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varicam capture and offline
Hi,
I’m doing an on-set capture from varicam tapes (via a 1200a deck) and as its not something I often do, I had some questions.
The last thime I did this we couldn’t get the firewire to work on the deck and instead pulled eveything in via SDI on a Kona LH card into FCP using the DVCPRO preset. Does this compress the footage twice, once in camera and again when digitizing? Some artifacts in the greenscreen looked pretty severe, so I want to try and stick to firewire this time. Also, what is the deal with varicam footage showing up as 960×720 when I output frame sequences from FCP and when I bring into AE it is squished? I think this is normal since isnt that the native sensor size of the varicam or something like that, but I wan to make sure I’m using the correct settings when I digitize (AJA Kona LH: 720p 23.98 DVCPro HD Varicam)
the production wants to walk away with captured HD as well as SD offline clips to edit with. I’m assuming that using media manager in FCP I can output SD/DV res versions of all the footage. The footage will be taken to an avid based post house, so will timecode in the clips be carried through across the systems such that they can conform to the HD tapes / files?
thanks a lot!
-zoltan
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2 Replies
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[zoltan77] “Does this compress the footage twice, once in camera and again when digitizing?”
Not sure. I’d capture via firewire if you can. If it doesn’t work out again, write in and we’ll see what we can do. First off, make sure the deck is in 720p mode, default is 1080i.
[zoltan77] ” Also, what is the deal with varicam footage showing up as 960×720″
DVCPRO HD 720p footage is anamorphic. Not true 1280×720, but squeezed in the camera, and then expanded on the timeline when edited. [zoltan77] “the production wants to walk away with captured HD as well as SD offline clips to edit with. I’m assuming that using media manager in FCP I can output SD/DV res versions of all the footage. The footage will be taken to an avid based post house, so will timecode in the clips be carried through across the systems such that they can conform to the HD tapes / files?”
You can capture DVCPRO HD, then use the Media Manager to downconvert to DV. I am not sure how that would import into an Avid. I would never capture with one system for use in another. Walter here works with an Avid to FCP workflow. They capture in the Avid, get him and EDL and he recaptures with FCP at full resolution. Why capture on FCP for Avid? Why not capture on the Avid? I am unsure if the TC will carry over. Just curious.
Shane
FCP Preferences set to UNCONTROLLED ADVICE
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
yeah I know, it seems kindof retarded, the problem is I have an fcp / kona HD sytem, post house has avids. I wish they would just cut on final cut at the post house, but they insist on offlining on avid cause thats what their editors know. some of these places just don’t seem to get the irony of using a 30k media composer to go back and forth with an online/offline, when they could just edit the dvcproHD straight away on a 2k g5, hell a freaking laptop. its still 1993 for some people I guess…
I think there is a way to translate the timecode on the clips, I seem to remember some util called fcp2ale that convereted final cut and avid bins and edls. but I wasn’t put in touch with the post house soon enough to properly test with them and be fully confident that it would work, so I was put in the odd position of advising them not to hire me to load on set and instead go the usual overnight dubs to dvcam, offline edit, conform from hd deck route.
thanks for your help
-zoltan
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