preview out while editing hdv?

I can't get a preview out while editing hdv. The only time I get a picture on my monitor is when I'm 'printing to tape'.
I'm connected as such. Firewire out to a sony hdv deck. Then s-video to monitor.
FCP preferances are set to 1080i50(shot in PAL).
DV preview out works fine, just no hdv preview.

What am I doing wrong?

Bret

as far as ive experienced (and read) that is simply a fact of life with HDV.
you can do a desktop cinema preview to a second rgb monitor if you have one - but no firewire preview.

your only error was buying into the lie that is HDV

Only way to preview it on an external monitor is with an HD capture card like the AJA or Decklink ones, or the new MATROX MXO.

HDV is a far more complex beast than DV...

I'm having the same issue, only with dvcproHD on a new macpro.

I know the card will solve the problem, but here are 2 questions:

1: is there any way to do a live preview without a card ( meaning that it plays while the canvas plays, like it does with DV).

2. which card? I'm leaning toward a Decklink, but am wondering what other folks experiences are with this and with the Kona. Like, what kind of realtime effects can i expect with each card, etc. I've looked at their websites, and decklink's is much more descriptive and helpful. but the Kona cards are very good too, so I'm wondering what makes them better.

thanks,

HarryD

just from what ive read, and the feeling i get from the company - id go decklink.

as far as card-free monitoring goes, here is what i do with dvcproHD:

i have a g5 with a radeon 9800pro video card out to 2 monitors, a dell 24" and an older mitsubishi 19" crt. i get realtime desktop cinema preview from my timeline out to the mitsubishi. so its almost as good as the old DV process.

is it scope accurate for precise color correcting? probably not.
does it look conversationally close to my sony broadcast reference monitor? (as viewed by my clients) - YES!

as a side note, using my canopus advc110 i get still and scrub preview out to my sony pvm, just not realtime playback

Hi, wayne,

Thanks.

i read that you did that in another post. the thing is - with my system, i can't get the second monitor to play the video. it'll display the parked playhead still, and it'll scrub.

I've got a new Macpro 2.66Ghz, and several monitors, most recently a 20" samsung LCD and an older 19" samsung CRT. they work, but the HD won't play unless it's on the primary monitor. and sometimes the canvas won't play either, depending on setting.

HD is certainly a brave new world.

HarryD

For DVCPRO HD you have two solutions:

1) DVCPRO HD Deck to route the signal thru

2) HD Card like the Decklink or AJA ones.

DRAWBACKS...you need an HD monitor to view an HD signal. If you get an HD card with Component and composite outs (Kona LH, Decklink Extreme) you can view it on an SD monitor. Not at all good for color grading though. And, with the DVCPRO HD Deck, it has SD connections and you can view the footage. But, for color correction, you need an HD CRT or LCD that is designed for this purpose.

This is why I bought the Sony PVM-14L5 Multiformat Monitor. $1500 and it accepts and HD signal. Unfortunately, these are not made by Sony anymore and no longer sold new. need to find them used or somewhere obscure.

Hi, Shane,

are you saying that the 2nd monitor digitial preview won't work with DVCProHD? I thought it was? this is a stopgap measure for me anyway, but I'd like to get going with HD. but it's interesting that the canvas even stops playing sometimes.

I know about the stuff you're saying (color grading and such), my situation is that I'm just now getting set to work in HD. I actually don't do color grading for my clients (they don't need it - it's not critical broadcast work). So a good quality TV that's properly set up has always been adequate; i'm using an HDTV and it looks pretty good on the DV and DVD side, and on the HDTV broadcast side. but now i need a way to get into it from FCP. of course, it doesn't have HDMI, so i'm screwed there, too.

I'll be using the money from the next job for a card, and I have to figure out which to get and the most efficient way to go about this. for hi-def, I will be working exclusively in DVCProHD (no need for uncompressed). I'm not a post house, so i generally don't have to be concerned with multiple formats because I shoot my own footage. occasionally i capture VHS, but that's already taken care of.

if I had the budget I'd certainly get a "real" production monitor, but it's just not an issue right now. perhaps in the furure (let's see what HD reveals!).

HarryD

Oh, if you have two computer monitors attached to your computer, you can definately use one to show the footage using Digital Cinema Preview. I did that for my producer all the time, until I got my HD monitor. Works just fine and looks good...depending on the monitor.

thanks for all the info