Today at Sam's Club I found this set of cables from Philips:
You get a six foot length of each: "S" Cable ; Stereo Audio ; Stereo Audio with Compoite (RCA) Video ; Component Cable ; and Optical Audio. The package runs $47 and seems like a pretty good deal to me.
The cables themselves seem pretty good:
I have a multitester; maybe I should figure out how to us it to test cables??!!
If they pass an electrical signal with extremely low capacitance, inductance, and resistance, I'd say you're good. I will also point out that that's an awful lot of packaging...
About the packaging, they really try to make it difficult to pocket all the cables and tell security "Yes, I'm just happy to see you" on your way out.
That is very true... but still!
I think the actual reason for it is so things fit on the shelf in those cardboard display boxes. Sort of like the old cardboard CD cases.
Mark, Ken is right. If its copper (except for the optical) and the connectors are decent quality you should be OK. I'm wondering if you will need all of the cables in the bundle. If not, you end up buying something you don't need.
What a BEAUTIFUL setup, Mark. I'll bet you spent half a day straightening things up so they looked so neat for that photo. If you're gonna tell me you ALWAYS keep things that neat, I'm gonna have to hate you!
i have to agree with jack.. that sure is an awful cool lookin set-up ya got there.. i have NO idea what all of it does, but its still pretty cool lookin..
wheres the 'begin ignition sequence' button?
bigjohn
In reply to:
If you're gonna tell me you ALWAYS keep things that neat, I'm gonna have to hate you!
Start hatin'!
Yeah, I really DO keep my office pretty neat, as I have clients in it pretty frequently. Unfortunately, this means that I often have to grab a pile of papers off my other desk and stick them in my "currents" (as in "current stuff" drawer of my desk. After awhile, it goes to a box, and right now I have three
bins of stuff to go through and file, etc....
All this time spent with my HT setup really
IS killing me! I'm gonna have to pay for it soon!
I have no idea what that setup is intended to do, but I must have one just like it. It looks very professionally driven and very capable to support your photographic/video career.
That's the prettiest video editing suite I've ever seen.
That's actually the dashboard on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
I thought it was a command outpost for NORAD!!
Thanks for all the compliments! They make me feel like I should have posted a nicer photo, but I
really didn't feel like hauling lighting in!
It's a very comfortable work station for one (made by
Anthro) as everything wraps around you. It
doesn't work so well when you have multiple "clients" to approve an edit! That's what the 20" Sony on top is for, so they can gt out of my "space"!
The keyboard shelf in front raises and lowers via a paddle "release" under it, so you can lower your chair late at night or raise the keyboard shelf if you're standing. Everything's on wheel for frequent re-cabling in a pinch. The computer itself is a custom made 3 Ghz XP-Pro system with 2 gigs of very fast RAM and 1.5 terabytes of HD storage. The dual monitors are 20" BenQs. The system itself is actually the small CPU case in the center, lower portion of the rack. The larger one mounted on the left is a DVD duplicator.
More on-topic with this forum, the rack on the right is the audio gear: (top to bottom) Furman power, CD storage, Alesis EQ, Alesis compressor, and Digitech Effects unit. Next is a Monster (I know, I know!) power strip, an ART mic preamp, a Tascam CD player and a Tascam DAT (Digital Audio Tape) deck. On the bottom is a Mackie 20 channel mixer.
The Alesis EQ and compressor are the units I was wondering about integrating into my HT.
I'm monitoring the audio via a Cambridge Soundworks Sat/Sub system, wall-mounted. They sound pretty good, but this is the location/use that had me asking a few weeks ago about
using Axioms as nearfield monitors.
Of the two signs on the wall, one of them is a quote that I've thought about putting in my SIG line: Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull is overheard on their "Bursting Out Live" recording asking the sound guy if they "Can have everything louder than everything else". I've always loved that phrase, because it perfectly describes the mentality of everyone who doesn't understand what a good mix actually is... including many of my clients!
Now that's what I like .......someone taking pride in their workplace/home. At first glance I thought I was seeing the cockpit of an airplane.
RE: those packaged cables look ok ...guess you will have to see how they sound.
Very impressive Mark! Are you bring this to provide packaged DVD's of our weekend?
Cambridge Soundworks - if memory serves - was a company that utilized Henry Kloss designed speakers. Henry was a pioneer in speakers for many decades, and founded the speaker company that bears his name - Kloss.
I remember having this conversation with Alan, who indicated that Henry passed away in recent years.
That's BY FAR the cleanest, neatest editing work station I've ever seen. (And I've seen quite a few!)
