Video Editing on the DP-24/32/SD!

[-mjk-]

Would anyone happen to know what "video file mode" means in relation to the DP machines? Thanks.

 

[Mark Richards]

That's a new one for me, mj. Haven't seen anything about video relating to the DP-24/32 besides Phil's tutorials and other YouTube clips. Are you sure it was referring to the DP24/32?

 

[-mjk-]

Thanks Mark. That was a new one on me too. Yes, it was the DP-24/32/SD series.

There have been some interesting developments....

I got ahold of the Japanese language service manual and I've found some very odd references to video files and "video file mode" and I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought I was hallucinating, because it seems to refer to being able to playback or edit a video file on the DP machine! At first I thought it was my poor Japanese language skills, but after talking with my friend in Japan who is a video engineer, he confirmed what I was thinking.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what this will do to your machine, so please be sure to back up all your files before you try this (or any experimental procedure for that matter)!

Using my spare card, I made a new test song, and loaded a video file (I changed the .avi extension to .WAV) and, copied that over to the Audio Depot. Then, I imported the file to Track 1 on my DP-32. Next, I pressed a crucial key combination referred to in the manual: Home + Mixer (which is a totally undocumented feature in any English literature). And this is where it gets really weird: A video box appeared on the screen and displayed the video in real time!

The video thumbnail is tiny, but it does explain a couple of things about the DP-32 that I always wondered about:

1. On such a small screen, why did they waste so much space between where it says "Multitrack" and the Title, In/Out block?
2. Why is the machine calibrated with 30 frames per second (which is a video standard) when video cannot be edited on the machine?

But video can be edited on the DP machines! Or, at least on my older DP-32 model with MIDI. I'm going to need independent confirmation on this though.

I took a quick snap with my mobile phone.

 

[David Porter]

Whoa! This is a HUGE discovery!

 

[-mjk-]

Tell me about it! I just don't know how useful it is though. I only did a couple of short In/Out edits just to see if it would crash. I didn't, and it plays back the edits. Unfortunately, it's very late here now, and I'm going to be very busy with the upcoming holidays this week, so I don't have time to play with it at present.

 

[Phil Tipping]

Great sleuthing mj! Have just confirmed my dp32sd v1.06. Must be something they shelved, maybe? I've seen cases where coding gets stalled due to lack of time... or if the designer left the company! Doepfer is a good example - their Drehbank editor program was written for Windows 95/98 but the designer left Doepfer so they had to drop all support... and leaving old code as a 'placeholder' makes it easy to resurrect if they want to.

Either way, I agree with your warning re. sd-cards - I also used a spare one for my tests. My double camcorder rig was still set up from the recent tutorial update so here's a mixdown snippet

I found the thumbnail view is a bit small (for my old-codger eyes!). It's usable, but am hoping this is just a 'compromise' view with the track meters... in which case, maybe there's another screen somewhere with a larger view? Let us know if you find anything.

 

[David Porter]

Holy sh*t, Phil. Thanks for the test video. This is incredible. A real game changer for DP users. Great find guys!

 

[Mark Richards]

I just tried doing a session using this video feature mj discovered, but instead of a clear color image, mine is a very blurry B&W.

Here's 2 pics of what my DP-24 is showing. Any thoughts?

 

[-mjk-]

Thanks Phil, and Mark. Now that I know it's not a fluke, I popped in for a few minutes just to edit the title. Phil, I believe that one of the unlabeled Function buttons toggles full-screen. I forgot to mention that, but that's my recollection from the Japanese manual.

I have one more photo, but it's not very good. The mobile phone makes my timeline look wavy, lol. And my video doesn't look as crisp as both of yours. I think it's because I used an old 16 x 9, 420p file. I think it's really interesting how it deals with the differing size formats.

 

[-mjk-]

I just tried doing a session using this video feature mj discovered, but instead of a clear color image, mine is a very blurry B&W.

Here's 2 pics of what my DP-24 is showing. Any thoughts?
View attachment 1975
View attachment 1976

Firmware? Honestly, no idea Mark.

 

[Mark Richards]

Hmmmm....there must have been some good reasons the whole thing was abandoned. Maybe I stumbled on one of them...maybe there are different SD card requirements for audio production v. video production??

 

[-mjk-]

We can only speculate. I know that Tascam was sold, and when that happens (see it myself with certain companies) someone comes in and cuts projects out of the timeline. Given the fact that the Portastudio line has continuously been dumbed down for the last several years, it's not surprising this wasn't released. I fully expect that the next Portastudio will be an iPhone app.

 

[LudoL]

INcredible !!!!!!! Thanks a lot for the tips !!!!!

 

[Eric Guicherit]

MJK, should we be suspicious because you posted this finding on April 1st?

 

[-mjk-]

Oh! Did I?