Pro Tools (888 Interface, SSD, VSD) and the MOTU 2408mkII

[pisces7378]

I read an article recently in "Sound on Sound" magazine about a guy in England that adds audio to film for commercial sound tracks et cetera. He uses Logic Audio Platinum on a Mac with a Pro Tools 888 Audio Interface,
a Pro Tools "SSD" SMPTE Slave Driver,
and a Pro Tools "VSD" Video Slave Driver.

He uses this to syncronize film from SONY U-Matic video player with the audio in his Logic Audio on the Mac. He receives the video on a U-matic tape that has a sync track burned onto track one and the text... i.e the actors voices speaking their lines on track 2. Nowperhaps this all sounds familiar to some of you... but to me it sounds like Greek with just a little touch of English here and there.

I want to get into doing some serious video/audio post recording work. I went to the Pro Tools website to get a better handle on what some of this stuff is and what it does and costs. Here is what I found.

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The SSD SPMTE Slave Driver is, "a syncronizer designed to resloveyour Digidesign Audio Interface and a Digidesign system to a fluctuating SMPTE source."

The VSD Cideo Slave Driver is, "a synchronizer designed to lock your Degidesign Audio interface and Digidesign system to a video Black Burst reference signal."
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Now I have been planning on buying a PC with a Pent IV 2.0 GHz 512 MB RAM, Matrox G550 Dual head Graphix Card, 20GB HDD (for applications) 60-80 GB 7200 rpm HDD (for audio.)

Now I had planned on getting the MOTU 2408mkII PCI Card / Audio Interface for recording audio. I love the looks of this thing. From an audio point of view it is perfect for what I do. But I am totally in-experienced in video / audio synchronization for soundtracks and post production. All that I know is that this guy that does it for a living was using this "888 Interface" from Pro Tools. Now, it costs around $3,400. That is DAMN expensive.

Does anyone that knows what I am talking about know if the MOTU 2408mkII can work instead of the "Pro Tools 888 Interface"?

Does MOTU have any post production, video-audio synching hardware that will do what this Pro Tools stuff is doing?

Also, could someone... anyone... explain to me what the following terms mean:
- SMPTE
- U-Matic
- Black Burst
- Slave Driver

And finally, does Pro Tools Slave drivers ONLY work with Pro Tools Interfaces? Could I use the SSD and VSD Slave Drivers to synch up the MOTU and the whatever else needs to be synched up?

Thanks guys. This is a hell of a post,

Mike

 

[petimar]

If you buy MOTU, remember their support sucks...

 

[pisces7378]

Everybody's support sucks!

I have only one time in my life left a "support" situation with a feeling like: "That gus was helpful." That was with Logic Audio here in Germany. Maybe it is because the software is made down the road from me. I have also called the US E-magic Logic Audio support line called, and the arrogant fuck on the other line acted more annoyed that I had called than anything. When I asked my questions(s) he acted like it was the 10,000th time he had answered that question today. While that might be the case he still pulled the typical arrogant, "I know everything and you know shit," attitude.
A bad line of support doesn't scare me, simply because everyone sucks. It is only a questions of who sucks the worse.

Thanks for the warning though man,

Mike