Troubleshooting the DVEous and its Effects
Timing the DVEous
Sometimes a DVEous will wake up "stupid" (battery failure or first birthday) and you'll need calibrate it. Ideally, the EIC will have a setup file for it (you can load that file by selecting the "Disk" menu, "Disk->Recall" select "Setup" file type then press "Confirm").
Because Murphy is a vengeful S.O.B. you may have to time the DVEous yourself. Note that you will need a waveform monitor and vectorscope for this. If you're really sharp, a half-wipe will get you close but I don't recommend it. Here is how I calibrate the DVEous (I welcome better suggestions but this works for me):
- Begin by putting bars (or having them patched) to all inputs of the DVE.
- Normal all channels ("Normal Normal Normal Enter").
- Select internal bars ("Input", select "Pattern" as video source, press "Texture" then "Load" softkey, select "SMPTE Bars" and "Confirm")
- Press "Output" in engineering section beside display.
- Press "Timing" softkey.
- Set Subcarrier, H-Phase.
- Press the "Analog" softkey, highlight "Y" and set the black level (Y Offset) and video level (Y Gain) using the softknobs.
- Highlight "C" and set chroma saturation.
- Select the "3D Trans" menu and select the 1A channel. Squeeze it down to about half size using the joystick or Z axis softknob. Next select the 1B, 2A and 2B channels and move then well off screen.
- Key the DVE over something distinctive like a full white background. This might not be necessary, but I like to select a full white video source too.
- Press the engineering "output" button again and select "Timing" and "Key". Set the key timing so that there is equal (or no) black on either side of the inset video frame. Tweaking the clip can maximize the black edges and help get a more accurate setting.
This will time the DVE itself but now you have to calibrate every input. Note that the following is dependant on the input boards that your DVE uses and may vary. Do the following for each input:
- Normal all channels ("Normal Normal Normal Enter"). Input #1 will be selected by default.
- Press the "Input" button in the engineering section.
- Press the "Channel" softkey and select the input number that you are currently working with (1, 2, etc).
- Press the "Timing" softkey and set the H Phase (use a half wipe over bars for this) and if the color is temperamental, turn on the SC Lock.
- Press the "Setup" softkey and highlight "Y". Set the black level (Y Offset) and the video level (Y Gain).
- Highlight "Chroma" and set the saturation and hue.
- If you really know what U and V are then highlight "UV" and set the gain and offset. This should not be necessary (or very far off at all) so you could skip this step.
- You are done with this channel. To go to the next one, press "Input" on the channel menu (not the engineering menu) and select the next input as your video source. Now go to step 2 to select the same channel to operate upon.
Once you have finished all the channels, you are done! As you may have noticed, this is a big pain to have to do, so I created a an effect that makes this a whole lot easier for a DVEous of up to 8 input sources. The effect is called "DIAG-SET" and normally loads into register 91. It consists of 9 keyframes, all shifted left slightly and squeezed vertically so that when keyed over bars, the waveform and vectorscope is easy to read during adjustment without having to "chop".
Keyframes 1-8 are identical except that each keyframe uses the video input of the same number. That is, keyframe 1 shows input 1, keyframe 2 shows input 2 and so on. Also, at the bottom of the screen in each of these keyframes is a portion of the same video input laid over the middle of the 100% white block. When bars are present on the input, this overlaid strip will exhibit any shifting due to incorrect horizontal timing on that input.
Keyframe 9 uses the Pattern as a source and initially you must load the SMPTE Bars (under the Texture menu). Unlike the other keyframes, a "horizontal test" is not used. Instead, a white square is overlaid on the 100% white block (of the bars under the DVE) so that it can be used for key timing.
To time the DVEous using this effect, do the following:
- Load the effect ("91 Recall Effect"). Press the Run button to get to Keyframe #9, where you will do output setup.
- Load SMPTE Bars ("Texture", "Load", "SMPTE Bars", "Confirm").
- Key the DVEous over bars.
- Press "Output" in engineering section beside display.
- Press "Timing" softkey.
- Set Subcarrier, H-Phase.
- Press the "Analog" softkey, highlight "Y" and set the black level (Y Offset) and video level (Y Gain) using the softknobs. Note that the offset bars in the DVE make it very easy to get the levels exact.
