Deva down under
G...@zaxcom.com
access this news group:
I recently had the pleasure of giving Deva a real workout on a
documentary in far north tropical Queensland, amongst the rainforest,
humidity and mosquitoes ! The Australian summer was just letting loose
as we arrived to 30 degree heat in Cairns to begin our 4WD trek to the
very top of Australia. A 600 KM drive over some of the worst dirt
roads in the country lay ahead, with little chance of access to power or
service, 90 -110 (F) temperature, tropical strength humidity and
bulldust that got into everything !
I must admit we were a bit reluctant to rely solely on Deva
for the 2 week journey, so we humped our aging Fostex PD-2 as
a back-up. This sound recordist can happily say that Deva performed
without fail. We did daily backup's onto an ADSG 2Gb JAZ drive and
then as an extra precaution, a DAT copy from the JAZ disk, which also
confirmed the JAZ disc playback was working OK. Although it seems like
a lot of extra work, we wanted to be sure we wouldn't be caught out if
one of the disks failed.
Deva's low power consumption was also a boon. Using the new
Frezzi NiMH NP1's , I ran the entire day on just one battery. The
average "on" time would have been at least 3 hours. As we didn't have
easy access to power, a few NiMH batteries enabled me to keep recording
between charges.
I pretty much did everything in M+S stereo. One thing I'd like
to see is true M+S monitoring and a phase reversal option, even in
software. Deva's 4 track recording proved useful for interviews where
I could use 2 wireless mikes for the interviewer and interviewee, still
running the M+S kit for atmos at the same time !
As it was a 4WD trek, we did quite a bit of "in car" recording.
Let me assure anyone who is worried about the fragile nature of hard
disks that they have nothing to fear with Deva. The roads were usually
in terrible condition. By the time we finished our 14 days of constant
shaking, all the taillights from our cars had fallen out, we had
smashed
the rear window of one vehicle and one of the shock absorbers had
literally broken in it's mount !
If it wasn't bone shattering road corrugations then it was
cavernous washout's. Deva didn't skip once, it's RAM buffer obviously
doing it's job well. Even sustained continuos vibration from the
corrugations in the road did not effect recording at all.
Often whilst standing in the rainforest in between setup's, I'd
hear a particularly nice burst of birdsong. With Deva's pre-record I
was able to capture it after the fact ! Pre-record is also a life
saver for this sleepy sound recordist. As always happens in documentary
situations, things happen fast. Several times I'd turn around and see
that the camera was already rolling. With DAT, there would be another 2
seconds lost by the time the DAT dropped into record. With Deva, I
didn't miss anything and the cameraman was none the wiser !
We were shooting Super 16, with the Aaton XTR PROD. Using the
timecode on film system meant that we only did slates at the start of
each new camera roll, just so they can verify sync in Telecine. Deva's
internal Timecode generator isn't accurate enough to use with this
system (neither are most DAT's) so I had an external timecode generator
plugged in all the time. Slate free shooting with pre-record give the
sound
recordist a lot of freedom. Once we returned to civilization, the sound
was transferred in it's 24BIT glory into Aaton's INDAW computer. INDAW
then burns CD-R's which allow _INSTANT_ synchronization in telecine.
Makes for a very fast telecine transfer. Zaxcom tell me they are
working with Aaton to standardize the disc format so that field JAZ
discs can be used in telecine with a simple file conversion.
We gave Deva hell. We were expecting it to fail. We took extra
internal drives, we backed up daily onto JAZ and DAT, as an extra
precaution. It turns out we didn't need to worry about a thing....
John Brawley
Lemac Film & Video
Melbourne Australia
jbra...@lemac.com.au
www.lemac.com.au
Douglas Tourtelot
Is that true about the Deva's TC generator? Will it hold sync with an Aaton
camera for 10 hours?
Thanks.
D.
G...@zaxcom.com wrote in message <365CA6...@zaxcom.com>...
Dave Jones
G...@zaxcom.com wrote in message <365CA6...@zaxcom.com>...
>I am posting this for John Brawly of Lemac Film and Video who cannot
>access this news group:
That would be Lemac Film and Video who are a rental house that has the DEVA
available for rent at AUD$195 per day?
The thing I really enjoy about this group is the lack of advertising but
sometimes I really wonder.
Roberto
<plu...@NOSPAMbigfoot.com> wrote:
>
>The thing I really enjoy about this group is the lack of advertising but
>sometimes I really wonder.
