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Is it Better to Downconvert HDV Footage or just capture raw
At work i use Final Cut 5.1.4 with a dual core g5 with 1 .5 ram. Is it better for me to downcovert HD footage out of the camera or is it better to just try to edit it as HDV footage then output as m2v. I’ve tried to pull in HD footage and edit it but the picture is jumpy(i believe the computer can not keep up. Can somebody also tell me their system settings as well as the sequence settings they use. We have a Sony HVR-z1u. we shot it at 1080i 60i. I will be using DVD Studio Pro to create menus.
Thanks a lot
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9 Replies
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always better to edit natively…you have a quad, what speed?
Joe Procopio
Broadway Video
Editor/Engineer
DS Nitris, Symphony Nitris, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro -
Dual 2.7 GHZ Power4 PC G5
HDV footage does take up more space on the drive, and is really slow on this computer how can i upgrade this machine other than just more memory and hard drive space?
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i hate to say it, but if you are going to do any HDV work, and output HDV, then a new 8 core Intel is in your future…
if you are doing SD stuff, then downconvert out of the deck into the FCP, and edit everything in SD, but if you ever need to go back to HD, you have to recapture.
one problem with going SD with HDV footage is the aspect ratio…if you go letterboxed out of the deck, and keep everything letterboxed, you’re okay with going SD…if you go center crop…and your camera guys didn’t shoot 4×3 safety…then you are screwed too….unfortunately, you have to rely on a bunch of things to get your project right…
i guess first question should always be…what are you delivering?
Joe Procopio
Broadway Video
Editor/Engineer
DS Nitris, Symphony Nitris, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro -
[JoeProcopio] “i hate to say it, but if you are going to do any HDV work, and output HDV, then a new 8 core Intel is in your future…”
TOTALY UNTRUE
I edit HDV on a Dual 2.5 G5 all the time and have no problems at all. Your processors are better then mine, but you do need to upgrade your ram.HDV footage, if captured as HDV takes up no more space then DV footage. If you capture using the Apple Intermediate Codec then it will take up more space.
As with any video editing you should keep the video on a separate drive not on the main system drive.
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We would be delivering Sd but i know we would want to keep the footage around in case we wanted to go HDV someday. And I believe that we will keep it in a 16×9 format just to make it look more classy and so we are certain not to cut anything out of the shots. Thank you very much for all your help so far. You’re saving my hide. is there any pointers , as far as settings to choose so i can make the SD footage look as good as it could.
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To answer the OP it depeends on what you’re final output is going to be. if you want ot keep it HDV work in HDV natively. Sadly I’ve found going from HDV footage to an SD DVD using software to downcovert leaves much to be desired. It takes lots tweaking and playing around to get the SD DVD to look ok. i think the decks or cameras do a better job of downconverting and give you a better result. Plus capturing as DV lets you avoid some of the annoyances of working in HDV.
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[Peterd] “Sadly I’ve found going from HDV footage to an SD DVD using software to downcovert leaves much to be desired. It takes lots tweaking and playing around to get the SD DVD to look ok.”
I have always found that Shooting HDV and delivering a SD DVD delivers a far superior image then I ever got from shooting DV.
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i never said there would be problems on the quad cores, but the faster the CPU, the faster the rendering is…the happier your client is…
we have a huge project right now…the 2nd one of it’s kind, last year we did it on quad 3s, this year 8 cores…the client is EXTREMELY amazed at how much faster they new intels are over the quads, so yes, an intel 8 core is indeed the future! for now…dual quads will be soon, and so on…
less time spent rendering, since you have to render everything in FCP, is an advantage you can’t dismiss!
Joe Procopio
Broadway Video
Editor/Engineer
DS Nitris, Symphony Nitris, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro -
What Settings should i set my Final Cut 5.1.4 to capture downconverted HDV footage w/ letterbox.
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