We are a studio. We have gear. Gear breaks.

I’m all for sending pro gear back to the manufacturer to be serviced, but in this economy, I also like to save where I can. When one of the four ballast boards on my Kino Ve 4Bank Ballast took a permanent nap, I decided to fix it myself.

With a quick search on the Kino site, I was able to identify the part number I needed. It took a few days to get the board (Kino made me order it from Samy’s) but once it came in, it only took about 5 minutes to swap.

I took some pictures…

Here’s the main ballast unit…

That had a dead ballast board, as evidenced by the non-op tube…

Start by removing 10 screws from the case cover. 3 on each side and 4 on top.

Here’s what is looks like inside. You can see in this picture (and the next) that I have already removed the white connectors on either end and the smaller red connector at one side on the second board up from the bottom.

To remove the board, just undo the three hex nuts. Two are on one side of the board (I’m pointing to one of them) and one is one the opposite end. DO NOT remove the small phillips head screw - it’s part of the board.

That’s all. Now, back to making movies…

- Mike

I’m not an engineer.

I don’t have a degree in electrical engineering, or any other form of engineering. I’ve never sat on an ISO, IEEE or any other standards panel. I’m not a computer genius. Everything I know about cameras, color space and NLEs I either picked up in film school or learned on the job along the way. I do, however, work with cameras and post-production workflows on a daily basis. I do a lot of shooting, editing and keying and I’m always trying to grasp the concept of different color spaces across the SD and HD spectrum. 

If you’re reading this post, then that probably closely describes you, too.

What is 4:2:0 HDV color space? How does 4:2:0 color space work? 

As I have done research over the years, the one thing I have learned is that color space is a deep, complicated topic. To make things worse, there doesn’t seem to be a single, easy-to-understand post on the web that breaks the concepts of color space down into layman’s terms. This post won’t be all-encompassing, but I do aim to share with you the concept of 4:2:0 color space in clear english to the best of my ability.

I highly encourage conversation on this topic. If you read this post and think I’ve gotten something wrong, please post a comment. If you can help to further clarify a point, please join in. As I continue my research and learn more about color space I’ll write about it in future posts.

Okay… here are the oversimplified basics of color space…

4:X:X refers to the number of pixels being sampled for each component of a three color image. “4″ is the maximum number and “1″ is technically the minimum number. 

For digital images, the whole ratio is generally referred to as YCbCr, where “Y” represents luminance, “Cb” represents the blue channel (as a difference between that and the luminance channel) and “Cr” represents the red channel (also as a difference from luminance). In the analog world, “YPbPr” means basically the same thing.

The first number refers to the number of luminance pixels that are sampled for each block of 4 pixels. In almost all cases, the first number will be 4. The second number refers to the number of blue pixels that are sampled for each block of 4 pixels. The third number refers to the number of red pixels that are sampled for each block of 4 pixels. Thus, 4:4:4 color space is the best possible option, since every single pixel is sampled for luminance, blue and red information.

Enter digital video and HDV. In order to save bandwidth and bitrate during DV compression, most manufacturers made their standard def DV cameras work on a 4:1:1 system. This meant that for each block of 4 pixels, all four were sampled for luminance, 1 was sampled for blue and 1was sampled for red. This means that DV doesn’t take up much bandwidth, but it does lack a significant amount of color information, which means it’s not ideal for pulling keys.

With the 4:2:0 color space of HDV the color information issue gets just a bit better. HDV works by sampling every luminance pixel as well as 2 of every 4 blue and red pixels. But what’s that crazy “0″ all about? Apparently, when the third number is 0, it means that every other line is skipped. This means that we now have 2 blue and 2 red pixels of information out of every 4, but only on alternate scan lines. This effectively gives us 4:2:2 color space, but at half the true resolution. This is better than 4:1:1, but still not great, since it leads to issues when trying to key out fine edges, moving objects, fingers, etc.

I hope that this helps to clear up some of your basic questions about 4:2:0 color space. I’ll be updating this post and adding new ones as I learn more.

– Mike

We took a trip out to Vegas to visit DTS at CES where we were able to see our three commercial spots featured prominently.

Each spot was given its very own display area!

UltraPC

Broadcast

At the Broadcast display they also turned some of our animation into print materials…

Car Audio was also on display…

DTS also put together a 15-minute presentation that showed off several of their technologies, including the brand new 11.1 audio format. For their demo of UltraPC they chose to use our UltraPC spot. Each viewer had their own pair of headphones that they were able to use for the UltraPC demo. It’s an amazing technology - two speaker or headphones truly sounds like full surround sound. Here’s a group of audio professionals and journalists watching the demo.

