player. Of course if you haven’t invested in a Blu-ray player yet, a trip down to Best-Buy is in order to try out your disc on one of the display models. This is great for testing compatibility among various players being sold.
Bonus features
Now that we have created the Blu-ray disc, you can easily take the same project and burn the video to DVD. Encore will automatically down convert the Blu-ray format to DVD standard. This is great if your clients want to give copies of their wedding to parents or relatives who don't have a Blu-ray player yet. Another great feature is the export to flash feature. This is a great option for putting DVD content on the web. You can host your clients wedding for virtually anyone to see worldwide. Not only do others get to see your work, the do so in a way that is just like watching a DVD on their home DVD player.
Conclusion
It is nice to see that there are finally some options out there for creating and delivering weddings in HD. Adobe has really stepped up to the plate and created an integrated solution that really makes the process easy and streamlined. With the cost of Blu-ray burners such as the Panasonic SW-5582 coming down in price, it makes it a very affordable solution for burning HD weddings.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Matrox Dual-Head-2-Go Review
by Laura Randall
With the increased popularity among event videographers creating 'Same Day Edits', more and more of us are getting powerful laptops for our on-site editing needs. A laptop gives you more flexibility in where you can work and less weight and bulk to lug around at events. But If you are like me, you REALLY miss your dual (or more) monitors that you are used to on your desktop computer. Even with my 17" widescreen on my laptop, my timeline just feels cramped. Now there is an easy, lightweight solution from Matrox called the Dual-Head-2-Go, or as I call it, the small and portable 'magic black box'.
The Dual-Head-2-Go plugs into your VGA port on your laptop and then you can plug up to two external monitors into the other side of the box, giving you up to three screens. And the beauty is, you don't have to turn one screw on your laptop to make it work. Install the simple software that comes with the Dual-Head-2-Go, change a few settings in your control panel, and suddenly you have tons of real estate. According to Matrox, you can have up to a 2560 x 1024 resolution stretched across two displays - that's 1280 x 1024 per display, depending of course upon your system and the monitors you are using. You can also determine your window and monitor positioning which is a great bonus.
For those who travel and use a laptop to edit, you can still use this solution if you make arrangements at your destination to have one or two monitors available for your use. I've done this very successfully on the road with my Dell M90 laptop and whatever monitors I'm able to get a hold of in my destination city. The one thing you have to understand though is that the monitor whose highest resolution is the lowest common denominator between the two monitors, is the highest that you can set the other monitor to. So for instance if "monitor A" has a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and "monitor B" has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, the most you will be able to get on both monitors is 1024x768 each. The one downfall is that then the larger monitor might seem slightly fuzzy or too big, but again this is a temporary solution in this situation and the goal is to get maximum real estate so you can edit easier.
The other way the Dual-Head-2-Go can be used is for a more permanent solution. So let's say you want to use your laptop in the office yet you'd like to have two more monitors hooked up to it. That's fine, just make sure you have two of the same monitors so they can use the same maximum resolution. In general the Dual-Head-2-Go won't work with a docking station or expansion station since the video card is 'passed through' the docking station. I also tested the unit with Adobe Photoshop and it worked great!
The Matrox Dual-Head-2-Go retails for $169, and is an excellent value for videographers (and others) who use laptops but need to expand their monitor real estate. I was very pleased with my little 'magic black box' and look forward to continuing to use it for my mobile productions.
With the increased popularity among event videographers creating 'Same Day Edits', more and more of us are getting powerful laptops for our on-site editing needs. A laptop gives you more flexibility in where you can work and less weight and bulk to lug around at events. But If you are like me, you REALLY miss your dual (or more) monitors that you are used to on your desktop computer. Even with my 17" widescreen on my laptop, my timeline just feels cramped. Now there is an easy, lightweight solution from Matrox called the Dual-Head-2-Go, or as I call it, the small and portable 'magic black box'.
