I'm with Keith on this one. Use OnLocation, record to your laptop's hard drive and use the tapes as a backup. You'll never sit for hours capturing tapes again. The first time you get back to the edit bay and just drop the clips into Vegas and start editing without having to sit and capture tapes you will be hooked on the tapeless workflow.

~jr

What would you tell somebody who didn't have OnLocation handy? I'm a Vegas user who just wants to get better at monitoring. What are people running who don't want to spend the money for Adobe product?

I do appreciate the advice but first I'd like to explore a smaller solution (if one exists).

Other than OnLocation, the only real monitoring is with a real monitor.

senior moment....

what was on location called before adobe bought it?

i think i've got a copy of ? on a cd some where, but can't remember what to look for....

ok, magic dv rack....

does anyone know whether it'll work with hdv?

ushere,

I think it was DV Rack by RealMagic.

Dave T2

> I think it was DV Rack by RealMagic.

It was SeriousMagic but you got the DV Rack part correct. ;-)

Funny this should come up... my wife just made me throw out my "DV Rack Saved My @SS" T-Shirt. I probably should have sold it on eBay! lol.

~jr

> What would you tell somebody who didn't have OnLocation handy?

It is extremely unfortunate that you can't buy OnLocation alone but as Keith said, there really is no other option other than buying a real monitor. AND there is no cheap monitor solution! I made the mistake of spending over $400 for a Varizoom 7" monitor and it's a piece of junk! You can frame with it but that's about it. No way to use it for focus. So I focus with the small LCD on my Z1U and I check framing with the 7" Varizoom after that. It's better than nothing (but just barely)

If you want a monitor that you can use to focus, you're going to have to spend $700+ for one. Suddenly, OnLocation is looking a whole lot better.

~jr

I'm going to try it because some savvy video people are recommending it. I am an IT support person and know there will be an impact on my small, mostly unfunded video activities. Everything that I include in my kit, I need at least two of (single camera ice skating video has too many butt shots). I have to train a second operator if I want them (often my wife) to use the technology. Unless Adobe licensing allows me to run two instances of OnLocation for a shoot, I need to buy two copies of Premiere Pro and maintain two 64 bit laptops.

Thanks for the discussion. It has been very helpful.

Johnnyroy,

Thanks for the correction. I knew there was magic somewhere. :)

it is real handy software for live shoots. It keeps me from overexposing and allows good monitoring of audio levels.

The video buffer feature is great. In case you hit that record a button a few seconds too late, it will capture 5 seconds before. It can also be used as a Motion Detector recorder as well as some timelapse. It can record in AVI or QT DV format and HDV I believe. Lots of scopes and screens to give you info about your video. And you can record to tape and computer at the same time for backup.

Dave T2

OnLocation CS3 was simply re-branded DVRack and it does indeed support m2T. Since it was only available for Windows and was included with the Mac Adobe suites as a separate disc with its own serial number I would guess there are a lot of copies out in the wild that the owner has no use for . So a little digging could unearth some copies.

There's nothing wrong with OL CS3, in fact I prefer using it rather than the CS4 version in my productions.

Forgive me if I am missing something here, but why can't you do this with capture in Vegas? I works great for me. Firewire from the camera to my laptop and I have a pretty good monitor while I record to my computer and to tape on the camera at the same time.

Jim

You can but DV rack (OnLocation) provides tools like active vectorscope, audio meters, white balance indicator and many other tools for monitoring your capture.

Dave T2

Jim, not a bad suggestion. Maybe I'll put Vegas and OnLocation on the laptop and kick the tires. The real test for me is shooting for an hour without having to fiddle with the software. I'd still need two copies of the application to be legit but it is more likely I'd buy two of Vegas than Premiere Pro.

OnLocation allows for two installations as long as only one is in use at any time. Also, OL installations on laptops don't count against the two suite installations, such as at office and home.

I use Vegas Capture to record theater productions at our school to my laptop. Some of those productions are three hours. I've never had a problem. Having the laptop screen to monitor in the dark is very helpful. Like I said I still have a tape in the camera for backup. For a simple solution, this works great. Make sure to turn off all unnecessary functions on your laptop.

Jim

You can try my software EFIXMO, very simply, nod advenced but useful, it helps change you laptop to video monitor. It is "poor-onLocation" ;)
You can see screens here, unfortunatelly only in Polish http://www.efix.pl/efixmo/geneza-i-cechy.html
Efixmo was designed for DV camera connected with firewire, but works with webcams, tv cards etc. Just try it.

You can try my software EFIXMO, very simply, nod advenced but useful, it helps change you laptop to video monitor. It is "poor-onLocation" ;)
You can see screens here, unfortunatelly only in Polish http://www.efix.pl/efixmo/geneza-i-cechy.html
Efixmo was designed for DV camera connected with firewire, but works with webcams, tv cards etc. Just try it.

Lotsa luck getting it to work, if you find it. It's got a software lock on it and the company that handled the lock doesn't have a contract with Adobe, so...pffffft. Basically, if my version dies on my laptop, I'm SOL unless I can find a cracked copy somewhere.

Unless someone has figured out a way to do it "legally". Adobe ceratinly doesn't give a good dog gam.

> Unless someone has figured out a way to do it "legally". Adobe ceratinly doesn't give a good dog gam.

Have you tried the DV Rack Support Center at Adobe? They have a download for activating DV Rack products. Check out this knowledgebase article. Option 2 is an activation tool download. I haven't tried it yet but I do have an old DV Rack HD license that I've wanted to test out on a Lenovo Netbook.

~jr

Malew,

Thanks for posting that. Unfortunately I don't read Polish, so I need to ask a couple of questions. Does it have a way to calibrate the color and gamma? Can it handle the 1394 input from an HDV camera?

Even if it doesn't, it looks like a nice piece of work.

Description is in Polish, software is in English. It is very, very, veeery simply piece of software, so you cannot calibrate color or gamma etc. No installation needed, just run.
I was looking for something for my DV camera for working with special effects (amateur), I can find so I made it myself (with a help Morten, who made video library for me).
Rule is simply - if you can see your device in devices window, you can use it with efixmo. More screenshots here: http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/efixmo-external-video-monitor-from-notebook
It work with 1394 from HDV camera, but only with SD signa (camer in HD mode, output in SD mode.
More in English here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/efixmo

Usually I use it with DV camera or any connected with cheap USB analog to digital video converter. Maybe it will works with HDMI, I cannot try.

i've been offered cs3 premiere - does it come with on location, and if so, can i install on location WITHOUT premiere (ugh!)