A few weeks ago, we published our fourth electronic newsletter: PVC Pipeline | Production, which included a pair of equipment reviews, a wrap-up of NAB, plus an inexpensive trick for offlining 24p material. Subscribers had exclusive access to these articles for the past few weeks. These articles are now available for all PVC visitors to view; a list of them is included below.
We are about to publish our fifth newsletter, which will be the second edition of our PVC Pipeline | Post publication. It looks to be another must-read, with Richard Harrington showing how to make your Flash video content searchable, Chris Meyer explaining the workflows required by the new pixel aspect ratios introduced in Adobe Creative Suite 4, Scott Simmons giving Final Cut Pro editors a primer on how to use Avid Media Composer, and more. To receive exclusive access to these articles before everyone else, click here for your free subscription!
PVC Pipeline | Production #2:
Review: Sony HVR-Z5U 1/3″ 3-CMOS HDV Camcorder
by Adam Wilt
“When Sony bought Konica/Minolta”, says Sony’s Juan Martinez, “we suddenly became a major lens manufacturer.” One of the results of this acquisition is the HVR-Z5U, an HDV/DVCAM camcorder with a 20x fixed “G lens”. Consider it the wide-zooming half-brother of the HVR-Z7U, which shares much of what comes behind the lens.
Review: Rode NTG-3 short shotgun microphone and Blimp windshield
by Jim Feeley
Users of short shotgun microphones can be sorted into two categories. Those who complain about spending $250 to $500 on a mic, and those willing to spend $1000 to $2000 on one. Into the first category you can place students, hobbyists, many camera operators, and just about every producer. In the later you’ll find professional sound mixers and…well, that’s about it. So what mic choices do those restrictions translate to?
NAB 2009 Impressions
by Alex Lindsay
2009 was almost the first NAB’s I’ve missed in a decade. In the fall, I looked at my schedule and declining conventions and wasn’t sure if I was even going to go. Interestingly enough, this year’s show actually turned out to be one of the most useful and interesting years in recent memory. For me, it was not about big news items but, rather, many small revolutions that, as an aggregate, were very exciting. In this article, I will cover the trends that seemed to emerge and the products that caught my eye.
Offlining 24p in Apple’s Final Cut Express
by Kevin P. McAuliffe
About a year ago I had a client that was working on thirteen episodes of a show, and much like most shows these days, they had no budget to work with. When they initially approached me, I told them that the easiest way to save money right off the bat was for them to do a “rough” offline (meaning that the picture was 99% locked, and I would take a day to do some minor tweaks). That way, instead of paying $5000 per week to do an offline, they could do a rough cut at home, then they could spend $1000 for a one day edit per week to sit with me to smooth things out. At least, that was the theory…
