When we had Premier Pro version 2, setting up a connection to our NTSC monitor was easy ... Use the Matrox Parhilia card. Errr, no longer valid for CS4 Premier Pro. BUT reading through the Adobe forums, and doing some experimentation, I have found a solution ... and for the nominal charge of nothing, I share the hard earned secrets of Al the tinkerer.
As you can see in the photo below (CS4 Production Premium - Part 1) we have two monitors, and until now, an unused TV monitor. We are using the nVidia GeForce 9800 GT card (Not even sure they still make this one).
Buried away in the bowels of Premier Pros menuing system is a place to change/set up playback settings. Yikes, I can connect an external TV ... and best of all, once you set things up with the nVidia control panel, Premier Pro is aware of your changes ... will miracles never cease to happen.
Until I get a second nVidia card specifically for the TV, I have to share my second monitor with the TV when I want to do color corrections.
Start by opening the nVidia control panel. Navigate to [Set up Multiple Displays]. You want to configure the two displays as independent. In my case I select [Display 1 of 2 + TV] and then select the primary display as [Display 1 of 2]. If you only have one display and a TV I don't suspect you will see these options ... but something similar.
Next, the secret ingredient (Kung Fu Panda). Navigate to the [Manage Custom Resolutions] selection in the nVidia control panel. Select the TV and create a custom resolution. Select the [Create] option and enter the TV resolution. I use 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - standard definition. Yours may be different.
You can also change the resolution of your second display if it is a computer monitor by using the [Change Resolution] option in the nVidia control panel. In fact, the choice you make here will be read by Premier Pro and reflected in one of the choices for an external monitor. In using a TV, as we are, this will have no effect since we have specified the custom resolution of the TV in the previous step.
Now we can start up Premier Pro. Highlight the Time Line panel. In the top menu select [Sequence], then [Sequence Settings], then [Playback Setting]. Under [External Device] you will probably have 2 or more selections. One of them should say "Monitor 1024 x 768" or something like that. This is the monitor selection you may have made in the nVidia control panel under the [Change Resolution] menu selection. Other wise you have some default value.
Next set the [Aspect Ratio] to Software. This should pick up the custom resolution you set under the [Manage Custom Resolutions] selection in the nVidia control panel.
If all goes well, when you click [OK] to all the changes, your TV monitor should show you the contents of the Premier Pro video monitor. If you get half an image on your TV, then reboot your system. That clears it in my system.
In all the literature, that I have read from Adobe, this marvelous little nugget of connecting an external TV via an inexpensive video card has gone unnoticed. Or am I just dense? Don't answer that!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Budget Rentacar - round 3 and last
We still advise ... don't rent from Budget!
When last we left Al, he was writing a letter to Budget International in hopes of some resolution. He received a polite letter from Budget (CS form number 2345a with minor changes) explaining that the excellent customer service that Budget provides apologizes for any inconvenience. Blah, blah, blah and that since Budget Italy refunded the 1,000 euros, the case was closed. No mention of the differences in exchange rate, etc.
Well, not to be deterred, Al wrote a "thank you" letter to Budget customer service explaining that some how Budget's excellent customer service was not so excellent. It was more satirical than caustic. AND he cc'd the president of Budget. That was months ago. No response was expected ... and non was received.
Follow up to his letter to Visa resulted in nothing. Since Budget did eventually refund his 1,000 euros, any further discussion would need to be taken up with the merchant ... hah. Dead end.
When last we left Al, he was writing a letter to Budget International in hopes of some resolution. He received a polite letter from Budget (CS form number 2345a with minor changes) explaining that the excellent customer service that Budget provides apologizes for any inconvenience. Blah, blah, blah and that since Budget Italy refunded the 1,000 euros, the case was closed. No mention of the differences in exchange rate, etc.
Well, not to be deterred, Al wrote a "thank you" letter to Budget customer service explaining that some how Budget's excellent customer service was not so excellent. It was more satirical than caustic. AND he cc'd the president of Budget. That was months ago. No response was expected ... and non was received.
Follow up to his letter to Visa resulted in nothing. Since Budget did eventually refund his 1,000 euros, any further discussion would need to be taken up with the merchant ... hah. Dead end.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
New Video workstation
I was going to wait until tomorrow to discuss the new video workstation I created. But, since I have time now, and who knows what tomorrow might bring, here it is.
