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Serious Magic DV RACK Manual

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The DV Rack Field Guide

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Summary of Contents for Serious Magic DV RACK

  • Page 1 The DV Rack Field Guide...
  • Page 2 These words may be quite tiny but our lawyers still find deep meaning in them: DV Rack and its respective logos are trademarks of Serious Magic, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Patent pending. Specifications, features, and prices are subject to change without notice. Some images were simulated for print but reflect actual output of the product.
  • Page 3 But DV Rack can be more. Perhaps the words of one early DV Rack user say it best, “I liked DV Rack immediately because it let me change how I shoot video.
  • Page 4 If you’d like to find out more about a particular topic, press F1 to search the Help system by keyword for additional information. • The DV Rack User Guide PDF - The User Guide PDF file contains all of the information from the Field Guide and more. The User Guide also includes color images, clickable reference links, descriptions of less com- mon tasks and additional shooting scenarios.

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    Arranging DV Rack Components - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -15 Quitting DV Rack - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -15...
  • Page 6 Table of Contents Using the Waveform Monitor to Check for Dark and Bright Areas - - -26 The Vectorscope - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -26 The DVR - Digital Video Recorder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -27 The Pre-Roll Recording Buffer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -27...

  • Page 7: Installing And Starting Dv Rack

    Thanks for purchasing DV Rack. Whether you are new to videography or a sea- soned pro, we hope that DV Rack will save you time, energy, money, and perhaps every once in a while, that ever-so-vital anatomical feature upon which you sit when you get to your editing workstation.
  • Page 8 NOTE: You can find your Installation Key on the DV Rack CD sleeve. Activating without an Internet connection If DV Rack does not detect an Internet connection at the time of activation, it will present a screen with 3 choices: Connect the current computer to the Internet and activate online.

  • Page 9: Set Up For Seriously Better Video

    Record button. “Recording” tells you how to improve your video while you’re rolling and review your clips for problems before leaving the shoot. If you’d like to learn about each component in detail, see The DV Rack Components and see Arranging DV Rack Components.

  • Page 10: Step 2 - Set Up To Color Bars

    This important step ensures that what you see in DV Rack at the shoot is what you get later in production. While you’re at the shoot, we recommend setting up to Color Bars whenever lighting around your computer changes significantly.

  • Page 11: Step 3 - Calibrate Your Camera With Sureshot

    The fastest way to calibrate your camera is by using the DV Rack SureShot Camera Setup. To order or replace SureShot cards, visit seriousmagic.com.

  • Page 12: Step 4 - Select A Native Dv Format

    Now, follow the remaining steps on the SureShot Wizard interface. NOTE: You can also calibrate your camera manually using the Waveform Monitor, Vectorscope and other DV Rack components. See The DV Rack Components to learn about these devices and how to use them.

  • Page 13: Step 5 - Check Audio Levels

    (such as a microphone). When viewing in U. Scan, click the Safe button to see the “active picture area” outlined. Keep all important scene elements within this box because anything outside this area will not be visible on many TVs. Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...

  • Page 14: Step 7 - Test Record

    DV Rack has an optional grid overlay that can be added to the Safe Area indicator. This can be very useful when composing shots. To learn how to turn these grids on, see “Framing your Shot” on page 23. The Field Monitor grid in Tickmark format helps you frame your shot in thirds.

  • Page 15: Improve Quality While Recording

    Click the Zebra 1 button again to turn it off. Analyze Your Clip Quality with DVR Clip Alerts DV Rack provides you with problem alerts while you are still on location. Decrease the number of fixes required in post-production by evaluating your sig- nal for Clip Alerts.

  • Page 16: Check Your Audio Signal For Consistency

    If you see Clip Alerts in your signal, make adjustments to your equipment or talent, then re-record as needed. To learn more about Audio Clip Alerts, see page 32. Check Your Audio Signal for Consistency Low audio levels are shown in the signal where the talent’s head was turned away from the microphone for a short time.

  • Page 17: The Dv Rack Software And Controls Overview

    • Managing Clips Window Controls If your monitor resolution is set to higher than 1024 x 768 in Windows, DV Rack is displayed in a Window. If it is set to 1024 x 768 resolution, DV Rack occupies the entire screen to maximize display space. In either case, you can use the standard Windows key combination of Alt + Tab to cycle through running applications.

  • Page 18: The Right-Click Pop-Up Menus

    Field Monitor, SureShot camera calibration wizard or Click the right mouse button or touchpad any other DV Rack equivalent anywhere in DV Rack to display a pop- component up menu where you can: • Open the Add Component menu •...

