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capture: HDV vs. DVCPro HD?
I don’t do HDV hardly ever (mostly XD and HDcam), but am now grabbing some HDV stuff for a client. I see that the HDV easy setup works great for capturing, but i’ve heard it is better to capture in DVCPro HD as the codec works better and more efficiently in FCP. . . but in capture mode, with the HDV setting I can set in and points. With DVCPro HD capture, i cannot, but can only capture via “Capture Now”. What do you HDV guys think is the best way to capture HDV? By the way, this project is for what will finally be an SD spot.
thanks again!
mh
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4 Replies
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If the job is just HDV then the easiest path is capture as HDV native codec and render pro res. No point in transcoding to DVCPro HD that I can see. FCP has been behaving well for me with that workflow.
Capturing without timecode is also a big no no in my opinion.
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Sounds good…and i agree with the “capturing with no TC” comment, which is part of why i do not like using HDV. Is there a better way to capture it? It seems from my limited experience with HDV, it has seemed virtually impossible to re-capture accurately. Any advice there? And tons of TC breaks…
thanks again!
mh
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huh? HDV doesn’t have timecode? Or am I misunderstanding you guys.
Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
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Mortimer, I have had projects that were captured from HDV that were a nightmare to recapture and others that were over a thousand edits and perfectly resynced. The secret to shooting HDV seems to be start each tape at zero, rather than set a timecode. During capture, don’t ignore timecode breaks. Yes HDV seems to have constant breaks but often this turns out to be the default capture option of deliberately breaking shots with every camera stop start. This is in the capture window set up tabs. HDV does have breaks. So does DV. Don’t ignore them.
HDV in my experience is no worse than DV when it first introduced us to firewire capture & control. Everyone said it wasn’t real timecode and not frame accurate. I don’t hear those complaints any more as we have learned to deal with it. HDV still seems to confuse but I have found operator error the major cause of capture horror stories. A lot of beard stroking and mutterings about “long GOP” seems to surround HDV posts. Since FCS2,I have been happy to recommend using HDV native on many projects using the rules I have outlined without any more problems than a DV job. Reading the Cow, I see more posts about the horrors of P2. Every format has issues that require research and management, from the pre production stage onwards.
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