07Aug Aputure V-Mic D1 DSLR Shotgun Microphone Audio testing
Update: I spoke with one of the reps from Aputure. It turns out that the unit I’ve been testing was a beta model shipped to me by mistake. Apparently the final version has shielding and grounding that the beta unit is lacking. Aputure was kind enough to send out a replacement. With that in mind I’ve deactivated the download links. I’ll repost the audio results once I’ve had a chance to play with the updated model.
Had a chance to grab a few audio samples comparing the Aputure V-Mic D1 against the popular Rode Videomic pro. The testing procedure was a simple one. I placed both microphones on the Tascam DR-60D. Audio from the V-Mic was recorded on the left channel and audio from the Videomic pro was recorded on the right channel. Input gain on the Tascam DR-60D was set to mid on both channels and the gain knobs on both channels were in the 12 o’clock position.
The Videomic pro was set to Zero db gain and the V-Mic doesn’t have a +20db gain option. The actress was roughly 2 feet away from both microphones and reading from a steampunk pamflit someone had handed me earlier that day.
The samples were converted to 192 kbps mp3 files for easier download.
Here are the samples:
Aputure V-Mic D1 (click here to download)
Rode Videomic pro (click here to download)
Taking a listen to the samples and a closer look at the recorded waveforms, the V-Mic appears to have a very crisp sound and strong higher frequency response. It also seems to be a little more sensitive than the VideoMic pro at 0db. This also appears to give the V-Mic D1 a noticeably higher noise floor. The Aputure V-Mic sits at around -35db, while the Videomic pro is closer to -45db. This test was done in a living room so there could be other factors involved. I still plan to perform a few more tests in a padded quiet room before I put together a full review.
For the second test, I’ve recorded both mics in the same configuration, only this time I have the gain switch on the Videomic pro set to +20db. It’s obvious that more gain equals a stronger signal into the recorder, but it’s less obvious what that difference actually sounds like.
Here are the samples:
Aputure V-Mic D1 Test 2 (click here to download)
Rode Videomic pro Test 2 (click here to download)
Listening and seeing the difference a +20db gain switch makes drives home how handy it can be. It’s usually a lot easier to turn down an audio track (that hasn’t clipped), than it is to try and boost a weak signal. As of right now the V-Mic doesn’t include a gain switch, hopefully it will be added to future models.
With the small amount of testing I’ve done so far, I would say the Aputure V-Mic D1 is a step up from the built in microphone on most DSLR cameras. If you’re looking for an on camera microphone to capture audio for sync in post it could be a reasonable choice. Right now I’m working on some more on axes and off axes testing, hopefully I’ll have some time to finish up a review video in the next week or two. I’ll keep you posted.
06Aug Fixing corrupted audio files with VLC
If you work with a lot of audio files, especially longer recordings, sometimes you run into an error like this one from Adobe Audition. The error is usually caused when a field recorder fails to close an audio file properly or when a field recorder looses power during a long recording.
Without going too deep into the way WAV files are recorded, basically the WAV data is recorded into the file. At the end of the file the recording the file is marked with header information that’s appended to the file. This tells your media player or in this case Adobe Audition how long the file is, what format it was recorded in, and other info about the WAV file (checksum and so on) that is usually needed for playback. If this info is missing or incorrect most media players will throw up errors. You can usually fix this broken audio using VLC.
Grab a copy of VLC from there site and install. Make sure you read the install notes to avoid adding any search bars or other random apps to your computer. I don’t use VLC for file playback so I usually choose custom install and un-check all of the support file formats. Once you have VLC player installed, right click on the WAV file that’s causing you problems and open with VLC media player.
Usually if VLC is able to fix your file, you’ll be able to play it back from the main screen, this is a good way to make sure this method will repair your audio. Once you’ve checked playback click on the “Media” menu and select “Convert / Save…”.
