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PSC DigiSlate


Colin Heath

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Back from the grave, comes a new mass produced bloop slate from PSC. It was shown at the nab, http://vimeo.com/22303057. They are just making some final touches and making the outer shell smaller and should be out soon(i was told the 15th of july). Since today is the 15th, Im guessing it didnt happen, but i'm keeping my hopes up for soon. When I spoke with Ron about a month or so ago and he mentioned that the estimated price would around 350 bucks.

For non timecode DLSR shoots, i think its a great companion. With the 3 digit marker will work great with my sound devices recorder to help label the sound to video. Then it also has a two tone slate for a 2 camera shoot and i think it has a tone out(I think).

Everything comes full circle.

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Ah, I had to sync up many 16mm doco projects in post in the 1980s with an old bloop slate. What memories, what memories...

This is definitely a simple idea that could work just fine for the current generation of low-budget filmmakers shooting with the Canon 5D/7D and so on.

--Marc W.

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Spoke too soon, err well maybe to late.

Looks like it may not be coming back after all. Appears to be little interest in the product so they may be scraping the blooper.

I feel like thats a shame. I have done some shoots with DLSR's and this slate would of been handy. It would help the videographer and editor find the files quick if the slate is visually marked the same as the audio files. Most DLSR guys dont know or really care about timecode so this fills the gap.

Maybe theres a left over prototype from psc that might have my name on it.

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Ugh...no interest? I have my very old, original PSC digislate, and it gets used on every DSLR shoot I do...which is way too many!

Sorry to hear they may not be making a new version available...I am glad it is one piece of gear I never got rid of.

cleve

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Spoke too soon, err well maybe to late.

Looks like it may not be coming back after all. Appears to be little interest in the product so they may be scraping the blooper.

I feel like thats a shame. I have done some shoots with DLSR's and this slate would of been handy. It would help the videographer and editor find the files quick if the slate is visually marked the same as the audio files. Most DLSR guys dont know or really care about timecode so this fills the gap.

Maybe theres a left over prototype from psc that might have my name on it.

That's too bad. Maybe got over engineered. It should be a button, a light and tone running on 2 AA batteries.

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I dont think it was over engineered. Its was still a simple idea,

Assignable 3 digit LED with 3 different brightness', Slate mic, two tones output from a self speaker and from what it looked like a ta3 output. Also had a small space on the front panel to write on if needed.

The prototypes was thicker in width, which is what they were going to change.

They feel like only a handful of user's would want to buy one. They feel like they need to sell more than a 100 units. Which makes sense, if they make tons of units and no one buys any , then they are sitting on things that are worth building.

But i still want one.

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I have a home made one. A single push button activates a light and a tone at the same time. Powered by a nine volt, it is the size of a pack of cigarettes. Ive used it on run and gun 5D shoots when sync was to be done in Pluraleyes. If PSC's price point was right, I would have bought one. We all want to present ourselves professionally, and it would be a step up from what I have.

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I dont think it was over engineered. Its was still a simple idea,

Assignable 3 digit LED with 3 different brightness', Slate mic, two tones output from a self speaker and from what it looked like a ta3 output. Also had a small space on the front panel to write on if needed.

Hmmmm......Assignable 3 digi LED......

Defeats the simplicity of this. Doesn't even need an output... scrape the slate mic.

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  • 1 month later...

Angelo,

I designed one (and sold about 10 units)

If you want one, drop me a line. I have had some renewed interest, so I might do a small production run soon.

Jason

Hey Jason, you still making these? I was waiting for the PSC slate to come out and bummed they might not be. I'd been asking them for over a year or so now.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

post-1492-0-57133900-1397011069_thumb.jppost-1492-0-26907600-1397011145_thumb.jp

this thread seems to have died.  I'm after the PSC one or another variety.  Like the idea of hardware over a phone app with a reflective screen and minimal sunlight readability.  Guess I'll keep asking google.

this is the original psc bloop slate that was put into another box.  the original one required you to fish out a philips screwdriver to change the 9volt battery.  this one has battery drawers.  it  has also been modified to send a beep from the internal tone generator,  to a 3 pin male xlr.  a standard microphone cable connects the output to a microphone input on your recorder. let me know if you are interested.  

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I gotta say, the one I remember when syncing up docos during the 1980s was fairly visible outside, though I think I remember the sound man having to shield it a little bit with his hand in blazing sunlight. The iPhone isn't even half that bright because of the limitations of LCD technology, so that's a big issue with Blooping apps. 

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What's old is new!

 

In the past few years (DSLR, no TC, multi camera jobs), I have resurrected two bloop slates for use with my Nomad 12 and SD 633.  I had Vark Audio build a couple of tone generators that are triggered by the bloop slate.  The tone is fed into one of audio channels on the recorder for synch in post.  So far, this system works well because the cameraman I work with the most  comes from film days.  He is use to looking for a head or tail slate.  If the camera operator is under thirty years old, we have to go through a little "training exercise" because they have never seen this system in use, shooting or editing.  But they grow to like it because, now, I don't have to  send a guide tracks to the little cameras.  It's just more bother for the operator with extra cables and receivers.

 

Instead of giving quick slates (film days) we now use much longer slate times (4 to 6 seconds) so, the editors can see and hear data more easily as the clips whip by.  In film days there were lot's of stop/starts.  But with video we just "let it roll", so, there are surprisingly fewer stop/starts to synch up.

 

I must admit I really like this old way of sound recording (think Nagra). After more than forty five years I'm back to where I started.  Happy Birthday, Crew C.  I hope you still have a few of your old bloop slates lying around for work with the younger set.

 

Ciao,  Sully

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I gotta say, the one I remember when syncing up docos during the 1980s was fairly visible outside, though I think I remember the sound man having to shield it a little bit with his hand in blazing sunlight. The iPhone isn't even half that bright because of the limitations of LCD technology, so that's a big issue with Blooping apps. 

in the picture I sent,  the slate is set at the "low" setting,  or what I used to call indoors or evening.  the "high" setting is quite strong, although in the "old" days,  I got in the habit of using the shadow of the boom microphone to offer some solar relief on the slate.

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