CineAss 1.0: Hacking the Diga DVD-Recorder

Well, you can't.

But here's my workaround for digital dailies. I have a HDTV with 2 HDMI ports. One is for the HV20, the other is for an upconverting HDD/DVD/VHS Panasonic Diga recorder I found dented up at Circuit City for $130. Oh, the best money I've ever spent. Seriously. You could do the same with a set top DVD recorder.

First, own a HV20. Put in the tape. With NO CABLES attached, set to VTR mode and get to the menus. Set HDMI to 1080i. Set DV to 480i. Exit, then connect firewire on HV20 to DV input on the set top recorder.

The Set top recorder recognizes the camera, and you press record. It may NOT start the camera, so give play a push.
THEN connect the HDMI cable.
Switch inputs on your TV remote.
You can monitor on 1080i (which is what the camera outputs...), or the 480i from the DVD recorder.

Make notes. Once the tape is over, unplug everything. If you recorded to a HDD, then you can edit the file and bump out copies.

The ONLY downer is getting visible timecode, which ain't happening with the HV20. Oh well. If anyone knows a hack, post here.

The cost of this set up is $550 for Olevia 1080i/720p 37" HDTV (came with a cable!); $130 for set top record, $650 for HV20, $15 for second HDMI.

Pick your selects against your camera log. Input the stuff you think you want, then do all that compressor business. The upside is that you're not storing the full show on drives. A downconvert isn't ideal, but it's not so bad, as the player upconverts beautifully anyways.

If you are running Os9.2.2 and FCP 3, you can firewire preview into the Firewire in-port and it looks awesome. Record to the HDD and then bump DVDs.

Which is awesome if it's 2003 and you're not dealing with HDV or HD final output. That's 720 stuff.

Nope. The best use of this machine is recording your dailies to DVD for viewing/reviewing so you don't f-k up your tapes too much and leaving it be at that.





Found this on Creative Cow:
Usually what I do after using a DVD recorder is use MPEG Stream Clip to pull out the M2V and AC3 files and then bring them into DVDSP and make my own menu. I only do this for quick preview disks because it is real time encoded. When I make a final master DVD I'l use compressor or BitVice depending.


With DVDs, I can hack and set up a new menu using this application
called Mpeg Stream Clip..

OF special Note:
MPEG Streamclip (with or without the MPEG-2 Playback Component) can also convert MPEG-2 transport streams into muxed MPEG-2 files, for immediate burning at full quality with Toast 6 or 7 and Sizzle; it can also demux MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files and transport streams with MPEG, AC3, PCM audio to M2V and AIFF (or M1A or AC3) files, for immediate burning at full quality with DVD Studio Pro or Toast 6 and 7. A special demuxing option is available for Final Cut Pro 4/5: this application does not work well with M2V files, but MPEG Streamclip can write a special "unscaled" M2V file that preserves full video quality when imported into Final Cut Pro.

"A" Pictures

I'm watching Rob S. Bowman talk about making scary movies on the Reign of Fire DVD.

He said you should make "A" pictures. That's what Orlandont makes- A pictures. Not T&A pics, just plain ol' A pictures.

Now, I looked up Rob on IMDB and turns out he directed Elektra, which I recommended to others because it did things differently. Plus the typhoid mary shot was brilliant.

He also directed a lot of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, which was great 1990's TV with wide angles and wacky tilts.


Here's the things Rob said:

Tension: Further apart they are, the less concerned we are. The closer they are, the more concerned they are.
Your promise as an entertainer to take them on a journey...

Illustrator and 7 divided circle

This is reminder for myself on using Illustrator to creat a 7 part circle.

My brother did up an awesome snake for the Orlandont logo.
The one tweak I had was 7 cuts, as opposed to 5 or 6.

I tried math. I tried division. I tried free handing the angles. Then
adapting another tutorial got me to here.

Here goes. In Illustrator:
Draw A circle. 2 inches. GIve it a 10 pt stroke, no fill.
Double click the star tool at the center point of the circle.
Change to 7 point star.
Size it down.
Go to top menu OBJECT>PATH>Divide Object Below

You'll get a funky looking object. Using the BLACK arrow,
try and select the bigger objects. (DON'T DELETE THE PIE SHAPES)

Now,with the white arrow, drag from the inside circle to select the point of the pie shape.
Delete, working your way around.
Now you have a 7 section circle!

Adjust the stroke to the thickness you want.

To finish it off, you could use black arrow, select all the sections,
and OBJECT>PATH>Outline Stroke

to get solid boxes. (strokes get messed up if you share them with folks...)

Dang. 3 hours to arrive here.

Bad Screenprint, Bad!

Inspired by a purchase of OPAQUE speedball ink, I went ahead and mixed up the emulsion- which sadly seemed totally dried out and unsalvageable- and applied the emulsion... and well.

I did what I was supposed to do, though I only allowed 2 minutes exposure... alas, it all washed out.

Nothing took.
What do you do?

Research online... try again tomorrow! (I should've RTFM: It's a 12 minute minimum exposure, not 2 minutes.
Oh well. My bad. Damn conflicting b.s.

PS: The failure wasn't so bad, at all. It's a simple freaking process, which is why I'm learning it so I can go wide with designs and stickers and not have to lock onto 1 thing and blow hundreds of dollars on it.

Somebodies gotta make Orlandont souvenirs. Might as well be us.

Okay. Last Last Revision

Oh, yes. probably I saw this in Impact Press in 1996-2001. Maybe.
Or Adbusters some time ago. Or whatever.
Does it amuse you? Then fine enough.

Okay, the design purists are probably screaming "I seen that before." You know, I probably have too. It's such an obvious pun someone else has to have thought of it earlier, beforer. What's it matter? It fits. I think I thought of it, but again, it's so freaking obvious, that I'm leaving it.

I'll give credit to who I knowingly borrow from. Alas, this is a joke, not a term paper. Check any of the anti-ad groups and they probably hit this in 1989.

Final Post of the Day

This is the final asswar logo for the day, again from DaFont.com
It is what it is.

FWIW: Asswar is Orlandont's first project. It's a comedy. It's fun.

Another Graphic

Da Font.com and AssWar mock up

Here's a new mockery for Asswar. This is the cast/crew t-shirt. Work on the show, you get a t-shirt.

T-shirt Mockery

Yes, Alpha Supply has all the shirts.
Their address is 10920 Boggy Creek Road.
Showroom and all that, available for pick up so the shipping isn't crazy.

5280, 5180, 4980, and the American Apparrel stuff. (though I'm okay with the Beefy Ts and Hanes gear.)

Be buying and printing this week. Not exactly this design, but maybe.
Bestus,
Orlandont