AVCHD workflow for final SD DVCAM master

[Brendan Maghran]

You should definitely ingested at a higher rate than dnx 36 or prores proxy precisely the reasoning that youre going to lose quality going to the web. If you just rewrap the avchd files into a qt file then import ive always found it works better

[Jeff Greenberg]

If you were on v6 or later, I’d suggest using AMA and doing a direct edit or an AMA & transcode and then edit.

Since you’re on 5, you need to get the files into the Avid and AMA won’t help.

[Bartek Zee] “-is Clipwrap ok for the conversion here? I believe MC 5.5 can’t do AMA then transcode.
“

Sure can. Just convert to whatever DNxHD is appropriate for your resolution/fps – an example: 145 is fine for 1080/60i.

[Bartek Zee] “what codec is acceptable for a master on PAL-DVCAM and internet. My project will be down-converted for broadcast in SD.”

Well, PAL DVCAM is DVCAM 25. It’s pretty horrible. Likely you’re going to deck? Don’t even worry about this. Let the avid do this.

Internet? Again – I wouldn’t worry about this – use Squeeze at the end of your work to give you a decent quality file for your Internet destination. You don’t say what’s the intended output (self hosted, Youtube, vimeo, etc) so I can’t be more specific than that.

[Bartek Zee] “-import at DNxHD 36 or Apple ProRes Proxy via FCP and still be fine for the final PAL master? The internet file will be compressed H.264 so I reason the lossy/offline codecs here are fine?
“

Don’t do this. Don’t ever use a proxy unless you intend to do an offline/online workflow. Proxy files are never to be output. Ever.

Best,

Jeff I. Greenberg
Author/Master Instructor/Speaker/Consulting
My contact info and more

[Bartek Zee]

Thanks you all for the good advice. I am clear on not using offline files for mastering to Pal.

But just one more question…

I will go with DNx 120 (this being 1080p25 material), wrapped via Clipwrap to a 2TB drive. Then I may or may not ingest to .mxf and just go thought AMA with wrapped DNx Quicktime files until my online? Not sure on this part…Do I need to further ingest these files into Avid after Clipwrapping them?

[Jeff Greenberg]

If you have the ability to get to mxf directly from Clipwrap, great. I don’t think it does that.

Can you go through AMA as QuickTime? Sure. You’ll have to consolidate at some point.

Import is essentially doing a consolidate as long as it says “Fast Import” – That’s the best speed you can get via import – as it just copies the media out of the qt container and places it in MXF.