CES is always an amazing show that features great new technologies. DotLot was proud to be part of it.

Here’s one more cool shot. The video for this Kodak display was shot entirely on the DotLot green screen stage in Irvine.

For even more on CES, see this Buddy Blog post on the conference.

– Mike

Coming this fall … Adobe is going to release the next installment of its production suite, CS4. And after learning about some of the updated features, I have to tell you I’m quite excited. Here are some of the new or enhanced features I found most entertaining.

After Effects (AE), added several features making it even more user friendly while opening your creative genius with more tools. For instance you now have the ability to use adjustment layers like you do in Photoshop. Very nice! Also you can use the advanced clone tool to remove video blemished or add elements to your production. Adobe’s website mentioned filling a stadium of people which was fitting for DotLot and TBG as we just worked on the Madden ’09 rich media advertising. Here’s another great feature … import FLV files directly into AE. How many times have you wanted to edit or import a FLV into your production? There are so many other new and enhanced features that I implore you to look at. After Effects is an even more powerful than before.

Another Adobe tool we use often is Premiere. Here are some of the new / enhanced features YOU should be aware of: native tapeless workflow for RED, Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM, and AVCHD. This is an awesome timesaver for us and keeps the content in its truest form. Premiere added per-sequence settings to mix content with different editing and rendering setting for each sequence. It’s something we ALL have been waiting a long time for. You can now edit multiple clip’s effects, speed/duration and transitions, all in one instance, another great timesaver. Import FLVs, cool! Blu-ray authoring. Finally, here’s a rather interesting one, automatic transcription generation with speech-to-text analysis where Adobe uses a built-in speech-to-text analysis to create a XMP metadata which allows you to make corrections to transcription. You’ll just have to see for yourself.

This blog is not the place to review all the awesome new tools Adobe has updated and enhanced. But I will tell you that with all these new features, you will see Adobe gaining more ground in the post production world, especially in online videos. Now have fun and explore all that Adobe can offer your productions.

Google has now entered into the browser world with its deployment of Chrome. At first it takes a little getting used to as the toolbars are now incorporated into the whole interface. But, what I think Google does best is how they use videos to walk you through how the browser works and what to look forward to. This form of explanation through illustration is ideal for all us visual types. Check it out: How To’s

There are several interesting features you might want to take a look at. For instance, dynamic tabs allow you to rearrange your tab’s order, move it to create its own window, and drop it back in to consolidate windows. It reminds me of Adobe’s new interface where you can create new windows for bins or tools as well as place them in the same window for tab navigation. It makes a cleaner interface and over crowding with toolbars and other nonsense we all download.

Another interesting feature is the “Incognito Mode”. It allows you to browser the web without storing a record on your computer. Now there’s an interesting use of browser technology. Now I can check the scores with peace of mind.

Google set out to create a browser to run on today’s complex web application better. Being a participant in this digital media space, one has to wonder how this new browser is going to handle all the other pitfalls of creating web pages with video, Flash, Flex, Air, Papervision, etc.  Overall, I’m very excited of this new entrant and I’ll be testing its limits to see if it retains my default browser award. Has anyone been using Chrome and want to share their experiences with us?

YouTube may be getting ready to push the envelope of online video advertising even further. Accoring to the folks over at Mashable, YouTube may soon be experimenting with big ads and captions. The idea is that premium content would draw premium viewers who would be inclined to check out premium video ads.

As an advertising professional who is usually resentful of being advertised to, I can say that I like the idea so long as the ads remain specifically targeted to me based on the content I’m viewing.

Read the whole article here: Big Ads and Captions to Make YouTube More Like… TV!

We have used several different formats for shooting video. We own a Sony Z1-U and have fought the HDV battle for a long time. Over the past year or so, though, we have also shot extensively with the HVX-200, the RED ONE and several small consumer style cameras, such as the Canon HV-20 and the Flip. We are working hard to identify the perfect production workflow for acqusition for online distribution.

After having attended an LA area reseller’s seminar on the camera we had initially been unimpressed. Recently, though, our friends at Hollywood Press TV let us borrow their Sony EX-1 for some tests.  The results changed our perspective on the camera. We’re still getting acquainted, but at first glance we know that the camera can shoot 1080p at 24 and 30fps. It can shoot overcrank and undercrank. It has a fairly intuitive menu. The footage looks amazing! We struggled a little bit with some missing frames in After Effects, but assuming there is a fix for that, I think we may have found a great all-purpose camera for web production.

Who out there has used this camera? What has your experience been? If you have shot with this camera and used it for keying, web, or just about anything else, send a comment to let us know if it was a good camera for you.