>
Well, If it looks like an Advert, smells like an advert, and is
written like an advert, than here it is called Technical information.
And it is a very sensitive point...
Anyway, maybe it needs this kind of avertisment ;-)
R.
Jeff Wexler
>>
>Well, If it looks like an Advert, smells like an advert, and is
>written like an advert, than here it is called Technical information.
>
informational posting for the DEVA is just an advertisement? I was "duped"
many years ago by HHB (I was one of the first big users of that machine) and
asked to write some "information" for a "DAT users News publication" since I
had some of the first experience on major motion pictures with the HHB. They
then wanted a color picture for the "article" and so on. Well, it turned out
that this was all used in the HHB ADVERTISEMENT newletter and I became their
poster boy for a year, extolling the virtues of the HHB DAT machine! I
really naively thought I was contributing to a technical newsletter to help
inform others as to the use of DAT in production film. I was pissed off (at
my own stupidity and that HHB did not compensate me at all for contributing
for free to their advertising efforts) but my point is, I told the truth
about the machine and I had no other agenda.
Any of the testimonials and information posted here, regardless of whether
it "smells like advertising" or not needs to be weighed on the merits of
what is being said and by whom. I think that to attack the previous posting
as "advertising" is basically calling the person a liar, this person who
shared with us their experiences with the DEVA, because the machine may have
been obtained by someone who could benefit economically (through rental) by
saying something good about the machine.
I need to state again that I have no hidden agenda in relation to DEVA and I
continue to feel that it is vitally important to post any and all
information, experiences and so on to this newsgroup.
Best Regards, Jeff Wexler
glenn_...@my-dejanews.com
"Douglas Tourtelot" <tour...@seanet.com> wrote:
> Hey Glenn-
>
> Is that true about the Deva's TC generator? Will it hold sync with an Aaton
> camera for 10 hours?
Yes it is, Deva's reference is a 1 ppm temperature compensated crystal. This
amounts to a maximum error of about 1 frame every 8 to 10 hours. Deva will
also keep time with the power off or on.
Glenn
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
glenn_...@my-dejanews.com
Fr...@emmer.com (Roberto ) wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:36:27 +1100, "Dave Jones"
> <plu...@NOSPAMbigfoot.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >The thing I really enjoy about this group is the lack of advertising but
> >sometimes I really wonder.
> >
> written like an advert, than here it is called Technical information.
>
>
> Anyway, maybe it needs this kind of avertisment ;-)
You know, most of the time I chose to ignore this type of thing
because I consider the source before I respond. However, I feel compelled to
comment on this matter.
I took a incredible amount of criticism from some people just like you
Roberto who proclaimed them selves as “DEVA EXPERTS”. These people had issues
with every aspect of Deva. Things like the operating software, disk
reliability, audio quality, functionality .....ect.
Now that there are many Deva’s in the field being used by some of the
top sound mixers in the world on a daily basis. And, they are willing to share
there experiences with Deva with the rest of the mixing community. It proves
that the concerns of people like yourself were unfounded. The only thing you
are left with is the cry of this seems like advertising.
Well to bad. No one is forcing you to read the posting which is why I
put Deva in the title. If postings that prove that Deva is the most
revolutionary location recorder since the Nagra 3, and is everything we claim
it to be in terms of reliability and functionality. I strongly suggest you do
not waist your valuable time reading them. If the burden of proof was not
placed on me in this news group by people like you in the first place to prove
that the Deva is everything we claimed, maybe Deva users would not be as
adamant about letting the world know how great the product is.
I have heard that there are people out there who are mystified at how
my company could have possible come up with such a revolutionary product and
gotten it right on the first go round. And to boot beat the traditional
manufactures of location recorders to market. Well, the fact that I have been
in the television industry for 17 years and have built digital audio mixing
consoles for the last 8 years and consulted with many sound mixers before the
Deva was put on the street is how we did it. I do not operate in a vacuum. We
continue to add features to the product to make sure that it is the state of
the art in location recording. Let me make my motives very clear. I take
pride in my work. I like to make people think about how they can do there job
better and more efficiently. I want to be the first one to do anything that
innovates a specific job. I want to take location recording into the 21st
century. I take risks because if you don’t try you will never succeed. And if
I make money in the process that’s great.
Other than keeping the news groups safe from advertisers I hope you
will share your motives with the rest of the community.
