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How does Final Cut Pro deal with the HDV codec?
If you could just give me a brief idea/summary of how Final Cut deals with the HDV codec, that would be good. Most internet sites are quite vague and while I’m aware of HDV codecs (and how some of it relates FCP), I’m struggling to grasp or answer the question above^.
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11 Replies
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It works with it natively. You connect the camera to the computer via firewire…choose the HDV 1080i60 Easy Setup…and capture. Zero quality loss. Pure data transfer.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thank you for your answer, but any specific details? I feel like it’s not as black and white as you say. How does it work natively? What do you mean by ‘natively’? I’m concerned mostly about the notion of how Final Cut Pro works with the HDV codec.
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It works just like Shane described. You plug your camera into your Mac via Firewire, select the appropriate HDV setting, and capture.
HDV is a long-GOP MPEG-2 codec. It works fine in FCP as far as editing and transitions go. When you export you’ll probably notice that it takes awhile to export a finished timeline – this is the nature of HDV. If you would rather forgo that aspect of it then capture it using the prescribed HDV easy setup and then transcode those captured HDV files to ProRes.
Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes -
Thank you for answering, but is that it? It that what you and Shane told me? Is it the basic notion/idea of how FCP works with the HDV codec? And as I asked above, I can’t grasp or articulate the meaning of ‘native hdv editing’. Most definitions that say that describe why the process is called ‘native editing’ aren’t very clear and most of it sounds to me like editing jargon, which doesn’t help. Is it a difficult thing to explain or much simpler?
Please note: I’m not looking to perform this process, I’m not using HDV in Final Cut Pro – All these questions are for a report and have nothing to do with me editing, I simply just want some clear insight.
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If you’re doing research then you should probably spend more time researching on the internet. Less posting (you also have a post over at Yahoo asking the same question). More reading.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV
https://www.videoguys.com/blog/PL/0xaee41a9c1ffc208f2c3dc555a67f85d9.aspx
https://www.larryjordan.biz/media-in-fcp-x/Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes -
Well as I’ve implied in my previous posts, I’ve been reading! Many sites have different information and it can sometimes be pedantic or difficult to grasp what they’re saying explicitly. I’m not expecting you to give me an extended response, all I asked of you was to describe the notion and what native editing is in brief, summarised terms. I posted the same question on YA… and? I’m honestly just tired of reading the same thing over and over again, hence why I asked this. So, I will ask again, can you answer at least 1 of my 2 questions in a simple manner?
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DV…Digital Video tape, and HDV…High definition Digital Video tape; those are DIGITAL FORMATS. The data is stored on the tapes as 1’s and 0’s. Data. When you connect those cameras to the computer via firewire, like you would a hard drive, you are getting ready to transfer the footage like data. FCP reads the data from the tapes and just copies over the 1’s and 0’s…a pure data transfer. Just like copying from a hard drive, but because it is tape, it has to do it slowly, as the tape plays.
Then the exact same data, as it appeared on the tape, is now captured into your system. All the same 1’s and 0’s in the same order. Lossless.
Other tape formats, like BetacamSP, Digibeta, HDCAM SR…those have toe be captured into edit systems via their VIDEO SIGNAL…not a data stream. So you capture into some codec that the NLE has, like ProRes, or DNxHD, or uncompressed. That capture is lossy, as recompression has occurred. HDV…DV…no recompression. (The same with DVCPRO HD…that you also capture via firewire).
That better?
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Yes, much better, thank you! I apologise for my behaviour, I get rather stupid when I’m stressed and need people to spell it out for me. In fact, I started to chill while researching and this message put the icing on the cake. Now I feel like I have a better grasp/outlook on the whole thing.
Anyway, thanks for your time and all the info, Shane. -
[Albert Prior Fell] “Most definitions that say that describe why the process is called ‘native editing’ aren’t very clear and most of it sounds to me like editing jargon, which doesn’t help. Is it a difficult thing to explain or much simpler”
Native editing is indeed jargon. If you want to right a report on this, you will need to learn some of it, and not be dismissive. Just like you would have to learn/use aviation or medical jargon if you were writing on those subjects.
What does it mean? Native means in its original form. It has not been transcoded to another format. FCP can edit HDV without transcoding to another format. H.264 is a codec that FCP does not edit natively, and must be converted to an ‘edit friendly’ codec.
Google and Wikipedia are going to be pretty helpful in the areas of editing codecs, and the nuts and bolts of how different formats work.A quick word of advice. This forums primary purpose is to assist working editors with problems, and most doing the assisting are editors doing this (for free) while they are busy working. It would be really helpful to all if you state your true purpose and questions clearly right off the top since most will be assuming that this is in regards to editing, and the person asking the questions is an editor.
Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” —Red Adair
Where were you on 6/21?
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A bit more about why native editing is a big deal, but first a bit about codecs.
Codecs are different ways to store video. When you digitize video you have to decide how you’re going to save it. There are different schools of thought on what the best method to use. Many companies have come up with their own preferred solution. Panasonic, Sony, RED, Apple, these are a few brands who have their own video formats designed for specific purposes.
Codecs tend to fall into different categories, some for acquisition, some for editing, and some for delivery. The lines are becoming more blurred than ever, but generally you want the highest bitrate possible out of the camera, you want independent frames for editing, and delivery completely depends on where it’s headed. Quality is paramount for cinema, the file size-to-quality ratio matters for web delivery.
Some acquisition and delivery codecs are Long-GOP or group of pictures. The (over-simplified) problem with this is in editing a Long-GOP format becomes far more computationally intense. Native editing means that the NLE will work with the footage in its native format, Long-GOP or otherwise.
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