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Workflow: XDCAM 1080i25 + HDV 25 to NTSC–Shoot me now!
For some, summer represents a slow-paced season of beach, barbecue and beer.
For me, it represents taking on a project that was started in a distant land with exotic broadcast standards and trying to make it work within a budget I had no hand in shaping.
OK here it is:
A one hour broadcast documentary for NTSC release.
Project was shot with XDCAM 1080i25(35Mb/s vbr) mainly, with a bunch of HDV 1080i50 and HDV720p25 as well. Total assets 2.2 TB, more or less.
Initial rough-cut was assembled on a 422ProResHQ timeline with a 25 frame timebase.
The post house is expecting to take our drives and export to HDCAM tape for tape-to-tape color correction.
My personal setup is 2×2.66 Dual Core Xeon with 5GB memory, running FCP 6.0.3 under 10.4.11, but the actual editing will be taking place on the producer’s late model G5 (powermac 7.3), also running 6.3 under 10.4.11, 4 GB ram).
I’m working off a generic looking 2.5 TB raid – 5 SATA drives in a box with a CalDigit controller.
The video plays, but it’s all “orange-line” Unlimited RT artifacty soft-looking crap.
Here’s my first question (I’m sure I’ll be here all summer):
Should I just keep working like this, or should I use the media manager to convert all the assets to ProRes422 HQ? Or do something else entirely? Editing in earnest begins Monday, June 23.
Yow!
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15 Replies
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If you edit in an 1080 sequence, you will need to blow up the 720 Footage.
And if you go to end up in SD, this makes no sense.
I think I would edit in 720 or SD. You can set the seq as 720i50. This is a format that do not exist for shooting, but you can edit with it.
And I would let the sequence as XDCAM or HDV with the rendering set to Proress. No advantage in transcoding to Proress until the final rendering-exporting.
Rafael -
Personally, I’d contact the client and ask them if they expect you to make the conversion to NTSC or wait until the color correction has been completed.
The best way to do this is to find someone with a high quality ARC and have them do the conversion for you. Otherwise it will have to be up to software, and that’s never a good thing… (my opinion).
What capture card do you have OR is this media already digitized?
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com
https://blogs.creativecow.net/waynecarey -
Budrick, budrick budrick.
You always come with the toughies, but I respect you for it. I am just sad you are going to miss out on the three Bs this summer.
Do you have access to recapture any of this stuff and a Kona3?
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Ok, so the majority of footage is XDCAM HD HQ (1080i50) with a bunch of HDV 1080i50 and HDV720p25 as well. Initial rough-cut on a 422ProResHQ timeline with a 25 frame timebase.
I’d start by changing the sequence settings back to the predominant native format, that being XDCAM HD 1080i50 35 Mbs VBR, and setting Sequence Settings > Renders to ProRes
With FCP6 you’ll find XDHD and HDV mix easily in the timeline. Editing should be a breeze, and any effects or work that needs rendering will benefit from the ProRes rendering.
For final output, I’d export a self-contained movie as ProRes or Uncompressed, or layoff my HD master directly to HDCAM tape.
Thats what I’d be taking to a facilities house for standards conversion to NTSC.
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You would if your going to write to HDCAM tape, wouldn’t you?
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com
https://blogs.creativecow.net/waynecarey -
Hey there Jeremy, Rafael, Wayne and Andy
Remember the fun we had last year? It was such a success, thanks to you and the others in this fine forum, that this is my reward!!
The tapes are in Australia. I do not expect to have access to them. The files were all transferred to G-Raid drives (by Team Australia), and then to a Burly Box 2.5 TB RAID (by me).
The tape-to-tape color correction and post is being handled by a big-time post house in our nation’s capital. They are a trusted entity.
My second concern, apart from the fact that everything looks crappy, is that we will need to burn DVD’s or VHS of the show from time to time. I know what that is like in a long-gop sequence. Do not want.
It seems to me it would have made the most sense to convert to ProRes422HQ upon ingest, and edit in 422HQ. But I’m not that familiar with XDCAM, so I’m asking. Like I say, I could conceivably use Media Manager to recompress the assets, if it seems like a practical step that would save headaches down the road.
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Andy
We’ve got a post house lined up. We trust them. The plan is I hand them the project files, or perhaps a rendered QT movie, and they do the rest. My worry is just being able to push pictures around as quickly as possible.
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I not really seeing how that would be a problem David. If you are going to hand them a rendered quicktime movie then you can export the completed edit as ProRes (or another DI) or even Uncompressed. Your working timeline format would not be a barrier to that. If you’re handing them the full project and media, then for you at least the export details are moot. I can tell you that I have occasion to push 1080i50 XDHD (HQ) around all day, in FCP 6 with ProRes rendering and its not an issue. Working with XDHD and HDV only really becomes problematic if you actually want to deliver in that format (and you don’t right?)
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Yes Raf, I would upres any lower quality footage (including SD or 720 HD) for my (1080) HD master regardless of the initial broadcast specification.
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