Besides maybe you did not see my recent real advertising in Studio Sound and
Mix magazines. Now those are real ads. I spend thousands of Dollars promoting
Deva at trade shows and in the press. I don’t need to post ads here.
By the way maybe you did not notice I did not write the Lemac piece. Or the
one by Todd Russell, or the piece by Ed Novick or any thing from Jeff Wexler.
It is true that Lemac is a dealer of Zaxcom but that is no secret (Its on our
web page WWW.ZAXCOM.COM (Ad) don’t read this). It seems that anyone who has
good things to say about Deva must have a ulterior motive. And I’m sure they
do just as you do Roberto.
If the person making positive claims about Deva is someone such as
John Coffey or John Brawley who are a Dealers of mine. It is easy to dismiss
there opinions because they have ties to Zaxcom. Well maybe they just want to
get the word out to people like you. Besides I would think they are the best
people to listen to because if you should happen to Purchase a Deva from
someone like them. They would have to stand behind the product for a very
long time (Deva does not wear out you Know (don’t read this part it’s an Ad).
These people are willing to put there reputations behind the product. I think
they would be truthful. And there opinions should carry more weight than the
average user because they have more experience with the product and have a
vested interest.
To sum this all up, If people think that Deva owners and users should
not post there experiences on this group. I think they should express there
opinions just as you have. But If they feel the opposite I would hope they
would also post a response.
I’m sure that anyone who has used a Deva and feels so good about the
experience, would be happy to keep it to themselves. All because you do not
want to burden yourself with the task of having to decide if it is something
you should read.
Glenn Sanders
President Zaxcom Inc. (just so you know what my true motives are)
P.S. to the rest of the planet please excuse the sarcasm but sometimes.....
>
> R.
John Garrett
"Douglas Tourtelot" <tour...@seanet.com> wrote:
>Hey Glenn-
>
>Is that true about the Deva's TC generator? Will it hold sync with an Aaton
>camera for 10 hours?
>
I'd be willing to guess that in a studio or other friendly environment
the DEVA and Aaton would be fine together for 10 hours; my Nagra is, at
any rate. I still jam the slate every 4 hours or so, and when doing TC
on film I jam the camera with every camera roll change. So why worry if
it will stay jammed for 10 hours?
G. John Garrett, cas
Douglas Tourtelot
drift. What if the camera department had to always be nervous that their
Panavision wasn't pulling film at exactly 24fps? I have an HHB with an MS
mod and I jam at lunch if I remember, and I have never had a drift problem.
Aatons have the reputation, and it's true as far as I can tell, for having
the most accurate timecode generators in the world (Mr. Denecke's are right
up there too!) so you know, I don't bother myself with it too much. I use
to until I got the MS mod (never for my Timecode Systems IVS!) but the
Ambient clock fixed it. It would be a serious defect, for any machine not
to have as accurate a time base as the Aaton, and I am glad to hear that the
Deva will keep good time.
D.
PS. I modified my Denecke Syncbox with a 5-pin Lemo out which has a
curly-cable in place so that the Camera guys can jam ANYTIME they want.
"Oh, you know? We pulled the battery and could you come and re-jam us? I
know you don't have anything else to do." The slate hangs on the dolly,
well within reach of any camera assistant.
John Garrett wrote in message ...
john coffey
(I know an opening when I see it)
Coffey Sound, for your digital future
DEVA UPDATES:
*Coffey Sound rents Devas at Nagra
4STC/DAT prices
*Most major post houses in Hollywood now own or rent Deva. If you
would like to try Deva in other locations, contact Brian or John at
Coffey Sound and we will set up free demos for one week to a month
depending on show. WE will arrange everything with your post facility.
It's easy.
