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#1
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Video Playback/Output
Hello fellow PT users. I added a post here before and got the answers I needed, even though it took a while, people here in this forum were very helpful. I have another question about PT LE.
If I had a Mac running PT LE 7.3 and I wanted to playback video through an external monitor, simple, just get an external video device, such as the canopus ADVC, hook up the firewire cable into the MAC and canopus, and then just get a video coposite cable and plug that into the TV. Go to PT Option menu and click video out firewire and now you have a video file in PT being played back on a TV monitor. Thats as easy as it gets if you're running on a MAC. A PC on the otherhand, is not that smooth. Do the exact same proedure as above, and all you get is an error claiming that nothing is plugged into the firewire port(which it is). Apparantly, Digidesign does not support/recognize an external video device. Is this LAME or what? It's very uncool to have one platform be hassle free, regarding video playback, as oppose to the other being such a pain. We should rally against that. So what it all comes down to is that are they any ways/suggestions/workaround to this PC fiasco. I've researched into some of this and I heard you got to buy a video card that has more than 2 outputs, and use the extra output to your TV monitor. I'm not sure if this is true or not, because I believe PT LE may not be compatible with those cards. As you can see, this is very inconvennient to me, and I believe, to any one of you. If any of you fellow PT users have conquer this dilema, I'll be very appreciative to any suggestions or advice. Once again, thank you for your time and patience. |
#2
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Re: Video Playback/Output
There are several ways to have video playback out of PT.
The fact that the DV thru firewire doesn't work on the PC side depends on Digidesign and Apple I belive, because of the implementation of QT on Windows and such. Still, there's better ways to have video playback on a full screen on Windows. I use one of the "video cards with 2 more outputs" you mentioned in your post; it's a Matrox P750 triple head. Matrox released a certified driver to be used with Pro Tools, and it really works. I have dual monitors and QT preview on a full TV set connected either via Video or S-Video. Then you could use 2 video cards, both dual head and have them arranged so that the entire desktop stretches across all the 4 monitors, and put the video playback on one of the remaining 2 that aren't used for PT. Works too, and if you have the second video card with a DVI output you could connect something like a 32 LCD or plasma screen digitally and have a BIG video with no loss of quality. Both these methods require a bit of tweaking of video settings on the system, but they are more stable and latency free, which a DV/firewire hookup isn't, and don't require any additional costly HW to be hooked up (like a camcorder or things like that), and besides, that method isn't really a "pro" way of doing video post work, at least in the facilities I work with. If you factor that a P750 (AGP or PCIe) can be found on ebay for less than 50$ or the cost of 2 simple dual head PCI cards (you don't need super high end graphics to do this)... well, I think it's definitely better than any other solution. Hope this helps L.G. |
#3
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Re: Video Playback/Output
I use the second option. DVI on second gfx card straight to Plasma 42". Decent wow-factor.
Image quality way beyond the canopus I used on MAC. It is not true that there is no offset. Plasma has about 2 frames delay, so i have 6 quarter frames offset. This offset is rocksolid. The canopus however would drift from 12 to 18 quarter frames. All codecs are supported unlike the canopus which only works with DV.
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#4
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Re: Video Playback/Output
Cool It's a thing I'm thinking about, I think I'll be doing the same thing when I'll be upgrading my system to a new CPU. The latency though isn't graphic card dependent, it's the plasma screen that induces it, that's the nature of LCD and plasma screens; CRT monitors aren't affected by this, but they don't look as cool . How do you handle resolution for the video file and the plasma screen? I see we pretty much have the same system (I have a 4400x2 too, love it): how does the system handle all that? DO you notice any stuttering in the video playback? DO you use a separate drive (which one) for the video?
L.G. |
#5
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Re: Video Playback/Output
I use overlay function from the Nvidia drivers. This resizes the videostream to full screen on the DVI out whatever the native video file resolution might be.
I still request DV-Pal from the editors, since they often have hardware that does this well, but H.264 sure looks good too. I haven't tried HD resolutions in PT, but 720P worked just fine on several videofiles I tried. You can read about my HDD-setup here: http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.p...rt=&PHPSESSID=
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Newest Pro Tools on mac & pc. |
#6
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Re: Video Playback/Output
Wow... thanks guys on your input. Really appreciate it
Now, do any of you guys know of any current/modern video display cards out in the market? I was thinking about the matrox video cards, but I found out that AVID media composer are not compatible and doesn't perform well with any other cards except for NVIDIA. I also have avid media composer as well. I don't know of any other video cards that has more than 2 outputs except for Matrox and the NVIDIA Quadro are way too expensive. I beleive I shouldn't have to spend no more than 300 bucks for a video card. I'm not doing any gaming or graphic intensive stuff on my computer. I just want playback. I heard that I can maybe get two video cards intalled in my computer and use the 2nd card for external playback. If it is true, what brand are you using? Is it going to cost a pretty penny? Again, I heard that NVIDIA will do the trick, but I don't know if it is compatible with PT LE and what model to get. I really appreciate your input and any more suggestions/advices you can offer is a blast!!! Thank you. |
#7
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Re: Video Playback/Output
Just look up at Lode's hardware profile. I guess his two "GF" cards are NVidia Geforce models.
If you cannot fid those exact I belive the updated models will be fine too. Feedback report from users seems to be rather good with NVidia cards (as it's with Matrox). If you say Avid isn't comptible with Matrox cards just get a pair of those NVidia and you should be fine. Hope this helps L.G. |
#8
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Re: Video Playback/Output
My hardware-dealer was kind enough to let me try out a setup and change it if it didn't work out. Luckily I had no problems. Both cards have Nvidia GeForce chips.
I highly recommend befriending a store and asking for the same deal. It sounds like a good idea to get two Nvidia cards. Make sure the card that will handle video-out has no less than 256 mb. My screen setup I have two (old) vga flat screens connected to one gfx card. I use these for desktop, PT editing etc. The other gfx card sends one DVI video and one composite video out. Both are connected to the Plasma screen on the AV ports. The video window for PT is played on the composite video out. The gfx card detects the viedostream and plays it full screen on the DVI out. This is a hardware feature and from what I can tell does not burden the CPU. The point with this setup is that I can split the composite signal so it is also sent to the voice booth for voice-overs. Works wonderfully for me.
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Newest Pro Tools on mac & pc. |
#9
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Re: Video Playback/Output
Quote:
Lorenzo can you pass me a link or even send the thing to me direct? It really would have saved me a lot of trouble. Qhich Quicktime version you on nowadays? |
#10
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Re: Video Playback/Output
It happened quite a bit of time ago...I cannot remember exactly when, but I guess at the beginning of the last year or so (but I could be worng), and I think that's the reason why you cannot find anything written on their site, but at that time it was clearly announced.
Anyways. I'll try to take a look at what driver version is when I'll be back at my studio (been working freelance in other studios lately) and report back so that you could eventually serach it out in their drivers database. L.G. |
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