Creative COW Forum Host, Magazine Writer, Web Writer, Contributing Editor
Bob Zelin
Orlando, Florida USA
Bob
Zelin is an old cranky video engineer that got his start in the
professional audio business in 1977. By 1981, he was fired so many
times, that no one wanted to hire him, so he started his own company in
1982. Lucky for him, he became the first freelance AVID technician in
New York City, when the AVID first came out, and has since designed and
installed thousands of studios in New York, Florida, and LA. His
desperation to stay employed started the "AVID facility" mindset, which
replaced conventional on line rooms – to the dismay of countless linear
video editors. This was completely against the original concept of the
AVID, which was for a Media Composer system to be a nice, simple, self
contained package, that could do off line editing.
The
"Crazy Bob" reputation started when a customer support executive at
AVID Technologies told NY dealers that any AVID system that Bob Zelin
touched would be out of warrantee. This led him to discover the power
of the internet, and "going crazy" on people. This AVID employee was
soon released from his employment, but this event started the ranting
on user forums that continues on to this day.
Today,
Bob resides in Orlando, Florida, terrorizing southern editing
facilities. He hopes to one day become the janitor for AJA Video
Systems in Grass Valley, CA.
Bob Zelin is always willing to integrate the newest solutions for his systems integration clients. Only this one was VERY new... and if everything didn't go exactly right, it was game over.
Want to let everyone in your shop use the same media at the same time? The Cows Bob Zelin shares the secrets for affordable shared storage that you can build yourself, and that WORKS. Start with big, fast storage from your favorite pro vendor, then follow along. Bob even shows you a few hazards to avoid along the way.
If you don't want to know, don't ask. Bob Zelin is one of the industry's straightest shooters, and he'll tell you how he's seen things work during his 30+ years in the broadcast trenches.
WELL, it happened again. Today, I installed the new Dulce Systems Pro EX PCI-Express expander. This product is amazing, and this review will be very short, as it's such a simple product, that has been LONG OVERDUE.
In this article from The Creative COW Magazine, Bob Zelin discusses the imporance of monitor calibration, different monitor options and how to execute the calibration on these monitors.
The AJA GEN10 is a cost effective and flexible Blackburst and Tri-level Sync Generator. While reminding you of why blackburst and sync are very, very good ideas, Creative Cow leader Bob Zelin takes you through the GEN10's ins and 7 outs.
Creative COW Contributing Editor Bob Zelin talks about the latest step in the Serial Attached Storage revolution: full RAID 5 protection with read speeds over 350 mb/sec. from Dulce Systems. At least that's what Dulce claimed. When he heard the rest of what Dulce had to say, Bob simply didn't believe them. When he put those claims to the test, he got a lot more than he bargained for. Will you?
In this editorial from The Creative COW Magazine, Bob Zelin unearths some of his favorite things that pass his grueling daily video production torture test. Lyn Norstad joins Bob for his own personal favorite.
RSystems installer Bob Zelin torture tests every device that comes into his orbit. If he says it works in the real world, it does. If he says that it doesn't, it doesn't. He tests the Firewire to HDMI conversion feature at two Orlando facilities, as well as the Firewire to RS-422 conversion. Does the HD-Connect MI make the cut?
You bought a new Final Cut Pro system to go with your Avid Media Composer or your other Final Cut Pro systems. You have an After Effects system with an AJA, Blackmagic or other card in it, so you can capture video and audio on this station as well. Your neighbor in the next office has a ProTools or a Logic system, and he wants to tie into some of your machines. You're on your way to becoming exactly what you didn't want to be – a facility. Oh no!
CreativeCOW's Bob Zelin tests a Cal Digit S2VRHD with a host card for a PCI-X computer, and a PCI-E computer. He used the incredible AJA Kona System Test, to evaluate the drive speeds. He was determined to 'break it.' Did he? No. He determined that...''If you want to do uncompressed HD, for a fraction of the price of an Apple Xserve RAID, or other hi end SCSI or Fibre Channel drive arrays, THIS IS YOUR BOX.'' Read the rest to find out why.
In this Creative COW magazine article Bob Zelin discusses what it takes to build a professional, modern, nonlinear editing machine room. Bob covers storage, monitors, scopes, audio mixers, routing, power, cables and more.
CreativeCOW's Bob Zelin discusses how to turn your HDV VTR into a professional product using the amazing AJA HD10AVA converter. It takes the analog component HD signal from your Sony or JVC HDV VTR, and converts it to an HD-SDI signal that can go right into the HD-SDI input of your capture card.
