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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Watch footage on the set

S

Simon Baechler

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Hi

As of right now the Red camera cannot playback footage. So there are two other alternatives to playback what you just shot.

  1. Download the material to your storage workstation and watch it there
  2. Use an HD-SDI downconverter and record it on a clampshell or PVR
What's the minimum hardware requirement to playback footage at 25fps in Redalert? It doesn't have to be 4K. 480p resolution would be ok. Or maybe 720p?

And when do you (RED) expect the playback functionality to be enabled? I love instant playback on the HVX-200.

Simon
 
sbaechler said:
What's the minimum hardware requirement to playback footage at 25fps in Redalert? It doesn't have to be 4K. 480p resolution would be ok. Or maybe 720p?
Click to expand...

Jim reckoned using the Quicktime wrapper of a 1K decode should be able to be played on most modern Mac hardware; and definitely if you compress to H264. Any camera owners want to pipe up?
 
cailyoung said:
Jim reckoned using the Quicktime wrapper of a 1K decode should be able to be played on most modern Mac hardware; and definitely if you compress to H264. Any camera owners want to pipe up?
Click to expand...

we have had a few red alert builds and a few codec builds - so, I need to check where we are now - but I think I was in realtime with the "medium" quality codec in 1K proxy and NOT the "grade" quality codec on my 17" MacBook Pro - now that you mention it - I will check again - but the .5K proxy is always good to go in realtime -
 
Well, I could go on for hours here about how to playback the footage on set. I am a video assist guy and am now designing a package that will work with RED. Now, will this be 'colorized' footage? Nope. But it will be the only solution that works in those jobs (high end) that require the services of a video assist guy. My images will be recorded from the HD-SDI out on the camera to my new video cart and then played back anywhere on set.

I will be at the RED function at rpmpost on the 6th, and will hopefully be bringing the HD recorder and an HD monitor to test this solution with the REDs there.
 
This is one of the areas that the Codex Portable (www.codexdigital.com) adds much to the workflow. It will capture RAW (when available), de-bayer in realtime (for onset checking) and playback with sync audio. The playback can either be downconverted via HDSDI or SDI, viewed directly on the Portable's own screen at full rez (touch zoom for checking focus) or streamed wirelessly as SD H.264. It also applies LUTs (without baking), keeps all metadata (makes metadat input easy) and wraps everything up for fast delivery to Post as DPX or (with the Transfer Station) any Post deliverable you can think of (Avid MXF, QT, Cineform, AVI, JPEG etc). I know Skipdivil knows all this, but I thought I'd share it again.
 
This is where Panasonic's HPM 100 with the Intra board would be extremely useful...it's 15K but very versatile. Isn't Codex like >35K? I just checked -the press release says 45,000 USD. It's does a lot more, but we are talking about watching footage affordably on set, no?
 
Jones said:
Yeah, I don´t like it myself. But often customers just want to have a quick look, so it would be a nice option.
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A nice option indeed for shoots without the budget for video assist.

But for those with a bigger budget, not an option. I was just working with the panavision genesis today, and at one point, the client actually wanted to see something played back from it, and the director flatly said no...as did the camera dept.

there will always be a place for video assist on high end shoots....

but like i said, for the lower budget stuff, where you just have the camera and some monitors...yeah, playing back off camera is nice, but as soon as the CF card is gone, you;d be playing back off your data transfer station....
 
skipdivils said:
I was just working with the panavision genesis today, and at one point, the client actually wanted to see something played back from it, and the director flatly said no...as did the camera dept.

...
Click to expand...

So I guess the Director was paying for the production, not the client...If I told my clients this I wouldnt be in business today. How can you afford to shoot w/ the Genesis yet not afford video assist?
 
There are a number of cameras that lack any playback ability (SDX900 is one example) so the request may have not been possible.
 
Lets hope it gets implimented soon as it is particulalry usefull for low and mid budget narratives, commercials and doc work.

Would be a big disapointment if RED can't take on board more of the positive aspects of working with an electronic camera.


I'm getting the feeling that at the moment the RED team are keener to drop "TV camcorder" features than to include.
Thats OK if they think the RED market is a direct replacement for a 35mm film camera.


Mike Brennan
 
I loved the instant playback on the HVX-200. I was first assistant on a shoot with a lot of close ups in low light (wide open) and moving camera. After the take I could quickly check on the HD monitor if everything was in focus.
And this feature would be helpful as well on a 35mm format camera like the RED one.

There are also other instances i.e. if someone said that he had seen a boom in the frame you could immediately check it. So this is very helpful also for the technicians not just for the client.

Simon
 
In-field playback functionality

In-field playback functionality

Yes to playback on camera - coming soon.

And yes to QuickTime reference movies playing in real time in the field.

Open the recorded clip in REDALERT, and make one-light color correction on a reference frame if you wish. Then select "Make QuickTimes", this is an instant process. Then you can open either the 0.5K, 1K or 2K resolution QuickTime movie for instant instant color corrected video playback in QuickTime player.

As a reference, the 0.5K ones play very nicely (real time) on my 2.16GHz 15" MacBook, and even at full screen look very acceptable. Then I always have the option opening the 1K or 2K ones if I want so see fine details.
 
digitalfx said:
So I guess the Director was paying for the production, not the client...If I told my clients this I wouldnt be in business today. How can you afford to shoot w/ the Genesis yet not afford video assist?
Click to expand...

Nope, the director was not paying for the production. But it was a European commercial shooting here in Toronto. And the Europeans do things differently than here. The agency was from Russia, and the directors were from Germany. In Europe, often the directors handle the post (and on this job they DEFINATELY do as it was a Snickers commercial that will have 'transformers' type animation in it).

So, yes, they did have video assist. BUT, we did a very quick driving shot. Threw the Genesis in the back of the truck, quickly rigged up a downconverter and clamshell and then it drove away. The directors were supposed to record it, but they forgot. And they had no problem telling the acency that they would NOT play it back off the camera. And they agency didn't mind.

Now, if this was a North American agency, sure they would have demanded it, but it wasn't, and they didn't.

There once was a car commercial shot here that lost an entire setup due to the AC playing back off camera and not re-cueing properly. It is because of things like this happening that many people I work with have a 'don't playback footage off the camera master' rule.

Again though, for smaller budget stuff, this feature would be great. But don't forget, it is only for the current setup (or whatever is on the CF Card in the camera), as once it is taken out, you'd have to playback off your data ingest station (assuming you don't have video assist).

I hope that answers your comment.
 
skipdivils said:
There once was a car commercial shot here that lost an entire setup due to the AC playing back off camera and not re-cueing properly. It is because of things like this happening that many people I work with have a 'don't playback footage off the camera master' rule.
Click to expand...

Pretty funny, maybe I should start working in Europe...I agree with not playing back out of camera. I never allow this for the reason you mention. My comment was more about video assist playing it back, but I didnt realize it was a car shot. Been in the same situation and wasnt able to play it back.
 
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