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Automating DV offline of HDV project
Anyone care to comment on this proposed workflow for a long-form, long-term documentary project?
I expect to shoot 2-3 hundred hours of hdv footage over the next two years, editing as I go. I want to be able to output HDV-quality screening copies and samples from time to time.
My edit system consists of a Mac Pro with Kona 3 card, 1TB of storage in internal drives + 2.5TB in an external SATA enclosure. If necessary, I can add plenty of additional external Sata storage as I go along.
I’m shooting on a Z1U, recording HDV to a Firestore.After comparing the cost of decks and drive space, taking into account logging and capture time, and after finishing a similar year-long project (edited entirely in HDV, without benefit of the Firestore), this is my plan.
1 – Divide storage space into equal DV and HDV volumes.
2 – Record HDV footage to Firestore, with backups to tape.
3 – After each day’s shooting, copy HDV footage from Firestore to HDV volume. Store
tapes on shelf.
4 – Use Compressor to create DV copy of all footage, on DV volume, keeping identical file names.
5 – Take HDV volume offline (so as not to confuse FCP) when editing DV material.
6 – Take DV volume offline (so as not to confuse FCP) to reconnect HDV files to cuts-only final edit. (or for occasional HDV output)
7 – Output HDV timeline as HDCam SR (or whatever the standard is in two years time) through the Kona 3 to a rented deck.
8 – Recapture HDCam SR to fast raid.
9 – Add titles, colour correct and finish in HDCam SR.
10 – Output final master to HDCam SR.Daily incremental backups of DV material will be made to firewire drives. Or, the DV volume could be configured as a RAID 1. Probably both.
Any and all feedback will is appreciated.
p.s. I’m trying to figure out a way to automate the creation of HDV to DV copies. Ideally, it would be nice to be able to press a button and “mirror” the two volumes, one being DV and the other HDV. As it is now, I’ve created a very simple droplet in Compressor. It creates the DV copies, but folders have to be created manually.
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5 Replies
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Why don’t you simply capture your HDV material as DVCPRO100 with your Kona 3 and edit?
DRW
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1 – Storage space for DVCPro100 is approx 2.5 times combined HDV and DV.
2 – Time to transfer tape to system as opposed to Firestore disk to system disk.
3 – Applies an additional layer of compression.
4 – Requires additional hardware, either firewire-sdi converter, or analog-sdi. -
Sounds reasonable. Of course, you’ll need to make a new offline sequence in the Media Manager to reconnect your HDV clips to. But beyond that, you really, really, should do a small scale test and only then can you see what you will get in the end as far as workflow and quality. Anytime a client enters “HDV” into the workflow, I pretty much demand a thorough test when you start talking about offline workflows, etc.
BTW, I recently saw an HDV feature, Frederic Lumiere’s “Tomorrow is Today” shot entirely on HDV. I must admit that I was stunned by the quality he got from the Z1.
Kevin Monahan
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fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters -
Why do you want to have both DV and HDV versons of your footage at the same time? Sending your HDV footage through compressor every time you get new footage seems like a big extra step, especialy with a project that will have 300 hours of video. Using up twice the amount of hard drive space keeping a DV version of your HDV footage when you are going to have so much footage just dosnt make sence to me.
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Even on a Mac Pro, editing and especially rendering HDV is a slog. Outputting screening copies to tape or DVD from an HDV timeline takes hours, whereas it’s relatively zippy from a DV timeline.
HDV to DV conversion will take place overnight. Conversion time is roughly 40 minutes per hour of footage on a Mac Pro. Drive space is cheap and becoming ever cheaper. Using the method I describe ensures there is only one format conversion, from HDV-whatever, rather than going from HDV-DVCPro-whatever.The only problem I forsee is one of media management; ensuring FCP can always find the HDV version of a DV file. So far, I haven’t had any problems in testing, but I’ve ben bitten by Media manager before.
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