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Deliver HD material shot on P2 cards
I need some help handing off a series of interviews I shot with a HPX500 using p2 cards with the DVCPRO 1080p30 codec. I have two questions/concerns:
1) I would like to join and rename the spanned clips of each individual interview into a single file. My plan was to import the files into FCP via Log and Transfer, drop the pertinent clips onto the timeline and then export the timeline in an uncompressed format. Is there a better way to do this?
2) If not, what format should I be exporting to eliminate/minimize quality loss? I’m under the impression that DVCPRO is proprietary. I’m not sure what the client will be using so i want to give them something uncompressed and universally acceptable. Is that even possible?
Many thanks,
Andre -
8 Replies
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First thing you need to do is to find out what the client needs. If they are using FCP themselves i would just give them DVCProHD, or ProRes. You need to ask and you need to talk to the person that will be editing the footage.
Giving someone Uncompressed HD is fine if they are set up to handle it, unless they have highend editing systems and fast Raid system it will be worthless unless they convert it to something else.
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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Send them a hard drive with the P2 data on it.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
So I’ve called and it turns out one set of editors will be using FCP and the other are a pair of producers who will be using Imovie.
For the FCP users – can I send a self contained quicktime reference file?
For the Imovie users what is the best way to deal with this?
Thanks again.
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You mean the MFX files?
My only concern with this is I won’t be able to organize the content as the working files are so archaic.
What is considered best practice when dealing with these sorts of issues.
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If you are wanted to edit the footage (not give them all of it) then exporting from a FCP timeline as self contained files with Current Settings, will give them the same quality as the original. Note, that these files will not have the same name or timecode as your footage. If you can give them everything that was shoot then give them a copy of the P2 card, not just the mxf files, but the entire card with the exact same file structure. This way they can ingest all the clips.
iMovie codecs are limited and frankly iMovie is not that clear as to what they are, in the help all I can fine is “most” types of .mov files. Well that is not that helpful. Once again what do these people want to do with the footage, if it is just to look at it and choose clips then maybe DV (SD) is best, if they want to edit it maybe AIC is best. HDV is harder to work with on slower systems which is probably want these guys have. While AIC will be much bigger files, it is probably the safest with playback (but only on a Mac)
But I hope you are charging for your time here. You should not be doing this stuff for free.
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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Thanks Michael that is very helpful.
What’s the advantage of using AIC vs. Prores?
Its not clear to me from the Compressor settings whether AIC is a form of compression or just a way to make the file accessible across different applications.
Frankly, whether I do a Self Contained movie file based of FCP timeline, AIC, or ProRes, I want to be able to rename the files so I can tidy up the file structure as the working names P2 gives upon the ingest are a little chaotic for archival purposes. Just hoping to figure out how to achieve that with the minimum loss in quality.
And yeah, I am charging for data wrangling so I’m trying to do make sure I give em what they need.
Thank very much for your insights.
-andre -
[Andre Dahlman] “I’m under the impression that DVCPRO is proprietary. I’m not sure what the client will be using so i want to give them something uncompressed and universally acceptable. Is that even possible?”
Dvcpro in a p2 mxf format is totally universall and future poof.
As soon as it has been log and transfered into FCP it is not.
Do what Steve says and supply the original footage on a hardrive in P2 file structure.Remember you can edit the Meta data using P2CMS or P2 Viewer
Martin
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You said one person is using iMovie, ProRes is for FCP, so AIC would be compatible with each system.
There is a ProRes read only codec that may let iMovie handle ProRes but if that person made edits and wanted to save a movie that would have to encode it to something else. So people can now view ProRes on any computer but only if FCP6 or above is install on a computer they cannot right to it.
– Our software is idiot-proof, if you bought it it proves you are an idiot. – Dilbert
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