Apple - PC - Apple - PC ... sheesh, that theme has been playing out in my mind for months as I tried to decide which platform to build. Since I needed to upgrade to CS4 and build a new workstation, the question was real. The PC platform finally won out simply due to the mass of software I had for my other PC video workstations.
This new system was built by my local and talented support people, SBCTECH, llc. We started by selecting two AMD 2.66MHz processors with dual cores ... it was all I could afford. The dual processor mother board was so big I had to order a larger case. I only use the Lian Li aluminum cases ... expensive but good. All four of our computer have these cases, but this one was a monster on wheels. For HD's we installed 3-500GB in a Raid 5 enclosure for video data storage. Another 500GB drive was for the OS. These were all the high reliability Seagate drives. After this came 4GB of RAM, two DVD r/w drives and a Matrox APVe triple-head video card.
The Lian Li comes with so many fans that we had one left over. I am surprised it doesn't hover in the air ... and they are quiet. The only noisy fans are the CPU fans ... they are noisy and will be replaced soon.
I think I am Raid 5 happy ... with both the new computer and the NAS filled with Raid 5 drives. The new computer Raid 5 drives can be removed from the front of the unit. A bit more expensive, but impressive looking.
Okay, about the Matrox APVe card. I looked at Nvidia, and spoke with their people, but they didn't have as clue about plugins for Adobe applications. Dual monitors, not a problem. But, connection to a TV set in addition to the dual monitors ... not possible ... perhaps I was talking to the wrong tech rep.
My calls to Matrox got me a tech rep that said the plugins for Adobe were on their web site. No problem. I found them and dowloaded them. Hmmm, strange, they had a modified date prior to the release of CS4. Should I be suspicious ... well let's try them. Okay, the Photoshop plugin works with a little futzing around. The Illustrator plugin works. the Premier Pro plugin doesn't work! Call back to Matrox. WHAT? CS4 is not supported for this Matrox card!!!! AND there is no release date for an updated plugin. What the f*&^%$#. I just spent some bucks on a Matrox card and I can't get it to work with CS4? Sheesh, can you tell that I am upset? My other Matrox cards work fine with the older versions of Adobe. Ugh!
Well, if someone out there knows of a triple-head card that works with CS4 on a PC, please let me know ... I will buy you lunch ... seriously, I will send $'s.
Oh, also, the desktop monitor for Matrox interferes with Photoshop and Illustrator. It causes them to crash when you attempt to save a project. I had to remove them from my start up services. Write me if you want details.
All in all, my new system is a monster processor. And that is what you need for CS4. My secondary video workstation is a single processor at 2.6 MHz, single core, 4 GB Ram and Matrox video card. CS4 runs like a dog on that system. The video preview stutters and the programs load slow. I don't know, maybe it is me, but I would suggest the minimum configuration for CS4 is two or more cores/processors.
Now if only I can get my TV to work ...
Apple - PC - Apple - PC ... sheesh, that theme has been playing out in my mind for months as I tried to decide which platform to build. Since I needed to upgrade to CS4 and build a new workstation, the question was real. The PC platform finally won out simply due to the mass of software I had for my other PC video workstations.
This new system was built by my local and talented support people, SBCTECH, llc. We started by selecting two AMD 2.66MHz processors with dual cores ... it was all I could afford. The dual processor mother board was so big I had to order a larger case. I only use the Lian Li aluminum cases ... expensive but good. All four of our computer have these cases, but this one was a monster on wheels. For HD's we installed 3-500GB in a Raid 5 enclosure for video data storage. Another 500GB drive was for the OS. These were all the high reliability Seagate drives. After this came 4GB of RAM, two DVD r/w drives and a Matrox APVe triple-head video card.The Lian Li comes with so many fans that we had one left over. I am surprised it doesn't hover in the air ... and they are quiet. The only noisy fans are the CPU fans ... they are noisy and will be replaced soon.
I think I am Raid 5 happy ... with both the new computer and the NAS filled with Raid 5 drives. The new computer Raid 5 drives can be removed from the front of the unit. A bit more expensive, but impressive looking.
