Full screen video playback with PT

[Paul Maunder]

I work for a video facility and we regularly produce mixes in Protools. We have Digi Translator, which means we can export the audio from our Avid as an OMF and get it into Protools easily. However, up until now we've always exported the video as a quicktime, which I work with in a small window within Protools. I know that it's possible to display full screen video on a separate monitor along with a Protools session. Just wondering what we'd need to buy in order to do this? I know that I'll need some kind of video card for the computer (an 800mhz G4), but I have no idea which one to go for. Also, will the video automatically be output to the monitor when I import the video into Protools? What's the most practical video format to work with, given that it will be running off a firewire drive? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[audiogeek1]

What version of Pro Tools are you running? What hardware do you have? There are a few options with video cards. You could get an ATI Dual Monitor card with and SVideo output. This out will mirror your second monitor. If you set the resoulution at 640x480 on that monitor then the quicktime will play full screen on your tv.
Otherwise you could look into the Conopus firewire converter that will work with most versions of pro tools and play your quicktime full screen to a monitor. The downside is the latency of the canopus card. It varies depending on file size and type.

Mike

[player]

you could try Canapus firewire unit. runs fine with 18 qf offset. and its cheap too.....
do a search here. it been around quite a while
hope you find a solution

søren b

[soundlife2]

The new Aurora Fuse X cards work quite nicely as well.

We just installed 2 of them on our dub stage for full screen video to be broadcast to our DLP projector. The card's driver creates a 3rd monitor output at 720x486 pixel resolution.

Cheers,

[Richard Fairbanks]

I second the Aurora FuseX suggestion, if you can donate a PCI slot to it and are able to pay the somewhat higher price. The money is worth it, I think. It outputs full-screen NTSC or PAL video to a regular tv monitor and you can continue to use a second desktop monitor for Pro Tools. Same with Canopus. While Canopus does not require a PCI slot, you will be limited to DV movie quicktime files. FuseX allows a wider range of quicktime codecs and resolutions and has far less severe picture latency. You will prefer scrubbing on a FuseX over a Canopus. There are also some other sync problems with Canopus and similar firewire DV converters that do not seem to exist with other choices. I do not claim to be the last word on the subject, but there is an article or two on my website (below) that may provide some useful information for you.

Personally, I still prefer MOJO, but when you can spare a PCI slot it is hard to beat FuseX these days for convenience and flexibility. I'm curious to know if FuseX will work in a new PCIe machine.

Is your G4 a dual processor machine? If so, you're probably okay. If it is a single proc machine, you may want to consider an upgrade. I've got a G4/867 single proc that is okay for editing but is definitly underpowered in OSX for serious mixing work when picture is involved.

[JKD99]

Another extremely cool thing about the Fuse X is that it apparently will convert a PAL QT file to NTSC on-the-fly, as we discovered at the foley stage last week. I had provided them with my Samsung standard-converting VTR deck, but amazingly the Fuse X was able to do this automatically and so the deck was not needed. I have NO idea how this worked. The files were from PAL DVCAMs at 25 fps, but converted to 24 fps when loading into Virtual VTR (cool feature of VVTR).
So, anyway, Aurora Fuse X, or Aurora Igniter X-Pro, which we have here and like a lot.

My 2¢

[Paul Maunder]

Thanks for the advice guys. The Aurora FuseX sounds like a possible solution, but I'll be running it on a single processor 800mhz G4, so going off what you said, it could struggle with more complex sessions. I think the canopus could be a better short term solution until I can upgrade the computer. I've been holding off doing that until we can afford to upgrade to PT HD though, as the Mix cards I'm using obviously won't work in a G5. As long as the latency with the Canopus isn't too much of a problem, I think that could be the one to go for for now.

[minister]

i just bought a canopus for my C room. mBox, G5 iMac. little edit and pre-mix room. i was impressed with the ease and quality of it. used the SYNCHECK to set the offset, and while i could get it as dead nuts on as a Card, it was well under a frame of delay... a good solution...

i am saving up for a Fuse-X on a new computer for A...i think that will be really great! (still have an old igniter there.)

so, yeah, i concur with your thoughts as well.

[Richard Fairbanks]

so going off what you said, it could struggle with more complex sessions.

I want to clarify one thing that I may have stated inaccurately. When I tested with a G4/867 single proc and DV movies I did not experience any more cpu drain with FuseX than with Canopus. They both look good with a DV movie file. They both seem to allow about the same track count with the same DV movie file, so a slower machine is not a reason to favor Canopus over FuseX. In fact, just the opposite. With heavy sessions I DID have additional sync problems with firewire converters (Canopus, Dazzle, Miglia) that I have not had with any other video device including FuseX. (Sync slippage, explained a little more on my website.) Many people swear by their Canopus boxes and I respect minister's opinions but I have seen sync problems with them over and over and over, so I cannot recommend them. The point I meant to make about FuseX with your G4/800 is that you will not have very good performance with other Quicktime codecs that FuseX will play. Codecs like mp4 or Sorenson take extra cpu juice that will rob Pro Tools performance.

That's all, I just wanted to clarify.

[minister]

Many people swear by their Canopus boxes and I respect minister's opinions but I have seen sync problems with them over and over and over, so I cannot recommend them. The point I meant to make about FuseX with your G4/800 is that you will not have very good performance with other Quicktime codecs that FuseX will play. Codecs like mp4 or Sorenson take extra cpu juice that will rob Pro Tools performance.

no offense taken here. just clarifying. my C room is sort of a non-critical work room for my assistant, the occasional free lancer and interns. programs are edited, and sweetened and pre-mixed there (as well as other misc. audio work.) and one non-profit program was mixed in there. and yes, i have had clients in there reviewing work. but it is always checked in A, for final mix. the reason i put a canopus box in there is because there is an iMac G5 -- NO PCI slot...so i am stuck.. i would NOT put one in a main room, or send something out the door with out checking its sync on a genlocked system.