  • Page 19: The Settings Menu

    Menu pages Setting What you can do with this setting Rec File Select the DV file format that DV Rack saves clips to: Format • AVI T1 for Type 1 DV .avi files • AVI T2 for Type 2 DV .avi files (Default setting.) •...

  • Page 20: Changing Menu Settings

    TIP: Hold down the CTRL key before you click to move the dials more slowly in smaller increments for fine tuning. Shortcut Keys DV Rack includes many handy keyboard shortcuts and allows you to create your own key combinations. Here are just a few: Action...

  • Page 21: Managing Dv Rack Components

    Arranging DV Rack Components You can rearrange the DV Rack components and change the order in which they are stacked in the rack. • Click and drag the edge or metal face of any component to it’s new vertical or horizontal position on the rack.

  • Page 22: Managing Clips

    DV Rack creates a .dvr file within a Windows folder. The file and the folder share the project name that you created. NOTE: The .dvr file is an important internal DV Rack data file. When you back up your files, be sure to include the .dvr file.

  • Page 23: Setting Default Clip Names

    Newly recorded clips appear at the top of the Clip List in the DVR. Clips in the DVR Clip List are kept in the “Clips in Use by DV Rack” folder within the current project folder. DV Rack uses this folder to keep track of your files. You should never delete, move, rename, or edit clips within this folder;...
  • Page 24 Ejecting Clips for Use in Other Programs You can remove clips from the DV Rack Clip List and make them available for use in other programs by ejecting them. Ejected clips are removed from DV Rack but they are not deleted from your hard drive. Ejected clips can be found in the DV Rack Ejected Clips folder in the current Project folder.
  • Page 25 Click Yes if you want to delete the clip from your computer immediately and permanently. See Help for complete information about ejecting and deleting clips. Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...
  • Page 26 The DV Rack Software and Controls Overview...

  • Page 27: The Dv Rack Components

    You can find more instructions in the Additional Ways to Improve Your Video, in the User Guide PDF file and in the DV Rack Help system. In DV Rack, press F1 to access Help.

  • Page 28: Switching The Field Monitor Between Clips And The Camera

    DV Rack’s two Zebras are useful for making these kinds of creative adjustments as you shoot.

  • Page 29: Framing Your Shot

    NOTE: By default, DV Rack sets the Zebra 1 threshold to highlight areas that are at 100% brightness or higher. In some cases, video brightness can reach up to 110% but in most circumstances, a 100% setting is sufficient. Using Zebra to identify light areas: Click the Menu button.
  • Page 30 NOTE: Some televisions are unable to display as much as 10% of your broadcasted video. See “Overscan, Underscan and the Video Safe Area” on page 43 for more information. The DV Rack Components...

  • Page 31: The Waveform Monitor

    Line 0 = top of the image, 480 = bottom. The DV Rack Waveform Monitor, as its name implies, converts video signals to a viewable waveform representing light, dark, luminance and saturation levels. It allows you to see what you are shooting more accurately than the human eye. You...

  • Page 32: The Waveform Monitor Settings

    Dark values are displayed on the left side of the scope, and white values are displayed on the right. This is similar to the way graphics software like Adobe® PhotoShop® represents brightness. If there’s a peak on the left side of the scope, that means the video is mostly dark.

  • Page 33: The Dvr - Digital Video Recorder

    Managing Clips. The Pre-Roll Recording Buffer DV Rack actually starts recording before you hit the Record button. Pre-Roll recording begins as soon as you connect your camera to DV Rack. You can set the Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...

  • Page 34: Recording Clips

    • To stop a clip and disconnect the DVR from the Field Monitor, click the Stop button to stop playing or recording. If your camera is connected and turned on, you will see live camera in the Field Monitor. The DV Rack Components...

  • Page 35: Creating And Editing Clip Notes

    This tool also provides a visual reference when directing your talent's vocal performance. To learn more about analyzing your audio signal, see Using the Audio Spectrum Analyzer to Analyze Audio Quality. Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...

  • Page 36: The Spectra 60

    The DV Rack Spectra 60 enables you to digitally monitor and evaluate your video with pixel-accurate chroma and luminance samples. It is different than traditional analog analysis tools as it allows you to monitor any pixel in an image whereas traditional scopes provide only scanline or full screen information.

  • Page 37: Using The Dv Grabber To Capture Still Images

    Also, because the clipboard can only hold one object at a time, if you copy other items from DV Rack or any other application onto the clipboard before pasting the still into an application, the still will be overwritten.

  • Page 38: The Dv Quality Monitor And Clip Alerts

    You may not see the flash while you record but DV Rack will catch it and display it as a video clipping alert in your DVR. You set the allowable luma level, sample area and event duration thresholds and video Clip Alerts tell you when your video quality exceeds all three threshold settings.

