Workprinter XP Modifications

[Chris Burchfield]

Janice Glesser- I finally have my system setup for HD captures. I installed an Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card and swapped out projector lens for Sunray 16mm. My dedicated capture drive is an external Sandisk 500g SSD. My camcorder is Sony HDR-CX760V but only has 10x zoom so I'm on the fence about getting another camera. I have done some test captures and have experimented with post processing using Power Director, i.e. invert, crop, and speed change. At this point the learning curve is steep.

On the few test captures I've done I noticed a few frames would have the vertical flashing showing up every so often. As I remember this seem to be a disc/sync timing issue but it almost seems like the camera is not processing the interlacing correctly. Any thoughts on this?

Could you reveal some more of your techniques? Does reformatting the SSD with a larger cluster size help? Do you capture at 60 or 24 fps? What shutter speed have you found works best? My camera allows for progressive or interlaced setting, which would recommend? Anything other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your all your help thus far.

[Janice Glesser]

Chris Burchfield You shouldn't need another camcorder. The original MovieStuff HD Sniper machines used the Canon HV30 & HV40 camcorders. These only had 10x optical zoom so they just set the zoom to digital to compensate. You can do the same with your Sony HDR-CX760V. Just set zoom to digital instead of optical. The optical zoom will be used up to 10x then the digital zoom will kick it. If there is a selection for optical zoom...choose the lowest setting.

Here are the settings I use on my Canon camcorders:

1. Focus: I first set to Auto Focus (AF)... once in good focus I switch to Manual Focus (MF) to lock it.

2. Shutter Priority: TV Mode (1/60 or 1/30)

3. Frame Rate: PF30 (Progressive)

4. Image Stablizer: OFF

5. Digital Zoom: 60x (This is the lowest setting)


As far as the sync/timing issue...how bad is it? Have you tried adjusting the timing cam? This is a royal pain I know...takes a lot of patience. it's all trial and error. The problem may not be in your SSD. Your PC is doing the processing and then saving it to the external drive. What are the specs on your computer? This is why I use an internal SSD as my primary drive. I've only used an internal Samsung EVO SSD's for capturing. Once I get my Workprinter calibrated and locked tightly... only occasionally there is a capture hiccup. Have you run a speed test on your SSD to see if it is performing to specs? I'm no expert on SSD drives...but if the performance of your external SSD is questionable... I'm guessing that increasing the cluster size would have marginal effect in this situation. Maybe someone with more SSD knowledge can comment.

[Chris Burchfield]

Janice Glesser Thanks for these starting points, I will do some test captures with your recommendations.

[David Arthur Pope]

I am glad to find this forum with folks that are doing what I want to do. I have a workprinter xp with a verocity box hd. I am still using the mirror prism setup. I seem to have some difficulty with sharp focus on my Canon HV40. I see a bright and well defined imageS on the camera screen but after processing much of the movie is washed out and not as colorful and sharp. Does anyone have a great idea on sharp focus. I use the autofocus to get close and then change to manual. Shutter speed is 1/500 and frame rate is HD 30. I messed around with the timing disc but got nowhere. I finally started using the manual sync adjustment and after many attempts, jumped it up to -10. It worked and I have a pretty clean output.

[Janice Glesser]

Hi David and welcome. You said your shutter speed is 1/500...are you capturing in SD mode? This would be right for SD mode...but HD should be set to 1/60.

[David Arthur Pope]

I got that setting from Roger Evans who makes these units. they have moved ahead and no longer make these units. He may be mistaken. I use a velocity box for hd. I will try the 1/60th Thanks for the help.

[David Arthur Pope]

Thank you Janice. I just re-ran a film set at 1/60th. Better color and better definition. I was ready to go looking for a 16 mm lens but now I think I am set for a while.

[Janice Glesser]

Glad things are lworking better for you David. Good luck!

[David Arthur Pope]

Hi Janice. i hope you had a good Christmas. I have some questions. What is the difference between SD and HD as far as settings go. I think I am capturing in HD but I am not sure. Cinecap and Velocity box are what I use. I demux .avi to mp4 . Am I losing qualitiy?

[Janice Glesser]

Your camera determines if you are capturing in HD or SD. I know center cinacap can can capture to both formats. However I have not used a velocity, but I think it was set up for capturing HD. What codec are you capturing to? AVI is just a container and can contain SD and HD.

[David Arthur Pope]

Hi Janice. Could you tell me a little more about post-processing to get rid or grain from the Keystone K160 lens. How do you attach the lens?

[Janice Glesser]

David Arthur Pope Here is a video of my Workprinter HD setup using the Keystone 16mm lens. I just remove the original lens and it's housing and slip the 16mm lens in its place. It fits perfectly. As far as degraining...I use Neat Video https://www.neatvideo.com/ in Premiere Pro. However there is a Neat Video plugin for other editing apps.