Okay, about the Matrox APVe card. I looked at Nvidia, and spoke with their people, but they didn't have as clue about plugins for Adobe applications. Dual monitors, not a problem. But, connection to a TV set in addition to the dual monitors ... not possible ... perhaps I was talking to the wrong tech rep.
My calls to Matrox got me a tech rep that said the plugins for Adobe were on their web site. No problem. I found them and dowloaded them. Hmmm, strange, they had a modified date prior to the release of CS4. Should I be suspicious ... well let's try them. Okay, the Photoshop plugin works with a little futzing around. The Illustrator plugin works. the Premier Pro plugin doesn't work! Call back to Matrox. WHAT? CS4 is not supported for this Matrox card!!!! AND there is no release date for an updated plugin. What the f*&^%$#. I just spent some bucks on a Matrox card and I can't get it to work with CS4? Sheesh, can you tell that I am upset? My other Matrox cards work fine with the older versions of Adobe. Ugh!
Well, if someone out there knows of a triple-head card that works with CS4 on a PC, please let me know ... I will buy you lunch ... seriously, I will send $'s.
Oh, also, the desktop monitor for Matrox interferes with Photoshop and Illustrator. It causes them to crash when you attempt to save a project. I had to remove them from my start up services. Write me if you want details.
All in all, my new system is a monster processor. And that is what you need for CS4. My secondary video workstation is a single processor at 2.6 MHz, single core, 4 GB Ram and Matrox video card. CS4 runs like a dog on that system. The video preview stutters and the programs load slow. I don't know, maybe it is me, but I would suggest the minimum configuration for CS4 is two or more cores/processors.
Now if only I can get my TV to work ...
CS4 Production Premium - part 1
Yup, the next step in getting ready for HiDef is to upgrade. Yikes, $1,000 upgrade from my old Premier Pro? Gollie, I hope Adobe stock is doing well ... well, it isn't ... I just saw my Etrade account. Oh well, I guess I need to keep working.
Just a quick shot of my video workstation ... ignore the mess, I am working. The HDs on the shelf are my old way of "network" storage. An array of USB HDs. Now they are just achieved backups. I turn them on when I need them. The TV is connected to our Matrox triple-head card ... but more on this on a future post. The box on the far right is one of three DVD players, ranging in price and performance, with which we test our videos. The two monitors are ViewSonic 22" 16:9 format with resolutions of 1680x1050 pixels. That equates to 36" of horizontal viewing area. Sheesh am I spoiled. Also, these are great units at a reasonable price.
I have played with Premier quite a bit in the past few weeks. The interface is a bit different, but once I got use to it, I love it. The caveat is, however, I have dual 22" monitors and so I have a lot or visual space. The only bug I have found so far is that any transition on a still image DOES NOT WORK after you render the time line. WHAT? How could Adobe let this slip through? Well, maybe it is my system ... who knows. On the Adobe forum I discovered that many people had this issue ... and some did not. The work around is to place a keyframe anywhere in the opacity effects for the still image and the transitions work fine.
One thing I absolutely love is the Media Encoder ... well, almost absolutely love. I can create nearly any kind of media transcode directly from the timeline. It is fast, convenient and almost easy to use. That's the good news. The bad news is, and I haven't figured all of this out yet, is that it appears to treat everything as 640x480 pixels, a 4:3 (1.33:1) format. Given that my DV video is in 720x480 pixels (1.5:1) format, it would be nice to output .avi, .flv, etc. files in this manner. But no, it does not. I haven't found the secret yet. So I use the old Flash Media encoder that comes with Flash version 8. That works great ... but much slower.
I played a little with Encore and it seems to work the same as Encore 2.0. However, you can export your menued DVD files to Flash! All right! Errr, almost all right. I exported a 20 minute DVD with three menu selections to Flash in the 640x480 pixel format. Fantastic. I play the .swf file and it acts just like the DVD. The menu order is different, but it works. Great, now to try a smaller version, say 320x240 pixel. Bomb, bomb, bomb. Oh well, I'll check in with the Adobe forums later.
