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Sound Report Writer vs. Movie Slate


RPSharman

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I've been using SRW now for a few months and I like it, some parts are a little less than intuitive, but it gets the job done for me. Since my kit is based on the DR-680, timecode isn't something I've really had to worry about.

It works well on my iphone, but in the future when I upgrade to a TC recorder and convince myself that I really do need an iPad, I'll likely switch to MovieSlate

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Thanks for the link, Richard. I remember reading that before. But I was hoping to hear from some SRW users too.

Movie Slate seems feature rich, but I don't want another button to push as I go. I really want to enter stuff later and "catch up" like I currently do on paper. Not sure TC entry is a feature I want or need, especially if I have to manually edit a value after the fact. I know I don't have to buy that feature, but I think I would like something more simple.

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I am a MovieSlate user but I do have Sound Report Writer. I have to admit, I can't even figure out how to use Sound Report Writer. It seems to be just a text template that provides the means to compose a printable report document.

Jeff, I'm sorry to hear Sound Report Writer gave you some trouble. Admittedly, it's sole purpose is to create a sound report at the end of the day, which is why you won't find as many bells and whistles as MS. There are shortcuts built in that allows you to use very few touches to get through the day. Maybe it's been updated since you last tried it? I have far fewer resources than PureBlend, but am always trying to make it better however possible. Feel free to PM me, email me, or visit the existing Sound Report Writer thread to add suggestions or comments. Not gonna hijack this one.

With that said, I'm a big fan of my CL-WiFi and Wave Agent combo. Depends on the type of shoot, IMHO.

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I have only used SRW. It takes some experimenting to get the report fields in the order you want them, but you can put them in any order you want. I find it fast and easy to make corrections with it if needed. I do not use any time code functions on my reports. I use it with a Deva and I can compare segments to scene numbers easily. Post likes it.

Darrell

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  • 4 months later...

I've been having issues with both. Sound Report Writer isn't storing timecode when I enter it manually, and MovieSlate isn't working for me at all right now (although I've used it successfully in the past).

In MovieSlate, when I press the 'Roll Sound' button to start a new take, it refuses to let me, saying I haven't entered any Production, Scene, or Take info, even though I have. So for now, it's completely useless.

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I'm trying to figure out the point of entering all the metadata without that data entry going onto the files you record.

It's cool to make nice sound reports but if the data entry never goes back to naming the files/tracks etc it seems like purely an aesthetic pursuit.

The Cantar has it in Arcan and Sound Devices Wave Agent allows one to enter the metadata onto the file being recorded then you use that metadata from the files to generate the report. Otherwise, you would be reliant on the hope that the report would travel with the files. And even then hoping folks down the line look at the reports.

It just seems to me that jumping through the hoops of entering this info would result in something more than just a report.

 

Scott Harber

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I'm trying to figure out the point of entering all the metadata without that data entry going onto the files you record.

It's cool to make nice sound reports but if the data entry never goes back to naming the files/tracks etc it seems like purely an aesthetic pursuit.

/.../

Otherwise, you would be reliant on the hope that the report would travel with the files.

 

That is exactly what I realized last night while reading deeper into their website.

I was kind of mislead by the connectors page that gives you info for all the cables, connectors, etc... for different devices combined with the page that talks about ''arming tracks'' from within the app, which in fact is more like giving you the ability to replicate the workflow to comply with your recorder.

I got it that I read the big lines without going into the details (doh!) about the app in the past, and speaking with post these lasts days about the needs I'm gonna have, I know I can cover everything I need with Wave Agent.

PLUS, having a big meeting recently lead me to understand there's so many people involved with the files in the end that having a kind of ''separate'' report that , exactly as you said Scott, would have to travel with the files just induces one more possibility of having something going wrong with post, people managing the main server, copies, logging, etc...

 

Movie Slate does terrific looking reports and has lots of nice features but I think my needs for the moment are below all these things they can offer.

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I agree with both Scott and boomboom, with MovieSlate (and Sound Report Writer I imagine), it is a little bit of "an aesthetic pursuit" as Scott has said. The ideal, of course, would be that metadata could be entered easily and properly and it would be available everywhere on all devices in the hands of the people who need to access this metadata. The only metadata that is shared now (and this is a good thing) is timecode if you use MovieSlate jammed to master timecode. It is so true that "arming a track" is really just making a NOTE that you HAVE armed a track on your recorder. The problem, of course, is that each recorder handles the arming of tracks differently. It would be wonderful to be able to arm a track on MovieSlate and have it arm the track on my Deva, but what if I'm using a Sound Devices recorder, or a Cantar? The level of integration for metadata may increase in time, I don't know what progress is being made there, but extending this into the area of functional control for whatever recorder you are using seems unlikely.

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