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Offlining DVCPRO
Hi,
I’ve been perusing through the forum and found a lot of people going from HDV to DVCPRO HD. However, I was wondering if anyone has tried doing an offline from DVCPRO HD media. I’m going to be working on an indie feature project shot on the Panasonic HVX-202 (PAL version) with footage shot on 720P 25P (and some variable stuff shot on 1080i over 50). Since storage at the facility I’m editing takes care of all the rushes, I want to transcode to a lower codec to bring around in case I need to edit on-the-go.
I was mucking about with FCP to figure out what is the best portable solution for this using camera test rushes. Here’s what I’ve found:
(1) DVCPRO HD to OfflineRT Anamorphic – lowest amount of disk space and picture quality
(2) DVCPRO HD to DV Anamorphic – DV quality offline
(3) DVCPRO HD to HDV 720P – HDV quality offline (uses less space than DV)I personally prefer option 3 however, having recompressed media using FCP media manager, the picture in both the viewer and Canvas squeezes the footage further than 16×9. I’ve figured out how to retain the true 16×9 on the viewer side (Under View -> Level -> Show as Sq. Pixel [unchecked]) but can’t seem to get the canvas side to do the same. Anyone have a solution (other than wait for FCS2/FCP6). Please advise.
-Robin
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6 Replies
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With drive prices as low as they are, and the requirements for DVCPRO HD 720p darn low, why offline? I have 78 hours of DVCPRO HD on 1.5 TB of drives. And DVCPRO HD can be edited using firewire 800 drives, so you can use a CalDigit or G-Raid or LaCie FW800 drive raid to handle this footage.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Shane,
I do agree that drives are getting ridiculously cheap these days, however, I’m currently in Indonesia which doesn’t have any of the vendors you mentioned or the support that I need. I’m going to have to figure out how to deal with this, and build my own storage solution.
As of now, the plan is to backup all footage into a separate harddrive only to be used in case of the famous FCP missing media file. Due to this production’s delayed shoot schedule, the edit timeline is bleeding into my next job (which is in Singapore), hence the need for the footage to be portable. I’d ideally like to carry the footage in a pocket HDD so that in the event the director needs changes while I’m away (which probably means OfflineRT). That way, I can edit then email him the project file and have him view in Indonesia (and not have to fly back and forth).
Also, I’ve found that if I recompress DVCPRO HD 720P 25P to HDV 1080i/p 50i/p, the viewer and canvas displays the footage in the correct format. If know how to get around this problem for DVCPRO HD 720p 25p to HDV 720p 25p, that would be fantastic.
-Robin
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[clueluzz] “I recompress DVCPRO HD 720P 25P to HDV 1080i/p 50i/p, the viewer and canvas displays the footage in the correct format. If know how to get around this problem for DVCPRO HD 720p 25p to HDV 720p 25p, that would be fantastic.”
I guess I do not understand.
that 720p25 footage is only 6mgs a sec, or not quite 2x the size of the DV footage you refer to in your conversion, it is editable on the FW 400 drives and is frame accurate.Do you really think it’s right to bill your clients for all of this encoding and re-encoding time when you have your video in a such small footprint already?
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
As someone who produces in DVCPRO-HD exclusively with the HVX200 and FS-100, I simply do not see any reason to offline DVCPRO-HD. I think it is a waste of time to even consider this practice. Leave it all in DVCPRO-HD format, there’s no extra strain on your system to edit, drives are cheap as all hell now. And HDV is a PITA to edit natively with.
Personally, I feel that if you do this for a living, and do not have enough drive space for DVCPRO-HD file sizes, you’re very behind in the game and need to catch up as a professional. Not to be mean or harsh, but to be realistic.
Stay in DVCPRO-HD format, forget off-lineing, it’s a royal PITA to deal with and absolutly not needed.
Just my 2 cents…
– Apple Certified Trainer
– Tutorials at http://www.bbalser.com
– South Louisiana FCP Users Group
– NOVAC Digital Filmmakers Institute
– Event DV magazine -
[bbalser] “Personally, I feel that if you do this for a living, and do not have enough drive space for DVCPRO-HD file sizes, you’re very behind in the game and need to catch up as a professional. Not to be mean or harsh, but to be realistic.”
Ben, he did say that he was in a country that getting such drives is VERY difficult. So try not to be so harsh.
Clueluzz, you should try to find some way to get drives to store this footage on. A do agree with Ben that editing HDV is a Pain in the @$$. This is why many people convert HDV to DVCPRO HD…not the other way around. DV is what many choose as offline. But try to avoid that. Offlining then onlining…with footage from the P2 camera is a pain. You already imported it as DVCPRO HD…why go through the extra steps to downconvert to an offline format? You cannot downconvert as you import, you can only import at full resolution, so that means that you’d be importing, converting, then tossing the media (to make room)…cutting offline, then reimporting ALL the footage…full sized clips…that you then need to reconnect. P2 isn’t like tape, you can’t import only what is used in the cut.
This workflow is very complicated and just not worth it. It would be more worth your while to spend the time finding the right hard drives.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Shane,
I’ve advised the production with all the information you have suggested. Hopefully they’ll see the light and provide me with enough storage to edit straight DVCPRO-HD and also have a drive dedicated to storing the rushes (a manual RAID 1).
Otherwise, thank you to all the other people who have contributed in this forum.
-Robin
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