I have always found Soundbooth to be a bit confusing ... things haven's changed. However there is some nice spectral analysis that you can do with Soundbooth. You can even eliminate certain sounds. I had a voice over recording where some one's cell phone rang. I was able to almost totaly remove the cell phone ring from the audio track without loosing integrity. I didn't really need the track since we did a second run through ... but it was a nice test.
My preference for audio editing remains SoundForge 9.0 from Sony. It has some neat filters and I think it is easier to use than Soundbooth.
Afterefects and Illustrator I really haven't played with yet. I did open them up and fiddled a little bit and they seem similar to my older versions except for the user interface.
Photoshop is a bit different in the interface, I am not sure I like it as well as the earlier versions. It crashed a few times on me and I am not sure why. The last few days it has been okay.
I will report more as I get into this product suite. So far I have only had it for three weeks.
Of note, I use SonicFire Pro 5.0 for my music. A fantastic program. Easy to use, especially for someone like me who is musically challenged.
Just a quick shot of my video workstation ... ignore the mess, I am working. The HDs on the shelf are my old way of "network" storage. An array of USB HDs. Now they are just achieved backups. I turn them on when I need them. The TV is connected to our Matrox triple-head card ... but more on this on a future post. The box on the far right is one of three DVD players, ranging in price and performance, with which we test our videos. The two monitors are ViewSonic 22" 16:9 format with resolutions of 1680x1050 pixels. That equates to 36" of horizontal viewing area. Sheesh am I spoiled. Also, these are great units at a reasonable price.I have played with Premier quite a bit in the past few weeks. The interface is a bit different, but once I got use to it, I love it. The caveat is, however, I have dual 22" monitors and so I have a lot or visual space. The only bug I have found so far is that any transition on a still image DOES NOT WORK after you render the time line. WHAT? How could Adobe let this slip through? Well, maybe it is my system ... who knows. On the Adobe forum I discovered that many people had this issue ... and some did not. The work around is to place a keyframe anywhere in the opacity effects for the still image and the transitions work fine.
One thing I absolutely love is the Media Encoder ... well, almost absolutely love. I can create nearly any kind of media transcode directly from the timeline. It is fast, convenient and almost easy to use. That's the good news. The bad news is, and I haven't figured all of this out yet, is that it appears to treat everything as 640x480 pixels, a 4:3 (1.33:1) format. Given that my DV video is in 720x480 pixels (1.5:1) format, it would be nice to output .avi, .flv, etc. files in this manner. But no, it does not. I haven't found the secret yet. So I use the old Flash Media encoder that comes with Flash version 8. That works great ... but much slower.
I played a little with Encore and it seems to work the same as Encore 2.0. However, you can export your menued DVD files to Flash! All right! Errr, almost all right. I exported a 20 minute DVD with three menu selections to Flash in the 640x480 pixel format. Fantastic. I play the .swf file and it acts just like the DVD. The menu order is different, but it works. Great, now to try a smaller version, say 320x240 pixel. Bomb, bomb, bomb. Oh well, I'll check in with the Adobe forums later.
I have always found Soundbooth to be a bit confusing ... things haven's changed. However there is some nice spectral analysis that you can do with Soundbooth. You can even eliminate certain sounds. I had a voice over recording where some one's cell phone rang. I was able to almost totaly remove the cell phone ring from the audio track without loosing integrity. I didn't really need the track since we did a second run through ... but it was a nice test.
My preference for audio editing remains SoundForge 9.0 from Sony. It has some neat filters and I think it is easier to use than Soundbooth.
Afterefects and Illustrator I really haven't played with yet. I did open them up and fiddled a little bit and they seem similar to my older versions except for the user interface.
Photoshop is a bit different in the interface, I am not sure I like it as well as the earlier versions. It crashed a few times on me and I am not sure why. The last few days it has been okay.
I will report more as I get into this product suite. So far I have only had it for three weeks.
Of note, I use SonicFire Pro 5.0 for my music. A fantastic program. Easy to use, especially for someone like me who is musically challenged.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thecus 5200 Network Attached Server
Okay, so I am getting ready for HiDef work. Step one is to improve my storage ability on the network. My two video workstations are on a gigabyte network which serves us quite well. I evaluated several NAS boxes and settled on the Thecus 5200. A bit more expensive than the others but it had 5 bays instead of 4 and a USB port where I could plug in some of my archival hard drives.