I agree with spiffnme.
Where are all the large coffee cups??? I've never seen an editing work station without several.
Well, the cupholder is mounted in the right-front edge of the shelf holding the Mackie... it's just empty at the moment!
Shouldn't those be M2i's mounted on the walls?
I have seen something at costco similar to that. I forget what brand it was but it was someting i had never heard of before. They had a box full of home theater hookup cables. It was about 100 bucks too. I dont remmeber exactly what was in the box but there was alot of stuff IIRC
Mark, if I'd known that you were using Cambridge Soundwork sub/sats (I'm guessing Ensemble 1) with your stuff, I would have said unequivocally that you should upgrade to Axiom bookshelves! I went from Ensemble 1s to M50s, and man! what a difference.
Mark that sure is a slick setup, I am wondering what you use for editing software? My roommate is a communications major and really into editing. He has an Apple G5 and thinks that Final Cut is the only way to go. I still think I could build a much better PC for three grand.
Sure, but you wouldn't be able to run FCP, then.
I don't know about that... here's a close PC equivalent of the stock Apple Dual 2.5 GHz G5 (specced as closely as I could; in some cases the PC parts are better--yes, I know the Radeon 9600 is a pathetic card, but that's the stock card on the G5)
2xOpteron 250 = $1610
Tyan Thunder K8W (S2885)= $529
Corsair XMS DDR PC-3200 2x256 pack = $122
ELSA ATI Radeon 9600XT/128 MB=$135
CD/DVD burner=$60
Lian-Li PC-V1000 Case=$198
OCZ ModStream 520W Power Supply = $120
2xZalman CNPS7000B=$96
Hitachi HDS722516VLSA80 OEM 160 GB SATA drive=$97
Misc cables=$50
Windows XP Pro OEM=$147
Total, not including shipping, assembly, tax, or warranties=$3164.
Apple price, not including shipping=$2999.
Now, I'm not saying that you couldn't build something equivalent slightly cheaper, but the Apple prices on the high end are not so out of line as people might think...
BTW, I mostly did this because it was fun to look up all the parts... although I don't really know if they'd work together properly! I'm in the process of configuring a new PC to build for myself one of these months, so I'm in that research mode...
O yeah no doubt that the G5 is an awesome computer, I believe that most of the cost goes into the processor (as seen when you priced that PC as well). My roommate is just sort of closed minded on fact and insists that if you want to do editing you need a Mac with Final Cut. But that is obviously not the case as many (including Mark here) use PC’s for the job. And I have told him that you could build a comparable/better (ok maybe not MUCH better) PC for 3 grand and use something like Avid for editing.
Yeah, but if he's happy with it, why make him change/learn new stuff?
I was not trying to convince him that he should get a PC, just show him that editing can indeed be done effectively with a PC, and I think that Marks setup proves that. I still cannot believe you have a terrabye and a half or storage space in tha thing!
Heh, no worries. Man, that's a lot of drives! (Unless he managed to get his hands on some 500 GB drives, but those are pretty darn rare)
Yeah I am wondering what the setup is, if he has 6 250 gig drives or a few 500 gig drives.
It's gotta be 6 250s, or 5 300s, or something like. It doesn't look like the 500s are available yet!
Sorry I hadn't been keeping up with my own thread of late!
I'm running a Premiere Pro / Canopus system. Final Cut Pro has an excellent reputation; many who are familiar or experienced with Avid systems find the interface comfortable. When I first stopped editing with a tape based system, I used a standalone editor called the Casablanca. It was reliable, but it's limitations drove me to a open-architecture computer-based system and, quite frankly, I first tried the Adobe Premiere software because I was a fan of the integration of Adobe products. I can't really say that Premiere would be my first choice if I were coming into the field cold, but I know it well, have grown with it, and doesn't impose any limitations for my needs. FCP and another popular editing software, Vegas, weren't available when I started.
You'da thunk I woulda been a Mac guy with a background in photography, video, etc... but my dad was a lifetime IBM executive from the 50's in White Plains. I've had PeeCees in the house since before Windows (that's DOS to all you punk kids out there) and, believe it or not, I've never even sat down in front of a Mac. I don't dislike them at all or anything, but, just like Premiere, at the end of the day when you've got a deadline, you "go with what you know". Unfortunately, I always seem to have deadlines, and not enough time to learn new, creative techniques or software or platforms!
Re: the HD space, I have (2) 250s on the CPU as a RAID, a 200 as a system drive, and (3) 250 external FireWire drives.
