DV-L Google Group

Re: [DV-L] Wanted: Your old zoom controllers

adre...@aol.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:35:12 UT

Angus,
Email me off list. ?I've got various remotes, both IR and hard wire, from the early-mid 90's, plus a service remote that can switch into adjustment mode for several Sony camcorders ( where the instructional service manual supplement is hiding is another matter entirely). I've just got to dig 'em up, ?All use LANC code from that period but I have no idea about whether or how they would ?perform with current processors

Wanted: Your old zoom controllers

angus.find...@gmail.com (Angus Findlay) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:05:58 UT

Hey guys, I've got a project in the works, a LANC zoom controller based on
the rather popular Arduino microcontroller. I've got a working prototype,
which uses a Playstation-style joystick for control. While it works quite
well, it's not quite the right feel.
Does anybody have any zoom controllers they're not using anymore? Maybe it

Flip Ultra HD: My first HD Experience

r...@showcardetailing.com (Richard Lin) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:28:52 UT

I recently purchased a Flip UltraHD from Amazon for use as a POS
camcorder...but I was surprised to find that it's better than any of the
DV Camcorders I've owned both in terms of quality and ease of use.
Shooting to flash memory and having instant review or delete is
wonderful. No need to rewind, view, rewind back to previous

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

guik...@xs4all.nl (Ton Guiking) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:06:27 UT

Op Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:44:41 +0200 schreef <Burkhartm...@aol.com>:

I won't, we were talking *edited* movies, Jon :-)
Ciao,
Ton

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

burkhartm...@aol.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:44:41 UT

And if that's not enough, run a firewire cable from your camera to another
camera or deck and take turns recording what your main camera sees until
you have no more DV tape.

Just don't ask me to edit it ;^)

Aloha,
Jon Burkhart

In a message dated 6/25/2009 7:07:30 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

burkhartm...@aol.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:37:36 UT

Oh my! We start with the "war stories" and I'll be having nightmares
again. . .just when I thought they had stopped ;^)

Aloha,
Jon Burkhart

In a message dated 6/25/2009 5:42:36 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
So I rushed
home to get my old Sony DHR-1000 deck and it worked flawlessly.
**************Shop Popular Dell Laptops now starting at $349!

RE: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

perry.mitch...@gmail.com (Perry Mitchell) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:07:14 UT

Since we are telling war stories . . .
I was reminded the other day that I once reshot a famous BBC film called
'London to Brighton in 5 Minutes' but in video. It was to promote the then
new BVH-500A portable one inch VTR. It is basically speeded up footage shot
in a train driver's cab.
Now the actual train journey lasts just over one hour, but with the odd red

RE: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

perry.mitch...@gmail.com (Perry Mitchell) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:50:16 UT

Quite so. A few years ago I made a very laborious (but profitable) animation
to show on a sideways Plasma via DVD at an exhibition. The final (After
Effects) render took about 40 hours! The plasma/player was provided by a
professional AV company and I just assumed that it would display full
screen. I got a call the day before the exhibition opened to say the

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

guik...@xs4all.nl (Ton Guiking) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:42:18 UT

I was the director of a documentary film festival for six years. We
developed the routine to let *every* filmmaker (all the filmmakers are
usually present at that festival) check the projection (videobeamer, very
rare people brought real film reels) together with the operator right
before the screening - AND with someone of the festival.

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

joepark...@gmail.com (Joe Parker) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:25:10 UT

You're the op at the retirement community, but you aren't the OP to whom I
was responding. In your case, it may be best to force them to simplify. A
new projector would run <$1000. I won't even suggest in this thread how you
might go about forcing them to need a new one. :)
Alas, these days it's rare to know *how* our productions are going to be

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

burkhartm...@aol.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:29:24 UT

A good idea. . .but I've got several other projects ahead in the list of
MUST DO! But then there's tomorrow. . .I hope ;^)

Aloha,
Jon Burkhart

In a message dated 6/24/2009 12:43:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
If you have physical access to the projector, it could be helpful to
display a black-to-white gradient, to get an idea of how it responds.

Re: [DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

burkhartm...@aol.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:24:20 UT

Well, I'm the operator ;^) It's just that the system was installed
several years ago and goes through a couple of pieces of old analog/digital
conversion equipment I don't understand and I'm not sure I want to open that can
of worms. Remember, this is a retirement community and I'm just a
volunteer. Don't ask about a schematic of the system. . ."What's that?"

Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

rich...@realworldtv.co.uk (realworld) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:50:04 UT

My most common experience of projectors is that at sometime in the
past, someone has cranked up the brightness and contrast to overcome
ambient screen spill when the projector is too weak for the job in
hand.
From then on, EVERYTHING looks rubbish - but you can see it!
It take someone with a little knowledge of what a picture should look

Re: [DV-L] That age-old FCP gamma issue again

angus.find...@gmail.com (Angus Findlay) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:42:50 UT

Another issue could be that the projector is in presentation mode. Many
projectors will stretch and clip both the shadows and highlights in
presentation mode, to make a poorly-designed Powerpoint presentation look
better. Unfortunately, this makes video playback look terrible.
Another issue that cheap single-DLP projectors often have is sparkling

[DV-L] Re: That age-old FCP gamma issue again

bhad...@mail.utexas.edu (Bill Haddad) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:46:48 UT

If the levels and gamma are correct for NTSC or PAL video, and the
DVD is played on a set-top DVD player, and that DVD player is
connected to the projector, and the projector is set up correctly,
there shouldn't be any issues. The projector should make the
adjustments for gamma for signals coming into the video inputs.