Hak5's plan for HD (because standard def makes Paul cry)

[hak5darren]

note: this is a cross-post from hak5.org/forums

I know we've made mention of this on the show but I thought it would be good to put a thread together about our plan for HD. We've had many questions about what mixer and other equipment we're looking at so here it is.

Our original plans for going HD were based on the Edirol V-440 HD video mixer. Since then we have revised our plans based on the suggestions of the one and only David Randolph (Engineered the Rev3 studio). This setup should allow us to go HD sooner as the equipment costs about half that of the Edirol and includes and direct to disk capture solution (Mac Pro).

This solution is based on the Black Magic On-Air software. You can read more about it at http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/on-air/

Parts (italics have been purchased):

Three Panasonic HDC-SD9 HD Cameras with HDMI output, $1500
One Kramer VS-42HDMI 4×2 HDMI Switcher, $1200
One Black Magic Intensity PCI Express card, One Intensity Pro card, $600
HDMI cables, couplers, dongles, $200
VGA to HDMI converter, $220
VGA Active Switcher, $80
Mac Pro, $3000*
Total: 6800

*We're borrowing Paul's Mac Pro for the first tests but long term we'll need our own.

We're about a third of the way there already! The donations from http://www.hak5.org/stickers have helped out tremendously already. I think we should be able to go HD by the new year. Our Intensity cards come in today (Monday Sept. 15) so we'll be doing all sorts of testing this week.

Here's a spiffy diagram of how it all goes together.

http://www.hak5.org/images/Hak5_HD_Plan.png

This looks similar to our current setup except instead of HDMI everything is Composite, and instead of switching software and a matrix switcher we're using an Edirol V-1 analog video mixer. Oh yeah, and instead of recording to disk we're recording to tape via one of our spare DV cameras. So yeah, quality will go through the roof once we make this happen. I'm super excited :)

*Paul is our camera guy. More info on him at http://www.paulthecameraguy.com

[davmoo]

Thankyou! I was very curious about how you did/do/will do things and what equipment you use. The further irony of your post is I was just this weekend looking over and thinking about some Black Magic items for myself. Knowing that both Revision3 and Hak5 gives them a thumbs up makes an impact :)

Oh, and I'll be buying some stickers when I get paid for a big job next week.

[crater]

http://www.paulthecameraguy.com/

That was amazing.

[crashandburn45]

I'm having a hard time understanding when Rev3 comes into play with the improvement of Hak5. Rev3 absorbed Hak5 and I have not seen any difference from the old Hak5. Maybe I'm not understanding Rev3's business model but the only one benefiting here is Rev3 with sponsors. It seems that Rev3 should be absorbing the initial cost of improving the show to become the caliber show that Rev3 is known for and then make it up with increased viewership and demographics which inturn increases sponsors. Am I wrong on this?

[hak5matt]

I'm having a hard time understanding when Rev3 comes into play with the improvement of Hak5. Rev3 absorbed Hak5 and I have not seen any difference from the old Hak5. Maybe I'm not understanding Rev3's business model but the only one benefiting here is Rev3 with sponsors. It seems that Rev3 should be absorbing the initial cost of improving the show to become the caliber show that Rev3 is known for and then make it up with increased viewership and demographics which inturn increases sponsors. Am I wrong on this?

Crash, we've covered this in a number of different topics, but I'll go ahead and reiterate once again.

Hak5 as an entity is still independent. Meaning we control our content, and drive the show.
Rev3 is our distribution, and sales partner. They handle getting our show out to as many avenues as possible and in addition, handle ad sales for us.
The cost of doing the show is still on us, and in order to go HD, it comes from our pockets.
There was no huge infusion of cash made by Rev3, they started selling ads and distributing our show for us so that we could focus on going weekly, and not have a headache after trying to do sales, promotion, distribution, content, editing all ourselves.

HD is coming, perhaps sooner than some might think.

Matt

[Guytheninja]

This is awesome, I can't wait for HD.

[hexydes]

I'm trying a very similar setup tonight, but with a cheaper switcher. Wish me luck! ;)

[hexydes]

So far...not so good. The switcher more or less works, but there is up to .75 seconds of delay. I'm using two different cameras though, so perhaps there is a difference in video modes causing this. Going to try to get two duplicate cameras to try next.

Unfortunately, running a computer in via HDMI doesn't work, because as soon as it is switched away from, the "monitor" is turned off, and Windows disables the display. Then, if you switch back, it takes 3-5 seconds for the monitor to enable and turn on.

Sigh...