William Demeritt

When you are spending ~$20K on a single piece of gear, I'm not going to "settle" to try to save what in the long run is a small amount of money

As Charles Papert has said before, the two things that most directly influence on your operating are your gimbal and your arm. 1 HD line or 8, tally line or dc regulating microprocessor, back mounted vest or 2" centerpost, all operating still comes down to specific components that make your life (and your job) easier or harder.

$3,000 on the arm when compared to the cost of the arm is 1/6, but if you're making an investment that would last years, a 16% price increase becomes less prohibitive if you've saved and planned your investment. Furthermore, if you're buying a full package that you'll use as a foundation for the run of your career, then a 16% "premium" on a piece of equipment that you never have to revisit is a smarter business decision than buying something you may need to "upgrade" before it's fully paid for.

Lastly, again considering the package as the foundation, then the $3,000+ "premium" should be compared with the price of the full investment. So when considering an economical full package valued at $90,000+, $3,000 more on the arm is only a 3.333% increase. In the scope of a package the "big guys" have, it's $3,000 out of $150,000, or 2%.

In the scope of a career that should last many years, providing livelihood for you and your family, why wouldn't you budget to purchase a piece of equipment that plays a MAJOR role in your success, considering that most other equipment could "take a back seat" budgetarily, if necessarily?

I'm really doing my best to make the above statement objectively, not just as a Steadicam operator but as a business owner/operator. You know your business, you know what you need and what works best for you. Maybe the G series arms can "split apart for storage" which makes it optimal? I just think the folly here lies in making it strictly a financial decision when many other factors come into play... even though, as I'm trying to indicate, a business financial decision points towards the "more expensive" option being the safer, less risky one with a negligible price difference.

Looking for more definitive proof, but I'm pretty sure the LEMO connectors in the PRO and XCS center posts have a coupling/decoupling rating of 2000 cycles. My concern is for the possibility of mechanical danger such as cross threading in the collars, not so much with the LEMO connectors.

Obviously contact GPI for their input. The sled sock does seem more appealing from a simplicity standpoint, as well as quick storage during company moves.

Didn't we used to talk about the art and science of Steadicam on this site? It seems like the substantial topics die off quickly, and the vapid, political ones drag on forever; like some kind of horrible circle jerk. Quit feeding the fire, people!

No you are.

Political? Vote for Pedro!

Alec: are you trying to use the splitter from the first post? It's basically just a passive splitter, slightly better than a glorified T-barrel splitter. I'm not 100% certain, but I would be concerned that these kind of passive splitters would change the resistance and possibly introduce issues. Perhaps the Boxx dislikes 37.5ohm resistance instead of the expected 75ohm of HD-SDI?

I've used the active reclocking amplifier I posted above with a few setups (I think including a Boxx Meridian) and it worked well.

How about we move on and talk about Steadicam?

Absurd.

Can anyone help me figure out how to dynamic balance my Christmas tree? The ornaments seem to be coplanar, but I'm sensing some vibration in the Angel topstage.

Yea, the fear of cross-threading is my largest concern, and I'm hoping to get PRO to weigh in once in the new year. I would imagine it's not designed to be a daily/regular type thing, but I wanted to check on people's experiences first.

My intention wouldn't be to do it directly on set, but rather during my usual "set up" and "break down" time that I work into my arrival and departure schedule. I generally pull everything from my car anyway, so while putting things together, I foresee the opportunity to take that additional 3 minutes to assemble the sled. I have the big anvil case I could use for travel, but it's so enormously bulky for the short drives I generally take. Air travel, I'll use it without hesitation... but getting to set that's 10 minutes from my place seems like overkill.

I've also considered getting a sled sock through Modular 51 or others, but I haven't pulled the trigger on it just yet. Exploring my options.

Quick question that was on my mind and I didn't think to call Jack earlier belt the holiday breaks took hold.

The PRO sleds with quick release bayonets at top and bottom, are they designed for repeated mount and dismount? The screw collars make for quick access to dismount for service and maintenance, but is it encouraged or discouraged as a means to store and travel with the sled?