I bought four Seagate 1-TB drives. The newer kind with high reliability ... a few more bucks than the standard drives, but I thought it was worth it. It was easy to install the drives since each drive had a slide out tray accessible from the front.
Shown in the photo you see my messy network cables behind the Thecus 5200 and the two USB 500GB HDs. The interface to the USBs is very slow, about 7 MBS so I only use them for archival storage. The Thecus also has a USB printer port that I am not using at this time. All in all, a great unit.
I was up and running in no time ... not a problem ... that is, except for me! My problem is that I have been around since the dawn of the microprocessor (really - I was a research engineer at GE when the Intel 4004 microprocessor was invented) - and still think in terms of hard drive as hard drives and not as Raid configurations. So, in my ignorance, I set the Thecus up in a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) configuration. Expecting to get four 1-TB disks, little did I realize that I would get one 4-TB configuration ... any disk fails and I loose it all. Yikes!
Easy enough to change to Raid 5 configuration. It just took a bunch of hours to reconfigure the NAS. Raid 5 appears to be a reasonable compromise for redundancy and maximum use of the disks. In Raid 5, assuming all the disks are of equal size, you only loose one disk to redundancy. Minimum configuration is three HDs. So, at 4-TB I get 3-TB of file space. When I need more I can slap in a 5th 1-TB drive and increase my capacity to 4-TB. I am a happy camper.
With the NAS sitting on the gigabyte network I can edit from either work station with only a slight hit in performance. Since Raid 5 needs to write to all 4 drives, there is a small bottleneck on writes.
My normal work flow is to work off the internal HDs of my workstations, but it is nice to know that if I have to tweak an old project I can do it on the NAS.
AND, the Raid 5 does work. Once again stupidity steps to the fore. While I was doing a transcode of files, and we all know how long those take, I noticed that when I installed the HDs in the Thecus I didn't lock the trays ... so guess what ... I had nothing to do, so I started locking the HDs. Okay, you are ahead of me now. Yup, I jiggled one of the drives and it detected a fault and took the HD off line. The Thecus reconfigured the Raid to 3 HDs without missing a beat and I didn't loose data.
When I got through flogging myself, I went back into the Thecus admin screen, verified that the 4th drive was healthy and then re-integrated it into the Raid configuration. Now this is the amazing part. It took many hours to reincorporate the drive ... but I continued to edit the files on the Thecus with out a noticeable performance hit. Now this is my kind of NAS!
I bought four Seagate 1-TB drives. The newer kind with high reliability ... a few more bucks than the standard drives, but I thought it was worth it. It was easy to install the drives since each drive had a slide out tray accessible from the front.
Shown in the photo you see my messy network cables behind the Thecus 5200 and the two USB 500GB HDs. The interface to the USBs is very slow, about 7 MBS so I only use them for archival storage. The Thecus also has a USB printer port that I am not using at this time. All in all, a great unit.I was up and running in no time ... not a problem ... that is, except for me! My problem is that I have been around since the dawn of the microprocessor (really - I was a research engineer at GE when the Intel 4004 microprocessor was invented) - and still think in terms of hard drive as hard drives and not as Raid configurations. So, in my ignorance, I set the Thecus up in a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) configuration. Expecting to get four 1-TB disks, little did I realize that I would get one 4-TB configuration ... any disk fails and I loose it all. Yikes!
Easy enough to change to Raid 5 configuration. It just took a bunch of hours to reconfigure the NAS. Raid 5 appears to be a reasonable compromise for redundancy and maximum use of the disks. In Raid 5, assuming all the disks are of equal size, you only loose one disk to redundancy. Minimum configuration is three HDs. So, at 4-TB I get 3-TB of file space. When I need more I can slap in a 5th 1-TB drive and increase my capacity to 4-TB. I am a happy camper.
With the NAS sitting on the gigabyte network I can edit from either work station with only a slight hit in performance. Since Raid 5 needs to write to all 4 drives, there is a small bottleneck on writes.
My normal work flow is to work off the internal HDs of my workstations, but it is nice to know that if I have to tweak an old project I can do it on the NAS.
