aj-hd 1400 downconvert

[Evan Mcintosh]

The 1400 records HD only, and only supports input of DVCPROHD over firewire. You could conceivably do a software upconversion to DVCPROHD (very marginal quality) or use a Kona 3 to upconvert and send HDSDI to the deck. No matter what you do, your tape will not be DVCPRO50–the deck can only play that format. If you need PRO50, rent a deck or make a self-contained quicktime and send on disk to a post house with a DVCPRO50 VTR.

Evan McIntosh
McIntosh Productions LLC
Atlanta, GA
HDX900 owner/operator

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks so much, that’s very helpful info…appreciate you getting on this so fast.

Peter

[Peter Von puttkamer]

One more question please; setting the system setting in this deck to 23/24 will allow 108024p
HDX900 tapes to be brought in as actual 24p, yes? What about 108030p- just system 59.94i setting?

thanks

Peter

[Evan Mcintosh]

Yes, using the 23/24 setting on the deck will allow you to ingest 1080psf/23.98 HDSDI with a capture card (firewire will not work)–the HDX tapes can be standard pulldown or advanced. For 1080p30 use the standard 59/60 setting.

Evan McIntosh
McIntosh Productions LLC
Atlanta, GA
HDX900 owner/operator

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Ok great…so capture card only for 24p. So 108030p can be done through firewire off the deck at 59.94 then? How about thru the camera- does that output a 108030p signal, as well? Does the camera output always do the downconvert on the 23.98 then? thanks peter

[Evan Mcintosh]

Actually, you can capture to native 24p using firewire–assuming you are shooting 720p24 or 1080pA (advanced pulldown only–you cannot remove standard 1080 pulldown directly using firewire). Use 59/60 in the 1400 menus and select the appropriate capture preset in FCP.

For 1080p29.97 over firewire, just select the 1080p30 capture preset in FCP. The signal output by the camera or deck is really an interlaced stream, but that is inconsequential when dealing with 30p.

I don’t understand your question about the camera downconverting 23.98.

Evan McIntosh
McIntosh Productions LLC
Atlanta, GA
HDX900 owner/operator

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Excellent information- thanks so much; I’ve been doing most of my shows in 60i till now; or like the last show- we did 23.98, but converted it to 60i and finished in 1080i.
This one, they want 23.98; so this was not shot in 108024pa, just 108024p, so I’m not getting a kona card-based system which should be able to handle that. I just wondered if doing standard capture off my camera of a 108024p show, would actually give me a 23.98 show, or does it do a downconvert each time to a 1080i output? Also the firewire HD always comes in at 13mb/sec. off the camera; I assume, with the kona card, you can actually select the degree of compression, or no compression, via SDI inputs…
Best,

Peter

[Evan Mcintosh]

I’d say “downconvert” isn’t the right word to describe what’s happening…

Fundamentally, 1080p24 with the HDX (unlike an F900), images are always written to tape at 1080i29.97 with either a 2:3:2:3 (std) or 2:3:3:2 (advanced) pulldown. So in order to edit, you can either choose to stay with 29.97 and keep the inherint pulldown (do this for standard pulldown only) or extract only the original 23.98 frames and edit in a 23.98 timeline–which has some very nice benefits.

There are several methods to removing pulldown:
-remove advanced pulldown over firewire
-switch deck to 23.98 and load via Kona 23.98psf preset over HD-SDI
-use Kona card to remove standard pulldown on ingest over HD-SDI
-load material as 29.97 over firewire or HD-SDI and use Cinema Tools (Reverse Telecine) or After Effects to eliminate the pulldown. This is your only option with tapes already shot with standard pulldown and only a firewire connection. It’s also a pain compared with other methods.

With the Kona, you can choose to capture/edit in the DVCPROHD codec, ProRes, or Uncompressed.

Evan McIntosh
McIntosh Productions LLC
Atlanta, GA
HDX900 owner/operator

[Gary Adcock]

[evanmcintosh] “-switch deck to 23.98 and load via Kona 23.98psf preset over HD-SDI -use Kona card to remove standard pulldown on ingest over HD-SDI “

Kona cards do not support removal of Pulldown from 1080 interlaced workflows..

sorry…

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Inside look at the IoHD

[Peter Von puttkamer]

This is crucial information…thanks again; this will definitely help me and the project out!
Best,

Peter