DIT CART 2013
Thought I’d post a few pics of my setup for “Arrow” season 2. It’s a show with a lot of difficult to get to locations (which look amazing though) so I’ve had to make everything as modular and lightweight as possible without sacrificing performance from my usual Mac Pro setup.
Below is my normal studio and accessible location setup:
Below is my “Yeah, you’re not getting your cart to set today” setup:
Everything but my UPS, downconverters, and Modulus NTSC transmitters (attached to 24” LCDs) are in the Pelican 1660 case. I installed 2 x 120mm fans (1 in each end) for cooling everything inside the case. I think this is my 5th DIT cart and I can confidently say I can’t get more versatile than this. I can load the 4 main components (2 x 24” TVLogic LCDs, Pelican case, and UPS) into a Gator or 4x4 and have all the functionality of my studio setup in extreme locations. Don’t think I’ll ever go back to a sleeker looking but heavy, 9 month series impractical, custom built, rackmount cart with all the bells and whistles.
As far as monitors go, there’s no getting away from a 24” screen size and accompanying weight, at least for now. Directors and DPs love that size and I don’t blame them. 21.5” screens feel too small to become immersed in a shot even up close. We do have 2 x 17” TVLogics but we use them as a last resort when we have to use DC power. The cameras connect to my 16x16 Blackmagic SDI router in the Pelican then pass through one of the 3 HDLink Pro LUT processors, then out to the 24” LCDs.
For media management I use Silverstack Set and for LUT manipulation I use Livegrade, both made by Pomfort. I make 3 MD5 checksummed copies on “Arrow”. 1 to my internal 9TB RAID5, 1 to a 6TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Episode archive drive (not my first choice but G-Tech has sadly abandoned eSATA for some reason) and the 3rd copy onto a 4TB GRaid shuttle drive that travels to Deluxe each day for dailies creation. I use 2 Sony USB3 SxS readers for Alexa media and have an Atomos drive dock for external recordings from my C100 Ninja or C300 Samurai drives.
For anyone on a show that can’t afford a pro wireless HD setup you may want to try this:
Before you fall off your chair laughing give me a second to elaborate. Since this setup costs around $700 total it was worth the potential time savings to give it a try. It has far exceeded expectations and I now have another on order. We use it on steadicam a lot. What you get is a 100’-150’ range 1080P transmitter with no noticeable delay (very minimal, can be used for pulling focus) because it broadcasts uncompressed HD (no processing is done to the image before it is transmitted.) To make this work with an Alexa (or any non-HDMI output camera) I use this in conjunction with either our Decimator downconverters or my Atomos Connect converters. On camera you’ll need a HD-SDI -> HDMI converter for the transmitter and for the receiver you’ll need a HDMI -> HD-SDI converter to view it on displays with only HD-SDI inputs. Lastly you’ll need a 5volt USB power source on camera somewhere to power the transmitter. I use either:
or one of these:
I’d love one of these when they get back in stock:
I never said this was a great looking solution but the results are fantastic and will make a lot of difficult shots easier by not being tethered by a cable to camera.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I record up to 3 cameras live into Prores for insurance and to have instantly accessible, accurate, LUT-applied references for lighting and continuity purposes. For hardware I am currently using an AJA IOExpress and a Decklink SDI capture card for A and B cameras. For C camera I use a Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle although it’s not great for heavy playback due to no GUI. I only use it for it’s small size but at the end of the day it does get the job done. These all work well for me because they are silent. My other capture cards (Kona 3G and Decklink HD Extreme 3D) are both quite noisy which does not go over well in the studio. If you want full specs on my hackintosh check out this post.
It’s been a long time since I’ve worked on a show that stayed in the studio 80% or more of the time. I don’t consider that a bad thing though as there is nothing more life-sucking than a dark studio for days on end. (I’ll change my mind in a few months during the extremely wet Vancouver winter but for now I’m outdoor loving tough guy.) I digress. As much as I like some of the name-brand DIT carts out there for their more “pro”, desk-like appearance (yes I’ve used them for entire shows - they weren’t mine,) the novelty wears off pretty fast for your DP when you say that he can’t have image control and playback because your cart only works on even surfaces and if there’s an elevator. Luckily there are now a few rugged, portable setups available to rent or buy that solve this problem for small to medium sized jobs. Using a fast, flexible setup inevitably means you’ll keep getting the calls because your employer will remember you being there for them far more often than not.