AND, the Raid 5 does work. Once again stupidity steps to the fore. While I was doing a transcode of files, and we all know how long those take, I noticed that when I installed the HDs in the Thecus I didn't lock the trays ... so guess what ... I had nothing to do, so I started locking the HDs. Okay, you are ahead of me now. Yup, I jiggled one of the drives and it detected a fault and took the HD off line. The Thecus reconfigured the Raid to 3 HDs without missing a beat and I didn't loose data.
When I got through flogging myself, I went back into the Thecus admin screen, verified that the 4th drive was healthy and then re-integrated it into the Raid configuration. Now this is the amazing part. It took many hours to reincorporate the drive ... but I continued to edit the files on the Thecus with out a noticeable performance hit. Now this is my kind of NAS!
Budget Rentacar - round 2
Well, we heard back from Budget via an inane stupid letter from customer service. I suspect it was form number 235 with some minor changes. Since Italy refunded the 1,000 euros (at 1.21 USD. It was 1.41 USD when I rented the car) they considered the matter closed. Err, excuse me, it was Budget's screw up and I get stiffed for almost $200 bucks?
Oh well, another two-page letter to customer service indicating that I wasn't getting any customer service ... and I cc'd the president of Budget with a note suggesting that this was a reality check on their "customer service".
Hey, for a lousy few bucks I have been having fun writing caustic letters about Budget. May they get a flat tire.
Oh well, another two-page letter to customer service indicating that I wasn't getting any customer service ... and I cc'd the president of Budget with a note suggesting that this was a reality check on their "customer service".
Hey, for a lousy few bucks I have been having fun writing caustic letters about Budget. May they get a flat tire.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Budget Rentacar in Italy
This is a bitch session ... and a warning to people who might consider renting a Budget car in Italy. In our last entry we spoke or our adventures in making a documentary in Italy. Well, one needs to rent a car. At that time Budget had better prices than Eurocar which was our usual rental agency. Soooo, ever budget minded, we took the lower cost car.
When we arrived at the Budget counter in Italy I was informed that they would place 1,000 Euros on "hold" on my credit card until the car was returned ... damages you know. Okay, not a problem. Two weeks after I returned home from Italy I noticed that they "charged" me for the 1,000 euros and also for the car rental. They clipped me for over 1,400 USD on top of the cost of the rental. They cashed the 1,000 Euro instead of placing it on hold!
Several phone calls to Italy (mind you, customer service is only open from 9 to 1pm Italian time ... which is a 6 hours ahead of EST), many emails (which said they would respond within 15 days!) they finally agreed to refund my 1,000 Euros. HOWEVER, the euro was trading at 1.21 USD/Euro than the 1.41 USD/Euro when I rented the car. Their response ... sorry we only deal in Euros.
So, their screw up cost me a few hundred dollars and they, for the past three months, have refused to give me back the difference ... Their fault and I pay for it ... sheesh am I mad.
Well, I sent a detailed, and slightly nasty letter to Budget International Relations last month ... so we will see what develops ... nothing I expect. But you can be assured Budget Rentacar is on my "toilet" list.
Thanks for listening ... and don't rent from Budget in Italy.
When we arrived at the Budget counter in Italy I was informed that they would place 1,000 Euros on "hold" on my credit card until the car was returned ... damages you know. Okay, not a problem. Two weeks after I returned home from Italy I noticed that they "charged" me for the 1,000 euros and also for the car rental. They clipped me for over 1,400 USD on top of the cost of the rental. They cashed the 1,000 Euro instead of placing it on hold!
Several phone calls to Italy (mind you, customer service is only open from 9 to 1pm Italian time ... which is a 6 hours ahead of EST), many emails (which said they would respond within 15 days!) they finally agreed to refund my 1,000 Euros. HOWEVER, the euro was trading at 1.21 USD/Euro than the 1.41 USD/Euro when I rented the car. Their response ... sorry we only deal in Euros.
So, their screw up cost me a few hundred dollars and they, for the past three months, have refused to give me back the difference ... Their fault and I pay for it ... sheesh am I mad.
Well, I sent a detailed, and slightly nasty letter to Budget International Relations last month ... so we will see what develops ... nothing I expect. But you can be assured Budget Rentacar is on my "toilet" list.
Thanks for listening ... and don't rent from Budget in Italy.
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