From there you’ll see this menu. In the file table click the add button and select your broken audio file. Once you’ve done that click on the “Convert / Save” button at the bottom of the screen.
That brings you to the convert screen. Click the “Browse” button and find the folder you want your corrected audio to be saved to. In the same browse screen you’ll need to type in the file name and extension. In this case I typed in “Converted file.wav”. In the settings section select “Audio-CD” from the drop down menu, then click start.
Once you hit start, you should see a progress bar moving in VLC media player. Once it completes the audio will show up under the selected name, in the file folder you selected earlier. When VLC converts the audio it reconstructs all of the header information, and makes the file playable in other programs.
Now the file shows up in Adobe Audition and all of the recording information is corrected. This solution will not solve every corrupted WAV file problem out there, but it’s usually the first thing I try when I run into a WAV file that won’t play in Audition or Premiere timelines. Special thanks to Jess for asking for this tutorial. I end up using this method maybe two or three times a year and always forget to post a tutorial.
On a side note, if you use the Zoom h4n and you’ve recorded a long file (in this case 64 min), after the recording has been stopped be sure to give your field recorder a minute or so before you power the unit down. This can also be a problem if you’re using a memory card over 4GB in size. For whatever reason, it takes the h4n longer to close files when using a large memory card. This corrupted file was part of a live podcast I was recording for a festival last month. If you decide to listen, just remember I drank a few too many beers.
01Aug Aputure V-Mic D1 DSLR Shotgun Microphone – First impression
Audio is a pretty important part of film making and there are a lot of different approaches when you’re trying to achieve good sound on a budget. In the past I’ve talked about audio adapter boxes and camera microphones like the Rode Videomic pro but what if you want to save a little money on a lower price alternative? Over the next week or so I’ll be taking a closer look at the Aputure V-Mic D1 on camera microphone. At a price of just $115 ( $110 less then the Rode Videomic pro) it could end up being a very affordable alternative. After all price doesn’t always dictate quality, for example the cheapest boom mic on the market sounds pretty decent for a $35 microphone.
Unlike the Rode VideoMic Pro, the Aputure V-Mic comes with an independent shock mount. The microphone can be inserted into the shock mount by removing the foam windscreen. The shock mount feels a little more sturdy then the one used on the VideoMic and with the Aputure design you don’t have to worry about little nubs of rubber slipping out of their cradle.
Another thing the Aputure V-Mic includes in the price is a full windscreen. Most microphones require you to buy one sprightly at a price of $30 or $40. It’s a nice bit of value added to the microphone and I wish more manufactures would include it in the price.
The Aputure V-Mic runs on two AAA batteries. The battery compartment is easy to reach and the two batteries do a good job of balancing the microphone out when it’s attached to the included shock mount adapter. You’ll also notice that the cable is made of a braided material which adds to the build quality. The design feels solid in the hand and seems like it might hold up better than ultra thin cables used on other mics.
When you set the Rode VideoMic Pro next to the Aputure V-Mic, you’ll notice that they are both about the same size and profile. You’ll also notice that Aputure included a removable swivel base, while the VideoMic Pro has a stationary mount. Sometimes you need to mount a microphone like this to an arm or place it at an odd angle. With Rode’s offering any mounting position besides up and down can cause the microphone to knock up against it’s cradle, while the Aputure V-Mic can easily be readjusted to the proper position using it’s swivel base.
The other nice thing about the shock mount system used on the Aputure V-Mic is that the cold shoe and swivel mount can be removed from the shock mount. This leaves you with a female 1/4 20 mount for attachment. It also reduces the profile of the mic by about an inch and half.
The windscreen, covers the entire microphone and leaves you a single opening at the bottom for the microphone cable and cold shoe adapter. Just like the Rode VideoMic Pro, the windscreen slides over the top of the foam windscreen you’ve seen above. To cover up the back end of the microphone Aputure actually gives you a second section of windscreen to slide over the back of the unit. The look and quality of the windscreen seems to be very decent and when you consider it’s included in the price of this $115 microphone, the Aputure V-Mic starts to look like a real bargain.