*DVD is here and we now sell it
Deva is now being used on these
TV Series:
"Clueless"
Sound Mixer-Glen Berkowitz
(Bought Deva from CoffeySound)
Post House- Match Frame
"Soldier of Fortune"
Sound Mixer-Todd Russell
(Rents Deva from Coffey Sound)
Post House-Encore
"Jag"
Sound Mixer-Sean Rush (Bought
Deva from Coffey Sound)
Post House-ToddAO
/Hollywood Digital
Mixers who have used Deva on shows:
Jeff Wexler - "Fight Club"/"SIege" (Bought Deva from
Coffey Sound)
Danny Michaels-"Meet Joe Black"
(Beta user for Zaxcom)
Bobby Anderson
(Rented Deva from Coffey Sound for playback on 2 shows)
Jim Tannenbaum-"Night at the Roxbury"
(Bought Deva at Coffey Sound)
Andy Adams
(Rented Deva for record and playback)
Scott Smith
(Bought Deva at Coffey Sound)
Richard Goodman
(Orchestra recordings)
Mark Ulano and Keith Wester (made first tests, give feedback
for Deva)
John Tesh (musician)
Currently making live field recording for his next Special (with
2 Devas rented from Coffey Sound)
Mike Hall
Currently using Deva on show shooting ` on top of an Alaskan
Glacier
Reminder from GM Brian James; We rock on Deva, digital and post items
but please remember we also sell ALL your field sound products! Call us
for all your HHB needs. Have you tried the NEW Sennheiser wireless?
Great feedback coming in from users. Think about them when DTV comes for
you!
Roberto
>In article <365d51e5...@news.xs4all.nl>,
> Fr...@emmer.com (Roberto ) wrote:
>> On Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:36:27 +1100, "Dave Jones"
>> <plu...@NOSPAMbigfoot.com> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >The thing I really enjoy about this group is the lack of advertising but
>> >sometimes I really wonder.
>> >
>> Well, If it looks like an Advert, smells like an advert, and is
>> written like an advert, than here it is called Technical information.
>>
>> And it is a very sensitive point...
>>
>> Anyway, maybe it needs this kind of avertisment ;-)
>
>
>
>
> You know, most of the time I chose to ignore this type of thing
>because I consider the source before I respond.
Dear mister Sanders, what are you suggesting here ?.the source is
myself, and doesn't represent anything, doesn't sell, or promotes
anything.
>However, I feel compelled to
>comment on this matter.
>
> I took a incredible amount of criticism from some people just like you
>Roberto who proclaimed them selves as “DEVA EXPERTS”.
Dear mister Sanders, i never said a'm an expert of your product.
I had remarks about the outside, and the connectors, the missing HP on
Mic inputs, and the small buttons and faders.
The comment you are reacting on now are not against your product,
otherwise i would write that.
>These people had issues
>with every aspect of Deva. Things like the operating software, disk
>reliability, audio quality, functionality .....ect.
> Now that there are many Deva’s in the field being used by some of the
>top sound mixers in the world on a daily basis. And, they are willing to share
>there experiences with Deva with the rest of the mixing community. It proves
>that the concerns of people like yourself were unfounded. The only thing you
>are left with is the cry of this seems like advertising.
Mister Sanders, it doesn't only seems like advertising, it simply is.
> Well to bad. No one is forcing you to read the posting which is why I
>put Deva in the title.
>If postings that prove that Deva is the most
>revolutionary location recorder since the Nagra 3, and is everything we claim
>it to be in terms of reliability and functionality.
Mister Sanders, postings don't prove anything.
Not the subject, the sender, or what is written..
I can write anything i want about any product under any name .
If i write here that STellaNagraSonyFostexHhb sucks enormous, it
doesn't say anything at all.
>I strongly suggest you do
>not waist your valuable time reading them. If the burden of proof was not
>placed on me in this news group by people like you in the first place to prove
>that the Deva is everything we claimed, maybe Deva users would not be as
>adamant about letting the world know how great the product is.
Yes, as an answer to this i could say, put me in your kill
file...don't read my postings. Sounds a bit silly i think.
>
> I have heard that there are people out there who are mystified at how
>my company could have possible come up with such a revolutionary product and
>gotten it right on the first go round. And to boot beat the traditional
>manufactures of location recorders to market. Well, the fact that I have been
>in the television industry for 17 years and have built digital audio mixing
>consoles for the last 8 years and consulted with many sound mixers before the
>Deva was put on the street is how we did it. I do not operate in a vacuum. We
>continue to add features to the product to make sure that it is the state of
>the art in location recording. Let me make my motives very clear. I take
>pride in my work. I like to make people think about how they can do there job
>better and more efficiently. I want to be the first one to do anything that
>innovates a specific job. I want to take location recording into the 21st
>century. I take risks because if you don’t try you will never succeed. And if
>I make money in the process that’s great.
Yes, it is, but what is your point here...that you are allowed to
advertise like this or what..whats the point..
I don't not react on your sofware update mails or anything, do i ?