The Dual-Head-2-Go plugs into your VGA port on your laptop and then you can plug up to two external monitors into the other side of the box, giving you up to three screens. And the beauty is, you don't have to turn one screw on your laptop to make it work. Install the simple software that comes with the Dual-Head-2-Go, change a few settings in your control panel, and suddenly you have tons of real estate. According to Matrox, you can have up to a 2560 x 1024 resolution stretched across two displays - that's 1280 x 1024 per display, depending of course upon your system and the monitors you are using. You can also determine your window and monitor positioning which is a great bonus.
My test was nothing like PC Magazine might do with a hundred different monitor combinations, but I think my test was more 'real world' in that the monitors I had were not the same. In fact they were extras that were just sitting in the garage because they had been replaced in recent times with newer, bigger, wider screens. I also used a spare Sony Vaio laptop that is 4 years old just to put the Dual Head 2 Go through its paces.
The first thing I needed to do was update the video card drives on the Sony Vaio. It had probably been at least 3 years since that had been done, especially since the last two years it spent most of its time just sitting in a laptop bag not being used! So that was easy enough to do by going to ATI's website and getting current drivers. As I mentioned the monitors were different from each other, one was a Hyundai 17" LCD monitor and the other was a Samsung 18" LCD monitor as you can see in the photos. I set up my Adobe Premiere Pro timeline stretched across the two 17" monitors and then used the laptop's monitor as an 'output' screen so I could view my video in a larger format.
Wow. Quick. Easy. And it works!
The first thing I needed to do was update the video card drives on the Sony Vaio. It had probably been at least 3 years since that had been done, especially since the last two years it spent most of its time just sitting in a laptop bag not being used! So that was easy enough to do by going to ATI's website and getting current drivers. As I mentioned the monitors were different from each other, one was a Hyundai 17" LCD monitor and the other was a Samsung 18" LCD monitor as you can see in the photos. I set up my Adobe Premiere Pro timeline stretched across the two 17" monitors and then used the laptop's monitor as an 'output' screen so I could view my video in a larger format.
Wow. Quick. Easy. And it works!
For those who travel and use a laptop to edit, you can still use this solution if you make arrangements at your destination to have one or two monitors available for your use. I've done this very successfully on the road with my Dell M90 laptop and whatever monitors I'm able to get a hold of in my destination city. The one thing you have to understand though is that the monitor whose highest resolution is the lowest common denominator between the two monitors, is the highest that you can set the other monitor to. So for instance if "monitor A" has a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and "monitor B" has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, the most you will be able to get on both monitors is 1024x768 each. The one downfall is that then the larger monitor might seem slightly fuzzy or too big, but again this is a temporary solution in this situation and the goal is to get maximum real estate so you can edit easier.
The other way the Dual-Head-2-Go can be used is for a more permanent solution. So let's say you want to use your laptop in the office yet you'd like to have two more monitors hooked up to it. That's fine, just make sure you have two of the same monitors so they can use the same maximum resolution. In general the Dual-Head-2-Go won't work with a docking station or expansion station since the video card is 'passed through' the docking station. I also tested the unit with Adobe Photoshop and it worked great!
The Matrox Dual-Head-2-Go retails for $169, and is an excellent value for videographers (and others) who use laptops but need to expand their monitor real estate. I was very pleased with my little 'magic black box' and look forward to continuing to use it for my mobile productions.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Matrox RT.X2 Reviewed for EventDV Magazine
Review: Matrox RT.X2
By Chris Randall, Laura Randall - Posted Jan 3, 2007
The Matrox RT.X2 is a long-awaited answer for wedding and event videographers looking for an HDV editing solution. With the flood of inexpensive HDV cameras on the market, current Matrox RT.X100 users have been looking for an HDV editing solution but haven't been willing to step up to the Matrox AXIO line due to its cost. Matrox has since released the Matrox AXIO LE, a lighter version of the AXIO at a lower cost than the original AXIO. The great thing about the RT.X2 is that Matrox used a lot of the core technologies that were created for the higher-end AXIO line and folded them into the RT.X2 product at a much lower cost ($1,995).
Real-time Preview
First, let's look at what the Matrox RT.X2 card does for video editing. Those who have edited in Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 or earlier versions know how valuable real-time preview is—when it works, anyway. Real-time preview allows you to see your video with effects as it would play back in real-time.