I have a shoot coming up tomorrow in Omaha and I’ll be bringing the Aputure V-Mic with me for testing. From the schedule it looks like I’ll have an hour or so of down time while the makeup artists is getting things setup. When I get a chance I’ll sit down with one of the actors or actresses and shoot a couple of quick audio tests. If everything goes well I should have some audio samples up for you to check out on Saturday. Until then, more driving and more filming. I’m starting to miss my weekends.
26Jul Lomography Petzval Portrait lens kickstarter
The video pretty much explains itself. A very cool little lens design from the past brought up to modern times. You can find out more on the kickstarter page here. I got in on the early adopter price of $300, I think only the $400 and above options are left. It looks pretty cool, but as with all kickstarters, fund at your own risk.
25Jul ASUS RT-AC66U Gigabit wireless router & wireless 802.11AC
If you’ve been wondering why my posts have been somewhat sparse this month it’s because I’ve been moving and doing a lot of filming. One of the bad things about moving (besides packing and unpacking) is that your network setup completely changes. The layout of my old place allowed me to run dedicated cables to the file server and a few of my desktops through an unfinished section of the basement. I won’t have that kind of easy access in the new place so I’ve decided to give Gigabit wireless a try.
The latest revision of routers using wireless 802.11AC have started to show up on the market and they’re promising speeds of up to 1300 Mbps at 5Ghz AC mode and 450 Mbps at 5Ghz N mode. I took a look at the handful of 802.11ac routers on the market and decided to spend the extra on the ASUS RT-AC66U. Most of the new 802.11ac routers are based around the same Broadcom BCM4706 CPU, but the RT-AC66U has better cooling for the transmitters which allows ASUS to crank up the power output. That in turn means better signal penetration and better signal strength in the far reaches of the new place.
Going with the ASUS RT-AC66U also gives you the option to install alternative firmware like Merlin or DD-WRT. I’m not hardcore enough to dive into DD-WRT, but merlin provides a few nice extra features and bug fixes without all the craziness and performance hits caused by hacks trying to perform too many functions with the limited processing power that a consumer router provides. The VPN and attached storage controls will probably be the most useful “extra features” for my use and some of the extra network monitoring options Merlin offers are nice to have.
I just got the router setup last night and used my laptop to test out connection speeds. My zenbook only supports 802.11N but I still saw a pretty decent improvement. At the furthest reaches of the new place my signal went from 2 bars and 72 Mbps with my old router to 300 Mbps and full bars with the ASUS RT-AC66U. The speed was even good enough to edit photos on the server in Lightroom without much refresh lag.
The major downside to 802.11ac is the price. Even the lowest priced wireless ac routers are over $100 and the PCI-e cards are $90 a peace. Upgrade two computers, add in a router, and you’ve spent $300 or more. I was lucky enough to get the ASUS RT-AC66U used for $130, otherwise I probably would have gone with the cheaper TRENDnet AC1750. For a little bit of extra cost cutting I’m only upgrading 1 desktop with a $90 PCI-e card. Everything else (HTPC and so on) will be upgraded from the old 802.11G cards to $30 450 Mbps wireless N cards.
Hopefully more PCI-e and usb dongles will start to hit the market over the next few months and the prices will come down. Right now Asus is the only company offering a PCI-e adapter option, hopefully more adapters from companies like Rosewill will start to hit the market soon. I wouldn’t mind having these kind of speeds on everything if the price is right. I’ll post some speed tests with full 802.11ac once the PCI-e adapter shows up. With luck I should be able to maintain close to the same backup speeds I was getting with a wired connect.
22Jul Seiki 4k monitor price drop and new 39 inch 4k model under $1,000
I mentioned awhile back the Seiki 50 inch 4k monitor. It was the first affordable 4k monitor i’d come across on the market at it’s original price of $1499. It looks like the 50 inch model is now available on Amazon for just $1100. This brings the price into the range of your average 55 inch 1080p TV.