  • Page 39: Audio Clipping Alerts

    You can time your clips using a drop frame rate, non-drop frame rate or a PAL rate and choose between a 12 or 24 hour clock. Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...

  • Page 40: Using The Shot Clock To Time Your Clips

    • Click the Net Set button to automatically set the clock via the Internet to the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory. (Internet connection required.) If you are not connected to the Internet, set the clock by setting your system time in the Windows Control Panel. The DV Rack Components...

  • Page 41: Additional Ways To Improve Your Video

    Viewing the audio wave in Mono mode allows you to view 32 bands or range sep- arations. This helps isolate problem sounds like ambient fan or motor noises. Highest Treble High Treble Low Treble Lowest Treble Highest Bass High Bass Low Bass Lowest Bass Serious Magic DV Rack Field Guide...

  • Page 42: Using Hold And Freeze To Analyze Audio

    How to read Analyzer panels in Stereo mode The second 16 bands represent the same audio In Stereo mode, the first 16 ranges for the Right channel. bands represent the audio ranges for the Left channel. Highest Treble Lowest Treble Highest Bass Lowest Bass You can also monitor audio quality in the Clip List by watching for indicators that...

  • Page 43: Improving Clip And Scene Continuity

    Even if you just break for lunch, important aspects of your clips can change. Avoid continuity problems by using the DV Rack split screen feature. Using the Clip List to Check Video Continuity Sometimes an instant full-screen cut between two pre-recorded scenes is a better way to compare framing or catch continuity problems.

  • Page 44: Maintaining Consistent Color And Brightness Using A Green Screen

    This saves time in the edit suite by allowing you to use the same keyer settings for all clips. Another valuable application for DV Rack when shooting chroma key is to use the Spectra 60 to detect background color spill onto your foreground subject. Spill is the subtle color tinting on your subject from light bouncing off the floor back onto the subject.

  • Page 45: Videography Basics

    In these short recaps, we hope to give you enough essentials to understand how you can use some of the DV Rack components to improve your video and audio quality. For example, we believe that you can do a better job of using Zebra to adjust exposure and lighting if you have some idea of how Zebra patterns work.

  • Page 46: White Balance And Why It's Important

    DV Rack’s Sureshot component. In general it's best to avoid ambient lighting transitions during a shot, if at all possible. In some...

  • Page 47: Zebra And How It Can Improve Your Video Quality

    In this case, you should carefully review the shot in the DV Rack digital recorder (using the freeze, zoom and Spectra 60 func- tions if necessary) to ensure that the camera's automatic white balance function correctly tracked the changing scene.

  • Page 48: Audio Clipping

    “pop” may not clip at all but will still become an undesirable artifact in your audio signal. This is why DV Rack also has a pop detector designed to identify sudden surges in sound that don't clip but are likely to result in unpleasant, and possibly, unusable audio.

  • Page 49: Achieving Good Technical And Aesthetic Framing

    As you can imagine, this is a hit or miss process. Most professionals prefer to monitor and adjust their audio levels manually except in certain circumstances where this is not possible. DV Rack takes a great deal of the complexity and risk out of recording audio in manual mode.

  • Page 50: Technical Framing

    Framing your tal- ent too tightly can give your audience an unwanted sense of apprehension or claustrophobia. The Rule of Thirds Use the DV Rack framing Grid to help you keep your shots well framed. See The Settings Menu to learn how to turn on the Grid.

  • Page 51: Keeping Your Shot In Frame While Shooting

    Happily, you won’t need to take a felt pen to your computer screen. DV Rack has a Grid feature which superimposes lines on your picture to help you frame while shooting. See Using the Field Monitor Grid to frame your shot.
  • Page 52 “crisp” instead of washed out. This is one of the big advantages of DV Rack. Tools like the Waveform Monitor, Spectra 60 and SureShot let you maxi- mize your signal to fill the available dynamic range. This can only be done at the time you are shooting because the expanded dynamic range must be captured on location by adjusting your camera, lights and scene composition.
  • Page 53 DV Rack 1 editing clips in other programs 17 allowable quality thresholds 33 exposure, improving 6 audio balance and range 35 audio levels, checking 7 audio peak markers 36 feedback, preventing 4 audio problems, detecting 33 files, recovering ejected clips 18...
  • Page 54 Shot Clock, about the 33 socks, matching 27 sound check 7 splitting the Field Monitor 12 starting DV Rack 2 Stereo mode, checking audio in 36 system requirements - Please see Help tape, recording to 3 Tech Support web pages 12...

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