Z1U / Cineform / Vegas Problem

mjroddy wrote on 3/29/2005, 11:13 AM

First, let me say what a frustrating time I've had getting footage from my Z1U to Vegas. I THINK it started with a bad cable (it was a brand new 6pin to 4pin 1394 from BestBuy), but that's not confirmed yet.
Then, Cineform seems to think my camera is ALWAYS in camera mode until I reboot everything several times and... nevermind all that. Just venting...
So I FINALLY (after 2 days of frustration) get to digitize a few clips (HURRAH!). Then I put those on the Vegas timeline and play them back. I find that I have to have a pretty small window (640x360) using Preview Auto to get consistant 29.97. But ok.
So the real problem I'm asking about here is about a very high-pitched whine/whistle that's burried in the audio of the digitized clip. I've plugged the camera's audio out directly to a Mackie 1204 and listened intently to see if it was either camera noise recorded during the shoot or ambient or what. But the high-pitch tone is only on the digitized clip. Should i go straight to Cineform with this quest? Or is this an issue that's been brought up here?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can ease my frustration level.

Comments

JJKizak wrote on 3/29/2005, 11:42 AM

I can't offer any help but when I first tried to hookup the firewire I was trying to put it in the wrong jack, the one that feeds the component to the tv. Once properly connected everything was kool. The Sony driver install is also a trip.
I would get a powerfull magnifying glass and look at those jacks and cable ends first. That cable may have roached something out.

JJK

MH_Stevens wrote on 3/29/2005, 11:45 AM

I have been through all of this. I know what you are feeling but listen up!

ONE: Make sure you have a competant machine. The Cineform specs are really low end. I had to upgrade to a P4 3.4MHz HT for acceptable results.

TWO: Make sure you are using the upgrade to ver. 1.6. release of ConectHD. 1.5.2 is inefficient and has ben replaced, but last time I looked Sony had not updated their site. If that is still the case get the uograde from the Cinefoem site.

THREE: For increased efficieny if the above does not help you, first capture the m2mt files and THEN convert them. You will likely loose scene detection this way.

FOUR: Do what I mainly do even having Cineform, and capture the m2t files with a freeware program like CapDVHS, then edit nativly. Frame rate will be low in preview but results for me were better than with Cineform!!!!!!!!!! For me Cineform processes the video looking like it made correction to sharpness and color saturation. Cineform might deny this but I have done extensive tests and it clearly looks that way to me.

Mike Stevens

epirb wrote on 3/29/2005, 12:49 PM

Mike,
Question? after you did the upgrade to the 1.6 ver(i did just the other day), do you need to go back and reconvert the m2t files that were done with the old version 1.5.3 to the new DI avi's? Is there an improvement in the conversion?

MH_Stevens wrote on 3/29/2005, 2:26 PM

No. The improvement is just in the efficiency of how the program is written. It will work on a slower computer than 1.5.2 and is less error prone, but if it worked for you in 1.5.2 then i would say it is done right.