A 5o inch 4k display might be a bit oversized for a desktop monitor and there aren’t many home theater devices on the market that support 4k. Really, the only way to take advantage of the resolution would be to connect it to a HTPC or mount it to a wall in front of your desk.
Thankfully the popularity of the Seiki 50 inch 4k monitor has spired the release of a 39″ inch model. That’s still a little large for a small desktop, but it’s much closer in size to my current 30 inch display and only weighs 8 more pounds. The price of the new Seiki 39 inch 4k monitor is also in a nice spot (for a 4k monitor), coming in at $699. Having 3840 by 2160 is basically 4 1080p monitors in a single screen. That’s a very nice chunk of screen real estate to work with for the price.
There are a few disadvantage to both of these monitors. First is that neither support refresh rates higher than 30 Hz at 4k. This is because both monitors are limited by the HDMI 1.4 standard which only allows for 3840 × 2160p (Quad HD) at 24 Hz/25 Hz/30 Hz or 4096 × 2160p at 24 Hz. That should be fine for normal desktop work, editing, production, and so on, but if you plan to use this for gaming 30 Hz might be disappointing. The second disadvantage is that both of these monitors require a pretty hefty graphics card with a decent amount of memory.
From what I’ve read so far a GTX 660 ti with 3GB of GDDR5 is about as low as you’d want to go. Most are recommending at least a GTX 670 or higher. If you’d like to find out more about the Seiki 4k monitors, I recommend checking out this write up at PC perspective. The videos a little long, but they do a pretty good job of showing the 50 inch version running as a desktop display. I’m not sure if i’m personally ready to drop $700 on a 4k display, but it certainly is tempting.
12Jul Linco Flora 4500W 3 piece lighting kit sale and some thoughts on CFL lighting
Linco actually sells good lighting kits, but the pricing on a normal starter kit like the one above usually comes in at around $900 for a 2 light kit and goes up from there. But right now they are offering their Flora lighting kits for a little bit better than half price ($427 buy it now with free shipping).
I own a couple of these kits. The build quality and design is well above what you find in some of the low price Cowboystudio kits and the umbrella soft box design is much easier to assemble. These heads are also rated for up to 8 amps of continues load which means you’re really only limited by the physical size of the CFL bulb you use.
(skip ahead if you don’t care about the math)
I was asked a few days ago about getting larger bulbs for a set of lights, so here’s how you would figure out what your head can handle. The math works out to Amps x Volts = Watts, the light kit above has a 8 amp fuse so 8 (amps) x 115 (volts) = 960 watts max per head.
In this case I’m talking about actual watts used by the CFL not it’s equivalent incandescent bulb rating. Divide that 960 watts by 6 sockets and you have a max rating of about 150 watts per bulb. Since a 105 watt CFL (400 watt equivalent) has a 4 inch diameter, you wont be able to fit 6 bulbs of that size into the socket spacing and since each socket can handle up to a max of 150 watts, you’ll never have to worry about blowing the fuse or overloading the head.
While I’m on the subject of bulbs, this image is from a test I did awhile back. While some manufactures claim a given watt rating and equivalent light output, some lower price bulbs aren’t actually giving you what’s advertised. In this case all 5 of the above bulbs are supposed to be 45 watt CFL’s with a approximate incandescent equivalent value of 200 watts of output. The 4 brighter bulbs are ALZO 45 watt CFL bulbs while the much dimmer light in the center is a Cowboystudio 45 watt CFL bulb. Sure you’ll save $15 buying the Cowboystudio 4 pack, but you’re also getting about half the light output.
The price might be tempting, but it’s worth it to spend a little extra and get the good bulbs if you actually want good light output from your kit. All CFL’s are not created equal and I’m not sure if there is any real regulation in the market. Many of the lowest priced bulbs seem to be re-branded with a higher ratting even though the true value is something much lower.
