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Filed under: Lighting •Production •Visual Effects •

ScopeBox Software with the Reflecmedia LED Green Screen System

An important note when installing the ScopeBox software, is that it still must reside on a partition that has an installed version of Final Cut Pro, as it utilizes some of it’s resources to function. Of course I didn’t read the directions when first installing it and trying to run the program and it wouldn’t recognize my camera as a source. It wasn’t until I checked out the FAQ on the ScopeBox web site that I realized I needed to re-install on my external Firewire HD that has a boot partition running Leopard and Final Cut Pro. Then everything worked fine.

ScopeBox running with my own UI layout providing live data and screen preview - next to the Reflecmedia LED controller.

Connecting my camera with a Firewire cable to the MacBook Pro, I was able to get ScopeBox to recognize it immediately and start giving me live data feedback. The UI is amazingly clean and easy to understand - very intuitive for a first-timer such as myself. It allows you to view several scope types simultaneously and arrange the windows on your desktop how you like them. The best part is you can save this layout as your default if you wish. I chose to have the Preview window, Waveform, RGB Parade and the Vectorscope open as my default toolset.

Using the Vectorscope to zero-in on the green channel info, I could adjust the Reflecmedia controller until the point of the spike comes as close to the inside target in the green box. This assures me that I have sufficient luminance and I’ve maxed-out my green information. Anything more will affect the overall image and darken the subject (as shown in the comparison figure below). Using the RGB Parade, you can monitor your Red and Blue levels as well so you can fine tune a balance. The Preview window is a balanced and fairly accurate representation of your final recorded image, so it can actually replace a field or studio monitor (even when not shooting green screen).

TOP: LEDs off / CENTER: LEDs full power / BOTTOM: LEDs at optimum setting.

According to the ScopeBox web site, ScopeBox software also monitors audio (simulated VU meters), multiple camera input and monitoring and direct disk recording of your input signal. I didn’t try any of these other features in my tests, however I did notice a bit of a lag once I had it running for over 30 minutes. This may be due to it’s inherent buffering. They claim that the buffering allows you to record the input signal before you even hit the record button (similar to a pre-roll feature on many cameras).

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