buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 The school I teach in bought a Panasonic AG-MX70 Video Mixer. I need help. I am using a pc with the max-navi software but we edit in final cut pro on a Mac. We use the newer intel core dual processor IMacs. Can't seem to get the material we edit on final cut pro to be able to veiw through the editor. Also any tips or tricks that deal with the video mixer will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 The school I teach in bought a Panasonic AG-MX70 Video Mixer. Looks nice enough shame it only appears to be 8 bit.... I need help. I am using a pc with the max-navi software but we edit in final cut pro on a Mac. OK - I don't know what the "max-navi" software is or what relation that has to fcp Can't seem to get the material we edit on final cut pro to be able to veiw through the editor.Also any tips or tricks that deal with the video mixer will be greatly appreciated. What editor are you using with this mixer, I see it will work all the standard ones, BVE-2000 BVE-910 etc, However this implies you are using your FCP in a linear enviroment, Does FCP have a VTR emulation mode, I know with other nle solutions VTR emulation mode requires differet 422 emulation because of the differences in the master slave relationship over 422. (I assume I am misunderstanding your use of the word editor here, however I'm thinking your post is a little unclear...) Perhaps you could explain.. a) How do you have the FCP setup, (video I/o card, monitoring etc...)b) How do you have the AG-MX70 setup (what are your sources, where are your outputs routed is this in an edit suite, if so what is your edit controler...)c) What do you want to be able to do with this? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 James sorry I am unclear. I am still in the process of learning the software and how to use the editor. I will try to clear this up a little. I am teaching a video production class. We will do the news for the school a little daily show and a weekly show. The mixer and a sound board was bought for the class. We also use cameras(right now cannon GL1's) to do the television production. We do not have an editor with the mixer. And that may be the problem. right now we use FCP which is on a Mac to edit our video material and to do live type. I guess the thing I need to know is if I can take a video from the computer to the mixer. right now we have 2 cameras(that are YC inputs) going into the mixer as well as a dvd deck and and a mini dv deck(th mini dv and dvd deck all go to one video input). The output is routed out to the cable network system within the school. I still may be unclear and I am sorry I am just trying to find out what this mixer can do and how best to use it. I have not had any training on it. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Sorry I am unclear. I am still in the process of learning the software and how to use the editor. I will try to clear this up a little. I am teaching a video production class. We will do the news for the school a little daily show and a weekly show. The mixer and a sound board was bought for the class. We also use cameras(right now cannon GL1's) to do the television production. OK this makes sense and puts things in context We do not have an editor with the mixer. Again - can you clarify - you just said you are in the process of learning how to use the editor and now you say you don't have an editor - what do you mean and what do you mean by editor - when you start talking about editors and vision mixers I think of edit controlers like the BVE-910 I mentioned earlier. And that may be the problem. right now we use FCP which is on a Mac to edit our video material and to do live type. I guess the thing I need to know is if I can take a video from the computer to the mixer. Right so you want to use the FCP as an NLE and as a caption generator? If so you need a video output from the FCP system that your vision mixer will understand. For video playout you have a number of options.... One option would be to get the Kona or Declink and take SDSDI into your mixer (assuming you have the SDI option module?) Another would be using something like the Mirranda DV bridge and take firewire down to SDI (this would be upconverting from DV colourspace information so not ideal but I doubt anyone would notice with your broadcast network and you probably are sourcing via DV anyway....) For capgen, you will have issues as you won't be able to generate seperate key and fill layers and output them from any NLE let alone FCP, if your mixer allows you might be able to key of your fill but that wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination be ideal. Right now we have 2 cameras(that are YC inputs) going into the mixer as well as a dvd deck and and a mini dv deck(th mini dv and dvd deck all go to one video input). The output is routed out to the cable network system within the school. This is useful information as again it puts things in context. I still may be unclear and I am sorry I am just trying to find out what this mixer can do and how best to use it. I have not had any training on it. Ken So - It sounds like you don't want to edit with the mixer but you are using the mixer to drive your cable broadcast and would like to play video out of your FCP system, into the visoin mixer and out into the school's cable nework. Please correct me if I'm wrong. James Edit - As you say you use the imacs installing a PCI card sounds difficult so you would have to buy a new system to use the cards I've mentioned, although it sounds like you could use a dv bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 I am using the word editor and mixer as being the samething and they are not. We do not have an editor we have a mixer. We are using the mixer to do the cable broadcast out to the school. I have a lot of learning to do. You are correct that I want to play video out of the FCP system into the vision mixer. But not sure how to do it. I have no idea about the suggestions you were making but will check into them and see if they will help. Again you are right, I probably need a DV Bridge. I was thinking I might could go directly from the computer to the mixer. But that doesn't seem possible. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 You possibly could go direct from the computer to the mixer.... Depending on the specific Mac hardware you have, you might find that the Mac will output composite video or SVideo via the appropriate connectors. My PowerBook does this via the SVideo output, but I don't remember seeing it on the desktop machines. The other option is to edit the package in Final Cut, then lay this back to tape, and play the tape through the DV deck to the MX70. Another option would be to use the camera to convert the DV Stream to a video stream (assuming it has firewire in and out), and take the video output of the camera into the MX70. You would probably need to fettle the setting in the camera to get it to do this, but the manual should explain all. It bassically turns the camera you already have in to a 'DV Bridge'. Within the settings of FC you should have the ability to set FC to monitor via an external monitor (comes up as something like "Firewire Monitor". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 Thanks I will try this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Ken, Can I check something, You say you have a lot to learn and that is admirable but you also say you are teaching a course on video production, how have you ended up in this situation with what appears to be a limited grasp of technical matters? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 I do as of right now have a limited use of the technical matters with the mixer. This was a class that was just started this year. I was approached to see if I wanted to do the class after the theater teacher said she did not want it because she was not technical enough to handle the equipment. I thought it would be a great class not only for the students but myself also. I am the building TC for computers that deals a lot with the repair of Macs. I learn fast and feel I will be very capable of teaching the class once I can learn how the mixer really works. We have already ran some taped broadcast where we tape them to a mini dv and will play them the next day but I have not learned how to bring over things from the computer so that we can use them in the production. Yes I can tape them to a mini dv and run things that way but I was also wanting to know how I might be able to run straight from the computer into the mixer that way my students can work at the computer and send it straigt to the mixer where it can be shown over the cable we have for tv. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicktaylor Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 The school I teach in bought a Panasonic AG-MX70 Video Mixer. I need help. I am using a pc with the max-navi software but we edit in final cut pro on a Mac. We use the newer intel core dual processor IMacs. Can't seem to get the material we edit on final cut pro to be able to veiw through the editor. Also any tips or tricks that deal with the video mixer will be greatly appreciated. I know next to nothing about Final Cut Pro, however I am a professional picture editor in broadcasting. Our low end editing is Avid DV Xpress and when you edit something, unless you select the correct output once everything is rendered you cannot see the output. In the professional world you need the blue dot selected and not the green ie when just doing a blat record of the output which effectively is what you are trying to do into the vision mixer, you wont see anything with the wrong output selected. I would suggest registering with a FinalCut pro user group who will no doubt help if it is a software issue. I do agree a lot with a previous poster. I know the technology is possibly not core to the education of your pupils, but it would appear that someone in authority has okay-ed spending a lot of money on equipment without making sure someone on site can use it. Sorry if this seems rather strong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz33 Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 no it is not strong and I agree. That is why I am trying to find out everything I can about the equipment from other people who might can help rather than just do nothing. I am going to try and find a group who does training with the hardware and also the software but until I can I thought it would be best if I searched out help from others. Thanks for all who have helped. I am still learning and will continue to learn. I know more about this equipment and how to use it than I did 3 weeks ago when we got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happymacarts Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I also have the ag-mx70 we send our feed from the computer using firewire running into a Sony DV Cam deck then s-video out to the mixer Hope this helps also how do you like the Max-navi software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orchytech Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 The MX-70 is a beast of a machine and can do a lot if you are prepared to be really patient with the manual. I am not sure from your posts if you're having problems routing through the mixer (as the inputs are assignable to different video standards) or if the problem is purely getting the signal out of the mac. We use the AJA IO which allows us to input and output many different audio and videos types from our G5. It's a bit pricey but they do smaller boxes which are dedicated to certain video formats. Let us know if you have a problem with the mixer routing as it took us a while to get the mixer working exactly how we wanted it to. Good luck Orchytech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 The thing you need to sort out is the direction of the workflow. So if you're 'broadcasting' to a cable system, what you would have is quite simple. All the soucres from the cameras, and your computer direct into the mixer - you can then switch as you require and also use the computer to provide captions that you can key over the output - ideally 2 computers would be nice - one that could act as a playout machine - so edited footage can be played straight out, and the other - maybe an older PC with composite or y/c output doing caption or still picture duty. One of the spare outputs from the panasonic could be used going into the computer to record material for later editing - be a bit careful here as there is a sizeable delay in the video output and accidentally creating feedback is quite easy - although the effect can be great sometimes. One slightly sticky thing with the Panasonics is that getting the cabling right in the first place is pretty critical. They can be used in many different configurations so you just need to design one that works for you. What kind of monitors have you got? I'm assuming 1 for each input and a programme output - and then the computer monitors? Do you have comms to the camera people? One really great thing to get up and running if you can are tally lights on the cameras - without them, it is more difficult for untrained people to work out what is going on. The tally outputs are on a sub-d socket, so you can build a homemade interface with a few red LEDs if you fancy it. If you do this, stick a big LED on the front, and a small one near the viewfinder for the operator. You really also need comms on a different circuit to the people in front of the camera - it can be in a school/college scenario shared with production - but needs a bit more preparation with the talent. Now the tricky bit - do you have any production experience yourself. I spent a few years teaching exactly what you seem to be embarking on in a college before I changed to a different department and it is quite difficult - without some real experience many of the common tricks and techniques just won't be available to you, and may well show badly in the results - made worse by less than ideal kit. It is possible to control the MX-70 from an editor - but this requires the right one, and you're pretty unlikely to have the entire Panasonic (or other compatible kit) chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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