- Highlight "C" and set chroma saturation.
- Select "Timing" and "Key". Set the key timing so that there is equal (or no) black on either side of the inset white square over the 100% white of the switcher bars. Tweaking the clip can maximize the black edges and help get a more accurate setting.
This will time the DVE itself but now you have to calibrate every input. Start by rewinding the effect to keyframe 1 (and therefore input 1). Note that the following is dependant on the input boards that your DVE uses and may vary. Do the this for each input:
- Press the "Input" button in the engineering section.
- Press the "Channel" softkey and select the input number that you are currently working with (1, 2, etc - whatever keyframe you are on).
- Press the "Timing" softkey and set the H Phase (watch the inset portion of the 100% white of the bars for perfect alignment with that of the bars underneath). If the color is temperamental, turn on the SC Lock.
- Press the "Setup" softkey and highlight "Y". Set the black level (Y Offset) and the video level (Y Gain). Once again, those offset bars make this really easy.
- Highlight "Chroma" and set the saturation and hue.
- If you really know what U and V are then highlight "UV" and set the gain and offset. This should not be necessary (or very far off at all) so you could skip this step.
- You are done with this channel. To go to the next one, press a menu like "3D Trans" (or any that displays keyframe numbers) and use the "Previous" or "Next" buttons to select another keyframe (input) Now go to step 1 and select the same channel to operate upon.
Once you have finished all the channels, you are done! This looks like approximately the same number of steps as doing timing without this effect, but I find that it is much easier with it.
Identifying and Changing Video Sources
First of all, it is vitally important that you know exactly how the inputs to your DVE are fed. To make that easy, I've conjured up an effect that displays all inputs of a DVEous simultaneously (even if you have more inputs than you have DVE channels). The effect is called, "DIAG-SHO" and normally loads at register #90. To use, recall it ("90 Recall Effect") and run it (note that this is a looping effect and you must hit "Pause" twice to stop it). The inputs will be shown in 4 rows and 2 columns, starting with 1 and 2 at the top, 3 and 4 on the next row and so on.
Once you know what feeds your inputs, you might be faced with a situation in which you need to modify the video sources for an effect.
To do this, load the effect and move through it manually (using the "Timeline" menu and the "Cur Time" softknob). At various points, cut around on the inputs to the DVE to see what is affected. Take note of the input numbers.
(This section is not done yet.... sorry)
Handling GPI outputs
I prefer to fire a digicart or similar device from the switcher but from time to time that is not an option. Typically, effects that intend to be accompanied by a sound effect already have GPI triggers built into them but you will have to identify them. This is pretty easy if you go to the "Events" menu, select "GPI Output" and watch the GPI states as you run the effect.
If you are not so lucky, you'll have to insert GPI triggers into an effect. This is done in the "Events" menu. Simply select the keyframe where you'd like to insert a GPI pulse and turn the appropriate one on and hit "Modify", "Enter".
Note that a GPI will not actually fire unless the effect is running. This means that it will NOT work if you are using the DVEous in CPL mode. In that case, the GPI must come from the switcher.
Weird Behavior
The DVEous is fairly reliable but I have encountered a few problems that have stumped other TDs. I mention them here because these could show up again.
Problem: DVE timing shows correct on a scope but picture is shifted significantly.
Solution: Check the "Timing" under the ENG menu. Possible values are Normal, Delayed and Combiner. This is probably off.
Problem: When all channels are normaled up, the picture is not the right size.
Solution: This can have a couple causes but first check ALL input channels to see if blanking is at "normal" and H & V values are reset. It is also possible that there is a problem in the "anamorph" section.
Problem: Video on some of my even numbered inputs is black and white only OR color will not hold on those channels.
Solution: No problem at all! You probably have analog input boards that will only pass a key signal on those channels.
Problem: When trying to key a font through the DVE, the key jitters badly.
Solution: You may have an incorrect setting on the key input channel. Check to see whether you are using key, key+sync or key-sync (in the input menu). Try a different one.
Problem: When keying a font through the DVE, it looks like wrong clip & gain
Solution: First check your effect to see if the clip and gain are deliberately off (normal is about 50 and 100 respectively). If that's not it, you may have bad levels on some of your inputs (key especially). Consider the setup & timing procedure above.