Unfortunately, you often have to render out these effects before you can export your video to DVD or other formats. And sometimes your system can only support real-time playback at a reduced frame rate (Premiere Pro scales playback quality based on what your system can handle).
With the RT.X2 card, you eliminate the need to render your video before exporting your project. Video playback is smooth with multiple effects applied, and scrubbing of the timeline is lightning-fast.
Working with Real-time Effects
But the RT.X2 does so much more than provide real-time playback of SD and HDV video. When Matrox created the AXIO line, they developed many hardware-accelerated effects that utilize the same Effect Controls as the effects that ship standard with Premiere Pro.
This will be familiar to those who use Premiere Pro as a standalone product but will be somewhat foreign to those used to using the RT.X100 system. With the RT.X100, all of the Matrox Realtime Effects had their own user interface. This interface came with many presets and gave the user the ability to save custom presets. Although the Effect Controls were basic in design, you still had plenty of ability to keyframe the effects.
With the RT.X2, you now use Premiere's Effect Controls window and After Effects-style keyframing. For those who were used to the old Matrox Effects Panel, this can be a bit frustrating until you get used to using the effects control window to manipulate all of your effects.
The RT.X2 does ship with many custom presets which are located in the Presets folder, but we do find that we miss some of the original presets that came with the RT.X100. On the plus side, having the Matrox Effects emulate the way Premiere Pro controls effects gives the user more professional results and streamlines the process.
Mixing SD and HDV
For those who are looking to start editing HDV footage, the RT.X2 allows you to mix SD and HDV footage on the same timeline in real time and output to SD DVDs. This is great for those who may have recently purchased an HDV camera but still have SD equipment that they use as a second or third camera. The Premiere 2.0 Multicam feature can also be utilized with mixed formats and output in real-time. This is a real time-saver and performs remarkably well with two or three cameras.
In order to edit HDV, Matrox recommends getting a Dual Core editing PC. We use the RT.X2 with a Dual Core ASUS A8NSLI Deluxe (left>. We have had success using ASUS motherboards in the past with Matrox products and chose this board based on the Matrox guidelines for using the NForce 4 Chipset. We also chose the AMD 4800+ X2 processor along with an Antec Titan Case with a 650 W power supply.
The RT.X2 card is a full-size PCI-E card and does require a larger case. For graphics, Matrox recommends the ATI X1800XT Dual Head card. This card has given the best performance when accelerating the Flex GPU effects such as the Adobe Motion Effect and Matrox Old Movie effect. The key point here is to be sure you double check the specifications and tested systems information on the Matrox website. If you go outside the range of tested products, you will most likely have issues. This is very important!
Accelerated Effects
The RT.X2 is packed with tons of great real-time effects (left). Effects that are accelerated by the CPU include Speed Changes, Color Correction, Chroma and Luma Keying, Matrox Transitions, and Realtime Upscaling and Downscaling of HD and SD footage. Graphics card-accelerated effects include the Premiere Motion Effect, Advanced 3D Digital Video Effect (DVE), Shadow, Soft Focus/Blur/Glow, Mask & Mask Blur, Shine, Lens Flare, Old Movie Effect, plus 10 others.
The performance of these effects improves with faster processors and better graphics cards. The advantage to Matrox's scalable design is that it allows you to easily improve performance as better-performing processors and graphics cards become available. For weddings, the slow motion is hard to beat, and the RT.X2 makes all speed changes in real-time. Frame-blending means your slow-motion video is fluid and smooth. There is also the option of selecting field-based slow motion, which is ideal for sports videos and other fast-moving footage which requires an edgier style.
The filters we use the most for our weddings are Soft Focus/Blur, Color Correction, and Old Movie. Each filter has loads of options for customizing your look and are all previewed in real time. However, when you use some of these filters together on the same clip, you may need to have the transitions rendered since one may be CPU-based and the other may be GPU-based. But that small amount of rendering is a small sacrifice when compared to the overall performance improvement you'll see with this card.
