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25p Varicam workflow into Avid Xpress Pro
Currently neither Avid nor Final Cut Pro support the capture, via Firewire, of 50Hz-based rates (25 or 50fps) from the 60/59.94Hz Varicam format. Neither suite will communicate with the AJ-HD1400 in 60Hz mode while they are in a project mode that expects a 50Hz deck.
This makes it impossible to capture 25p/60Hz footage directly from Varicam into either system. With Final Cut Pro the answer is to use a Decklink or AJA card to capture the HD-SDI signal from the deck and work with that. With Avid there is no similar option, short of upgrading to Media Composer with Adrenaline HD hardware. And even then, it is still difficult, alhtough the HD1400’s ’25HD’ setting will convert the 720p25/60 to 1080i50 HD-SDI.
The workflow I’ve been experimenting with lately, to capture directly from the AJ-HD1400 via Firewire for editing in Avid Xpress Pro HD uses another piece of NLE software.
Using Canopus Edius, the only NLE application I’m aware of that allows Firewire capture into 50Hz projects from a 60Hz deck, I can capture the 720p25/60Hz material from the AJ-HD1400. Once in Edius, I can export that footage into an intermediate file, and then import into a 720p50 project in Avid.
The process is a little convoluted, but seems to work well.
I still need to experiment to figure out what file formats and codecs work best for the intermediate files. Another possible problem I have is that Edius won’t communicate properly with the deck while it’s in 60Hz mode, only 59.94Hz. Which means I am playing my 60Hz tape at 59.94Hz. However I can’t see what affect, if any, that is having on the resulting clips. I’m waiting to hear more from Panasonic on what impact that could make.
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