If you’re interested in picking up a Linco Flora lighting kit, check out my fill review here. The build quality and design make them well worth the price when they are on sale(IMHO), especially if you’re looking to upgrade. Also if you’ve run across any other lower performing CFL on the market, let me know. It might be helpful to put together a buyers guide covering the best CFL lights for video work.
10Jul Rip off alert 2560 x 1440 monitors sold by seller lightnspace on ebay
Just a quick heads up, I’ve had great luck with my my first Achieva 2560 X 1440 monitor. I’ve been using it for almost a year now and it’s been a great experience. I thought I’d order another monitor for the studio computer down stairs.
This time I ordered the monitor from Seller “lightnspace” on ebay. As you can see from the video, when the monitor turns on it starts to show green lines over the surface of everything. When I contacted the sell about it, he wanted me to take the monitor apart and replace a few things on the circuit board. This sounded a little fishy so I started doing some research and found out that the green line defect on the current generation of Achieva 2560 x 1440 monitors is a common problem and that lightnspace has been selling off a few of these bad monitors every month.
On the positive side, Ebay is issuing me a refund. On the negative side, the seller stopped communicating with me as soon as I opened up a case, I had to pay $113 to ship a $357 monitor back to South Korea. Basically I’ll get a 2/3rd refund for the cost of the monitor. Make sure you check seller’s feedback if you plan to pick up one of these monitors. Lightnspace sells them as private auctions so that the item description doesn’t show up when negative feedback is left and it took a little while before I figured out what was going on.
09Jul Adobe CC official OpenCL support update
Finally there is some more information on what effects are supported when using OpenCL in latest version Adobe CC. Apparently the list is pretty comprehensive so instead of going over what effects are supported, lets take a look at the effects that aren’t supported when compared to an Nvidia’s Cuda cards. According to adobe here are the only 4 effects not supported by OpenCL cards.
- Fast Blur effect
- Gaussian Blur effect
- Directional Blur effect
- Basic 3D effect
These 4 effects aren’t going to be huge loss. After all, the effects will still work in your timeline and when rendering, they just won’t be GPU accelerated. To me that puts OpenCL cards at parity with Cuda supported cards. Adobe has also said that moving forward, more and more effects will be optimized for OpenCL as their focus moves away from Cuda specific optimization. This could be an overall move by Adobe to port applications to mobile.
Nvidia or Radeon?
With this new update the list of officially supported Radeon cards has grown to several pages. Adobe has also announced that
GPU that we haven’t officially tested, but which meets the minimum requirement of having 1GB of VRAM and appropriate drivers installed
can be enabled by the user without the need to hack any files. So even if it doesn’t make the list, you’ll still be able to give the card a try and see how well it works with Adobe CC. Speaking from experience, the GTX 670 and GTX 660 ti do a great job with both CS6 and now CC.
As of right now, it’s hard to say what GPU you should buy for maximum performance with Adobe CC. The few results I’ve seen so far haven’t pushed me in either direction. It looks like results from both Cuda and OpenCL provide very solid benefits to real time playback and rendering.
If you can live without the speed boost on a few blur effects, the new OpenCL support gives you a lot more GPU options to choose from. Historically Radeon cards have done pretty well in the performance department and usually sell for a slightly lower prices while including more games bundled with new cards. That could be enough to convince some to make the move to Radeon.
Multi GPU support?
One other interesting statement from Adobe is that
Premiere Pro CC has support for multiple GPU configurations on export.
This feature won’t help with timeline playback but if things are handled correctly, this could mean doubling rendering speeds. That might not be a huge deal when working on videos in the 5 to 15 minute range, but if you work on longer projects (30 minutes to 3 hours) like I do, doubling render times could be a huge benefit. If I can render a 30 min project in say 30 minutes or less, I can actually hand over edits for approval the same day. Need a quick change, no problem, just wait 30 minutes and I’ll have a revised edit for you to approve. Sure I could pre render effects in my timeline to speed things up, but those are most often the things that get tweaked in the approval process.