Accelerated Export
Another great feature of the RT.X2 card is accelerated export of your video to various formats, including DVD, and multimedia formats including Windows Media files, Flash, and Adobe Clip Notes. You will find the Matrox Media Encoder to be identical to the one that Adobe provides. A typical one-hour timeline can take as little as 30 minutes to export to MPEG-2 format, depending on the speed of your system and the amount of filters in the project. This time-saving feature alone is almost worth the cost of the upgrade. The RT.X2 allows full-resolution output for SD and HDV. We have a 42" LCD HDTV set up in our office and use it for viewing full-screen previews from Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore, and Photoshop. In other words, we can watch the video full-screen—just as the client will see it—while we're still working on it. We can view DVD menus in Photoshop on the TV just as our client will see them on their set at home.
Matrox still has more product development for the RT.X2 in the works. They announced support for the JVC ProHD GY-HD100U at IBC in September with the availability of Release 2 of the RT.X2 driver software. This release will include four new effects: Cube, Impressionist, Ripple, and Twirl. This latest set of drivers will be available to all new and current RT.X2 users for free.
Conclusions
The Matrox RT.X2 is a stable real-time HDV editing solution that adds filters and time-saving features to Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0. Dynamic Link and WYSIWYG video output allow users to view their work just as the client would. Most editors will need to upgrade or build a new system to accommodate the card and its requirements, so it's not an inexpensive upgrade, but you will have a professional SD and HDV editing system that rivals much more expensive options.
Chris and Laura Randall (info@edit1media.com) are award-winning videographers based in Tacoma, Washington. Chris is president of the PEVAN regional videographers association. The Randalls are featured speakers at the 4EVER Group Conventions, and were selected to the 2006 EventDV 25 All-Star Team.
By Chris Randall, Laura Randall - Posted Jan 3, 2007
The Matrox RT.X2 is a long-awaited answer for wedding and event videographers looking for an HDV editing solution. With the flood of inexpensive HDV cameras on the market, current Matrox RT.X100 users have been looking for an HDV editing solution but haven't been willing to step up to the Matrox AXIO line due to its cost. Matrox has since released the Matrox AXIO LE, a lighter version of the AXIO at a lower cost than the original AXIO. The great thing about the RT.X2 is that Matrox used a lot of the core technologies that were created for the higher-end AXIO line and folded them into the RT.X2 product at a much lower cost ($1,995).
Real-time Preview
First, let's look at what the Matrox RT.X2 card does for video editing. Those who have edited in Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 or earlier versions know how valuable real-time preview is—when it works, anyway. Real-time preview allows you to see your video with effects as it would play back in real-time.
Unfortunately, you often have to render out these effects before you can export your video to DVD or other formats. And sometimes your system can only support real-time playback at a reduced frame rate (Premiere Pro scales playback quality based on what your system can handle).
With the RT.X2 card, you eliminate the need to render your video before exporting your project. Video playback is smooth with multiple effects applied, and scrubbing of the timeline is lightning-fast.
Working with Real-time Effects
But the RT.X2 does so much more than provide real-time playback of SD and HDV video. When Matrox created the AXIO line, they developed many hardware-accelerated effects that utilize the same Effect Controls as the effects that ship standard with Premiere Pro.
This will be familiar to those who use Premiere Pro as a standalone product but will be somewhat foreign to those used to using the RT.X100 system. With the RT.X100, all of the Matrox Realtime Effects had their own user interface. This interface came with many presets and gave the user the ability to save custom presets. Although the Effect Controls were basic in design, you still had plenty of ability to keyframe the effects.
With the RT.X2, you now use Premiere's Effect Controls window and After Effects-style keyframing. For those who were used to the old Matrox Effects Panel, this can be a bit frustrating until you get used to using the effects control window to manipulate all of your effects.
The RT.X2 does ship with many custom presets which are located in the Presets folder, but we do find that we miss some of the original presets that came with the RT.X100. On the plus side, having the Matrox Effects emulate the way Premiere Pro controls effects gives the user more professional results and streamlines the process.