>
> Other than keeping the news groups safe from advertisers I hope you
>will share your motives with the rest of the community.
>
>Besides maybe you did not see my recent real advertising in Studio Sound and
>Mix magazines. Now those are real ads. I spend thousands of Dollars promoting
>Deva at trade shows and in the press. I don’t need to post ads here.
>
>
> To sum this all up, If people think that Deva owners and users should
>not post there experiences on this group. I think they should express there
>opinions just as you have. But If they feel the opposite I would hope they
>would also post a response.
Funny, you start a whole thing about your product, but i am only
writing comments about how it is promoted.... which are 2 seperate
things.
> I’m sure that anyone who has used a Deva and feels so good about the
>experience, would be happy to keep it to themselves. All because you do not
>want to burden yourself with the task of having to decide if it is something
>you should read.
>
Are you suggesting here that it is me who stops something here cause i
am not a big fan of endless infomercials ?..you can't be serious.
>Glenn Sanders
>President Zaxcom Inc. (just so you know what my true motives are)
>
>P.S. to the rest of the planet please excuse the sarcasm but sometimes.....
>
Well, i wish you would stay to the quoted-subject, instead of getting
personell, and therefore putting me in some sort of anti-deva or your
whole being thing, which i am simply not.
That is called flaming, not sarcasm.
Ps. ;-) means joke.
have a nice day.
R.
Roberto
> the sound
>was transferred in it's 24BIT glory into Aaton's INDAW computer.
Sorry for being present in this newsgroup, but i would like to give a
follow up on this one..
The Post house ( NOB Hilversum ) that gets my audio at the moment for
the FF i'm doing now uses the new Aaton-system as, i think, discribed
above.
The great thing is that Preroll is History, both for picture and
sound. They copy my tape ( AES-EBU) to 1 gb normal jazz, Put it in
the Telecine-audio-computer, and it only needs 1 frame to sync up.
After it is synced up, the disk get's erased, and used again.
Some sort of Flex-file keeps the original TC for Audio post.
They charche ( 90 % sure ) 50 us$ an hour for the transfer, including
whatever media.
Now thats something -my- producer was very happy about.
Roberto.
Jeff Wexler
>Are you suggesting here that it is me who stops something here cause i
>am not a big fan of endless infomercials ?..you can't be serious.
>
This has to stop. I think we must have some sort of semantics problem here
with the use of the word "advertising" on this newsgroup. I am a reasonably
well educated person and I believe that I have a fairly good grasp of the
language; I do not see that there has been anything remotely resembling
advertising in this newsgroup (except for the occasional swap meet type
postings from Wolf). It is true that this newsgroup is not made up of just
careful, thoughtful, unbiased pure information, but then this is not its
charter. Hopefully, we all do have opinions and have passionate feelings
about the equipment that we use and the work that we do. When I am accused
of "promoting" the DEVA I do not see this as an accusation, nor do I see the
promotion as "advertising." Some of the comments directed at me regarding
certain postings seem to be heading in the direction: "would you buy a used
DEVA from this person?" and I do not like that. If Roberto has some doubts
about the validity of anything that I have said about the DEVA in the
newsgroup he should take that up publicly in this group with a posting that
addresses those issues. I understand Glenn's posting (which was a last
resort after his name, his company and the product had been so maligned) to
have slipped into somewhat of a personal attack as well, but I think Roberto
and others should try and keep these postings at the proper level of
questions, information, observations and discussions.
Also, it is true that any of us can say anything we want here or elsewhere
(it is a free country, right?) but I would like to think that the community
of professional sound people represented here are somewhat above the lowest
common denominator for discourse, and that we could continue to make every
effort to make our postings thoughtful, relevant and meaningful for this
group at large.
Best Regards to all, Jeff Wexler
David Marks
to hear everything that anyone who USES or SELLS Deva has to say. This
is the future. Jeff, John, and Glenn, keep on advertising until your
fingers bleed. I'll send you Band-Aids! Grateful and highly interested
in what you have to say!
Dave Marks
Jeff Wexler
>I work both sides of the fence as a sound mixer and an editor. I want
>to hear everything that anyone who USES or SELLS Deva has to say.
Thank you, Dave, for the kind comments... I am sure we will all continue to
explore all of the new technologies as they come to us, whether it is
considered advertising, promotion, or whatever by a few individuals who do
not seem so interested in the tools we use in sound.
Thank you again... Jeff Wexler