It’ll be interesting to see how this will develop over the next few product cycles. Hopefully Adobe’s choices will drive other companies with GPU intensive applications to focus more development on OpenCL support.
08Jul New Video Editing PC build
I’ve been pushing my old Inlet i7-920 rig for a little longer then I probably should have and I’ve reached the limit on just about everything. The board has been maxed out in the RAM department since day one (24GB) and I’ve had to add a PCI-E card for USB 3.0 support. Don’t get me wrong the CPU and RAM combined with a GTX 670 has provided a very reasonable editing solution for the last 4 plus years, but the latest generation of Haswell based i7 processors claim a 40% improvement on multithreaded applications and 60% gains on single threaded applications over my old i7-920. On top of that, the TDP has dropped from 130 watts down to 85 watts which reduces my overall cooling needs and intern, reduces the overall fan noise of my system.
For the upgrade, I’ve moved my GTX 670 4GB GPU and 512GB SSD over to the new system. This will be combined with a new Haswell based i7-4770 CPU, GIGABYTE Z87 motherboard, and 32GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 RAM. I’ll still be using the old system for basic editing, audio production, and a little bit of gaming so I went ahead and ordered a new case and power supply to go along with the build.
At the time I was ordering parts, Newegg had the Sentey GS-6500R on sale for just $57 after mail in rebate (currently it’s back up to $110). The case is a bit more dramatic then then I would normally go for but the price was right and overall cable routing and drive bay location made the build nice and clean. There was also enough room to use a Corsair Hydro 280mm cooler. Because I chose a none K series CPU and wont be doing any over clocking I was able to get away with no cooling fans on the radiator. Under load I haven’t seen anything higher then 27c which is actually about 5C less then the stock cooler was running under load.
I chose a Corsair XT 750 watt power supply for the build. Yes I know that a 750 watt power supply is over kill for a single GPU setup like this. Bare with me, I have a reasonable reason for this selection. If you do a little bit of research on the Corsair XT 750, you’ll find that it’s an 80 plus bronze rated unit. The nice thing about the 80 PLUS units is that they use dynamic cooling, varying fan speeds from off all the way up to 100% under full power supply load. Even under heavy rendering load, the combinations of parts I’m using hardly ever spins the power supply fan up. Again less running fans equals less noise and I’m aiming for a quiet running desktop.
I did skimp a little in the motherboard department. The GIGABYTE Z87 motherboard I went with still sports some older PCI slots, doesn’t include on board wifi support, and is missing the extra 4x Marvell sata 6Gb/s ports included on the higher end Sniper model offered by Gigabyte. The price difference is just under $300 when comparing the above board to the top of the line version. After looking at my parts list I decided I wont be doing any 4 way SLI, most of my long term storage is held in the Freenas server, and I can add a wireless-N card for less then $20 if needed. For my use the money is better spent on maxing out ram and using good quiet coolers.
I’ve only been running the new system for about 2 weeks. So far it’s been nice and smooth. The only complaint I’ve had so far is that the Sentey GS-6500R case I’m using only has USB 2.0 ports on the front of the unit. Thankfully the GIGABYTE Z87 motherboard I went with has a USB 3.0 header on the front of the motherboard. I’ve ordered a 2-Port USB 3.0 Front Panel plate along with a 3.5″ to 5.25″ drive bay adapter that should solve the problem. After all, what good is having ultra fast CF cards if you are limited by USB 2.0 read speeds.
I’ll post some rendering speed tests comparing the old i7-920 to the i7-4770 CPU once I get the old system back up and running. The 920 wasn’t a slouch, but the new i7-4770 does feel a little more snappy overall. Maybe that’s just new car smell affecting my brain, but boot times certainly seem faster.