Mixing SD and HDV
For those who are looking to start editing HDV footage, the RT.X2 allows you to mix SD and HDV footage on the same timeline in real time and output to SD DVDs. This is great for those who may have recently purchased an HDV camera but still have SD equipment that they use as a second or third camera. The Premiere 2.0 Multicam feature can also be utilized with mixed formats and output in real-time. This is a real time-saver and performs remarkably well with two or three cameras.
In order to edit HDV, Matrox recommends getting a Dual Core editing PC. We use the RT.X2 with a Dual Core ASUS A8NSLI Deluxe (left>. We have had success using ASUS motherboards in the past with Matrox products and chose this board based on the Matrox guidelines for using the NForce 4 Chipset. We also chose the AMD 4800+ X2 processor along with an Antec Titan Case with a 650 W power supply.
The RT.X2 card is a full-size PCI-E card and does require a larger case. For graphics, Matrox recommends the ATI X1800XT Dual Head card. This card has given the best performance when accelerating the Flex GPU effects such as the Adobe Motion Effect and Matrox Old Movie effect. The key point here is to be sure you double check the specifications and tested systems information on the Matrox website. If you go outside the range of tested products, you will most likely have issues. This is very important!
Accelerated Effects
The RT.X2 is packed with tons of great real-time effects (left). Effects that are accelerated by the CPU include Speed Changes, Color Correction, Chroma and Luma Keying, Matrox Transitions, and Realtime Upscaling and Downscaling of HD and SD footage. Graphics card-accelerated effects include the Premiere Motion Effect, Advanced 3D Digital Video Effect (DVE), Shadow, Soft Focus/Blur/Glow, Mask & Mask Blur, Shine, Lens Flare, Old Movie Effect, plus 10 others.
The performance of these effects improves with faster processors and better graphics cards. The advantage to Matrox's scalable design is that it allows you to easily improve performance as better-performing processors and graphics cards become available. For weddings, the slow motion is hard to beat, and the RT.X2 makes all speed changes in real-time. Frame-blending means your slow-motion video is fluid and smooth. There is also the option of selecting field-based slow motion, which is ideal for sports videos and other fast-moving footage which requires an edgier style.
The filters we use the most for our weddings are Soft Focus/Blur, Color Correction, and Old Movie. Each filter has loads of options for customizing your look and are all previewed in real time. However, when you use some of these filters together on the same clip, you may need to have the transitions rendered since one may be CPU-based and the other may be GPU-based. But that small amount of rendering is a small sacrifice when compared to the overall performance improvement you'll see with this card.
Accelerated Export
Another great feature of the RT.X2 card is accelerated export of your video to various formats, including DVD, and multimedia formats including Windows Media files, Flash, and Adobe Clip Notes. You will find the Matrox Media Encoder to be identical to the one that Adobe provides. A typical one-hour timeline can take as little as 30 minutes to export to MPEG-2 format, depending on the speed of your system and the amount of filters in the project. This time-saving feature alone is almost worth the cost of the upgrade. The RT.X2 allows full-resolution output for SD and HDV. We have a 42" LCD HDTV set up in our office and use it for viewing full-screen previews from Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore, and Photoshop. In other words, we can watch the video full-screen—just as the client will see it—while we're still working on it. We can view DVD menus in Photoshop on the TV just as our client will see them on their set at home.
Matrox still has more product development for the RT.X2 in the works. They announced support for the JVC ProHD GY-HD100U at IBC in September with the availability of Release 2 of the RT.X2 driver software. This release will include four new effects: Cube, Impressionist, Ripple, and Twirl. This latest set of drivers will be available to all new and current RT.X2 users for free.
Conclusions
The Matrox RT.X2 is a stable real-time HDV editing solution that adds filters and time-saving features to Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0. Dynamic Link and WYSIWYG video output allow users to view their work just as the client would. Most editors will need to upgrade or build a new system to accommodate the card and its requirements, so it's not an inexpensive upgrade, but you will have a professional SD and HDV editing system that rivals much more expensive options.
Chris and Laura Randall (info@edit1media.com) are award-winning videographers based in Tacoma, Washington. Chris is president of the PEVAN regional videographers association. The Randalls are featured speakers at the 4EVER Group Conventions, and were selected to the 2006 EventDV 25 All-Star Team.
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