For Service, I'm sure the screw collars will work well for the occasional disconnect and reconnect (once every month on average?). However, is there any concern with daily or multiple times per month connecting for work and disconnecting for storage/transport?

Have other operators had experiences one way or another? Has PRO already commented on the matter?

Dean: you can't see it? It's hilarious! So epic!

Selling my Atomos Samurai. Owned it for about a year, selling it because I got a Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2. Light wear on it, I'll upload photos tonight when I get home. 2 batteries, case, Unit itself, battery to ptap adapter, single battery charger and the drive caddies and reader with cables. Also has mini bnc cables to female bnc and male bnc. I'll even throw in a 128gb hard drive, gets about 90 minutes recording time in Apple ProRes HQ.

Asking $1300 for the whole kit. Retails for $1595 without a drive. Hit me up with any questions.

Looking forward to it! I use mine on all my Alexa jobs and am very happy!

If the world doesn't end on the 21st, maybe we can all get together on the 23rd and air our steadi forum greivences around a Festivus pole.

I'm all for that!! I hear they have poles at Jumbo's. Ron, care to organize?

Seriously, I mean this with all my love: grow some sac people. If you disagree with Eric or whoever, tell him to piss off or maybe just ignore him! I don't care if it's a 30 year veteran or a newbie; if you disagree with them, say so or just ignore it.

The thread in question: yes, a part of me was somehow curious about the pan inertia computations as something to keep in mind when figuring out a shot. The other side said: I don't have time to do those calculations on set. In the end, if someone has that information handy, post it.

If anyone is seriously dissuaded from asking questions or worse pursuing their dreams because of someone ON THE INTERNET, you're gonna have a real hard time figuring out your real life.

This nanny "Oh help me, protect me" complex is the real threat to us and our industry. If someone pushes you out, good luck negotiating rates or following your passions in the future.

Perhaps we should have a separate thread just for people to contribute their experiences with each transmitter package, which they bought and why (if they did) etc. Lots of people have had different experiences at this point, maybe it's time to start collating all these thoughts into one thread where people can read through and draw their own conclusion on what to recommend for rental, or even what to buy on their own?

And of course, the Great Transmitter Debacle will happen someday...

Mike: Dtap from an Anton Bauer battery plate into the Bolt with the cable included with the package. 12v unregulated, but no more than 14.4v. Also failed to charge via the AC adapter as Chris at Teradek was helping me troubleshoot over the phone. This was brand new out of the Pelican box it was delivered in.

Well, we tried to use one this morning that we received, but the powering system malfunctioned so we can't change it. Teradek is doing an RMA for us already. I called 3 times this morning and nobody answered their phones in the support department. Finally go thru and their support narrowed it down that the powering system was not working properly. Nice QC guys.

Wile it was briefly working from the half charged internal power source, it broke up when 3 people were standing between the TX and RX at 50 feet? Daytime exterior.

Mystery mostly solved. Check your LEMO pins for defects, people!

Another question for Teradek people in the thread: have you run into problems with the Bolt shutting off Anton Bauer batteries, probably related to the batteries detecting they're charging another battery and faulting out? Curious to hear thoughts.

Preliminary thought/edit: the Bolt only accepts 6-16v power, and I probably gave it more.

That's great to hear (both beautiful Steadicam and fucked up). I was a huge fan of "The Assassination of Jesse James...", and have looked forward to Andrew Dominik's next offering for a while!

Wow, that's one smooth cock.

As more and more HD digital cinema cameras are trickling out, so too is the market growing for accessories and tools to work with those cameras. Inevitably, the question of backwards compatibility and multi-use comes up: does that onboard recorder receive SD? SDI? What tools do I need to make it work as many places as possible? Since I get a few questions from time to time (and I seem to be the resident geek, what with Afton working and being a Dad and all), I thought I'd write up a small primer.

