Shoot Review — ItWorks Calibug

A company from California called ItWorks makes a USB device called Cailbug that turns your computer into a broadcast signal test tool. Formerly Innovative Tech Works, ItWorks has found an important niche and filled it with a product that rates high on both the usefulness and coolness scales. (NewTek made a similar product called Calibar, but no longer manufactures it.)

The Calibug package contains a USB device (the Calibug itself), a USB cable, a software CD-ROM, and a lanyard. The CD-ROM includes NTSC Reference Suite 3.0, which explains the proper use of each pattern included on the device.

Whether you've doing a national TV commercial or a documentary for your local cable access station, you'll need to include 30-60 seconds of color bars and tone on every video tape. Without them, a station simply won't play your tape. More productions these days are completed in the field, where you can't drag around a rack-mounted test signal generator worth thousands of dollars. The Calibug turns any USB port on a PC or laptop equipped with composite or S-Video output into an NTSC video test signal generator that rivals those costing thousands of dollars. With more than 100 test patterns for video monitors and LCD projectors, it's a great tool to have in your pocket with a price that won't break the bank.

The Calibug ($99 MSRP) is actually a flash memory drive that shows up as a hard drive on your Windows PC desktop. The software and test patterns are included in the small key-like USB device that looks like a software protection dongle. The Calibug ships in a DVD case with CD-ROM software, the device, a quick start guide, a standard USB cable and a lanyard for wearing the unit around your neck. The Calibug also features a clip so you can wear it securely in a shirt pocket and a pen-like cover to keep the USB plug clean and protected. It also has an LCD power light.

There are no drivers per se — just plug it in, and the Calibug will install a file on your hard drive so it will automatically be detected as a new device every time you plug it in. The software is automatically installed on your PC as long as you have one of three operating systems: Windows ME, 2000, or XP. There are drivers for Windows 98 but you'll need to install them manually. If the software gets erased from the unit, the included CD has a Restore feature. The only challenge I ran into was that I did not have DirectX 8.1 drivers or the latest version of Windows Media Player on my PC. (This was weird because I had a recent version of the Windows OS.) Once I downloaded the updates from the Microsoft website, my codecs, device drivers, and plug-ins were ready to go. I used a Compaq Presario 3GHz Pentium 4 PC laptop running Windows XP for my tests.

Once plugged in, the Calibug ran automatically. Before you can say “calibrate,” it puts out one of more than 100 different test patterns, including gradients, convergence and crosshatch charts, as well as 10-second animated 3D countdowns.

This little device might take the place of your rackmounted test pattern generator for certain jobs. The Calibug contains about 100 test patterns for easy calibration of NTSC monitors and LCD projectors.

There are blank areas in the color bars so I could also use them as a production slate with ID, Project, Date, and Time information. You can also adjust the patterns and image alignment on the monitor by pressing arrow keys so that you can line them up perfectly and some include a title-safe area indicator. I also love the outrageously colorful “Carmen Miranda” and circa 1939 RCA “Indianhead” test patterns.

It was on a recent field shoot documenting a live event that the Calibug proved its worth to me. The clients wanted near-instantaneous results, so it also turned into a field-editing session.

Once I got set up, the Calibug ran a thorough test of all the video and audio equipment connected to the computer via the Multimedia Test function. After a while it reported there were no problems, letting me know the multimedia features of my PC were up to the job. It makes an audible chime if it runs into a problem. I was then able to adjust a small video monitor via SMPTE color bars. Then I used the Calibug to calibrate my laptop monitor to approximate the video monitor, even though the monitors on site looked like something from a garage sale. Finally, I did a rough cut of the project on my laptop using Adobe Premiere.

It was a challenge because I had to integrate several scenes shot under different lighting conditions, but using the Calibug I was able to match them in terms of saturation and luma. The proof is in the pudding, so once back at my edit suite I played the video though a calibrated, broadcast-level Sony monitor. The video looked great.

The ItWorks Calibug is a USB device that plugs into your computer and automatically installs a file onto your hard drive so that it will be recognized. It works with Windows ME, 2000, and XP computers that have a composite or S-Video output.

But a video also contains sound. The Calibug also generates test tones that can be adjusted and customized. Tones include sine wave, square wave, and white noise, along with some 1kHz test tones in various lengths. The Tone Generator Program actually synthesizes any audio tone or frequency that your PC sound card can handle. The tones can also be engaged via a hot key combination.

But patterns, bars, and tones aren't everything this product is about. The Calibug also comes with a CD-ROM (a DVD version is also available) that contains NTSC Reference Suite 3.0. That in itself is worth the cost. It tells you what each pattern is good for and other handy technical information. The disc also contains bonus patterns, utility programs, and AVI and MPEG video files used for the 10-second countdowns. These are not installed automatically. The disc provides three pre-built Bars and Tones video test files in the Indeo 3.2, Indeo 4.5, and MPEG-1 formats. The CD also has all the SVGA test patterns in the popular resolutions of 640×480, 800×600, and 1024×768. You can also take these into Photoshop and adjust their resolutions. While you can use these in your own productions, you may not distribute them as part of another program. They contain a digital key watermark embedded in the pixel encoding that precludes you from doing that.

Printable high-resolution camera test patterns in TIFF and JPEG formats are also provided. Simply print these out, shoot them with your camera, and then you can judge the output and adjust the camera accordingly. For those using the DV format, the disc provides DV-CCIR601 patterns at 720×486 resolution in BMP format for Windows. You can drag these patterns into the timeline of your NLE software so you can output DV movies via IEEE 1394/FireWire and check the composite or S-Video output of your DV camera or deck. Those who have made the upgrade to high definition are in luck with this new version of the Calibug (3.01) because it includes HDTV patterns in the 16:9 aspect ratio at 1920×1080.

The Calibug from ItWorks is a video test signal generator and A/V reference tool that's hard to beat at less than $100.

Another useful tool is the About Time program, which synchronizes your PC's internal clock to the U.S. Government's Atomic Time Clock at the National Institute of Standards (NIST). This ensures that the times shown on screen are super accurate.

The Calibug is entrepreneurial product innovation in its finest form, and for less than $100 it seems almost too good to be true. I can't see why every video maker wouldn't want one. From generating SMPTE Color Bars and Tone to calibrating a video monitor or LCD projector, it's a simple tool that does complex tasks, with multiple additional features. If I had one wish for the Calibug, it would be for ItWorks to include a small blue gel or 3D-like glasses with blue gel lenses to help calibrate video monitors. While it is true that many NLE programs like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro come with a software waveform/vectorscope, these software packages can't provide bars or patterns out the SVGA port for matching my projector or video monitors to my laptop screen.

ItWorks recently introduced the newer Swiss Army Knife version of the Calibug that adds tweaking tools. It isn't just the price or coolness that makes having a Calibug a no-brainer — there always seems to be one more feature or aspect to uncover.

Company: ItWorks Inc.
Chico, Calif.; (530) 899-8434

Website:
www.itworks.com

Product: Calibug Video Reference Tool

Assets: Small, inexpensive way to generate necessary NSCA test signals.

Caveats: Your PC must have its own composite or S-Video output.

Demographic: Video shooters, field editors, and A/V technicians

Price: $99.95

Tom Patrick McAuliffe is a writer, entertainer and video creator from Hawaii and a former member of the U.S. Navy's Combat Camera Group.

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