Let's start in the past: the film cameras you're (probably) accustomed to working with had a video tap that gives analog video, or composite video. Read the following if you're a REAL nerd:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

Composite video is an analog signal, as in it's a modulated video signal carried over the cable from camera to your monitor. As a modulated signal, it's susceptible to attenuation, noise, interference, etc. Otherwise, the signal itself IS the video. Since it attenuates over distance, often times weak signals were amplified by adding a video distribution amplifier to "beef up" the strength of the signal. As the wiki article says, let's called this CVBS.

Now, we have all these fangled HD digital cinema cameras, and usually their monitor or video outputs HD (some cameras don't have a specific "MONITOR" feed, so we just tap one of the video outs). Now, the camera itself is digitizing the image, sending the video to internal storage as well as video outputs. They come out in a format called HD-SDI.

HD-SDI is digital signal, in that it is not a modulated signal like CVBS, but rather a stream of data whose signal constitutes a transmission of images.

To use a household analogy, your old school telephone line is an analog signal. Your internet connection, ethernet cables, etc are a digital signal.

So, HD-SDI signal carries an HD video image, and connects to an HD-SDI input on a monitor, recorder, or some other bulkhead jack with a receiver in mind. To any receiver not expecting a serial digital interface signal, it won't know what to do it and disregard the signal. Likewise, to any receiver expecting a modulated signal, be it NTSC, PAL or SECAM, it won't know what to do with an SDI signal and ignore it.

Now, for some confusion: SDI, being a digital signal, can carry standard definition much like it can carry high definition. The signal carries less data, but it's a digitized signal all the same.

Lots of accessory manufacturers sell things and say, "Yes, our product transmits/records/handles SD as well as HD!"

Technically, they're not wrong. Yes, that device does transmit/record/handle standard definition, but they handled it in a digital format: NOT CVBS. Their product is already set up to handle a digital interface, regardless of the resolution. What their product is generally not set up to do is handle an analog signal (unless they specifically say that it does).

Most of us think of our world in HD or SD: HD means HD-SDI and SD means CVBS. What we're thinking of is 2 different technologies, but in our heads, it's just a video feed. Many accessories out there will say, "Yes, we do SD!" and we think it to mean "Sweet, I can use this on my film camera jobs with an SD video tap as well as my Alexa jobs!" IT DOES NOT.

Products I've seen that are misleading in this way include:

• Decimator MD-DUCC - Specifically says it cross-converts SD to HD, HD to SD, HD to HD, SD to SD... but in actuality, it only does all those cross conversions in SDI. Yes, it still has HD to SD down-converting, but even I made the mistake thinking it would convert CVBS to HD-SDI. Nope.
  
• Atomos Samurai - a few operators have told me that the Atomos people have told them it records SD. Again, that's correct... it records standard definition when inputed as SDI. No, it does not demodulate an NTSC analog signal, convert it to digital and then store it.
  
• Switronix Recon - I think a few operators bought one, expecting it to transmit SD. Yes, it transmits SD-SDI, but not CVBS. To my knowledge, one of the few transmitters I know that transmit CVBS and HD-SDI is the Boxx Meridian.
  

Just some thoughts to keep with you this Christmas shopping season, as well as going into this digital future we're facing. If you're considering buying a tool or accessory, and it has anything to do with the video signal, MAKE SURE you ask the sales rep to distinguish if it works with CVBS, SD-SDI and HD-SDI.

p.s.- I kinda hate the new post editor. What does it leap back 5-10 words randomly when I hit backspace!?!

Rick,

With my PRO arm and arm post, I don't keep the screw locked, and when I'm standing up straight in my operating pose, the gimbal arm and arm post stay still unless I move them. I haven't experienced the gimbal arm wanting to travel anywhere I didn't want to put it, and that's with the screw fairly backed off (the arm post is very free to spin).

Just my experience, of course.

That's fantastic news, Chris! I'm looking forward to placing my order once they start trickling out! Although, I'm not sure I want another reason for the DP to hang around my sled and not be at the monitor?

It´s even less funny when you understand German...

aaaaaand end thread.

I usually forego HD with DSLR gigs and just use the composite SD feed. Never cuts out, way less finicky, and gets the job done when the camera fights you.

I'll wait to play with Papert's.

You heard me...