Capturing 1080p from an HDV 1080i camera chip

[Deleted User]

Hello Danny,

You would have to capture, from the Analgoue or SDI out-put live as you are recording to retain all the 4:2:2 colour space and image fidelity before the camera compresses it into 4.2.0 colour space and applies the mpeg-2 compression codec.

You will have a prestine image with minimal artifacting. However if you have captured to tape already, then the mpeg-2 compression is already baked into the source tape. So capturing this way would have no advantages, jus uset Firewire as you will be looking quality if going out via Anaologue component.

Leo

[Danny Hays]

thats what I was thinking. Looking at the Intensity pro so I can capture component in. Anyone know if it comes with a capture app or how do I capture as uncompressed and would I need a raid system to handle the drive IO?

[Brett Howe]

You can do this and there are some advantages…and disadvantages.

Firstly, you will be going analouge to the BM card, so you will loose a little quality there…but most could live with it. The component out of the Z1’s is quite good, even if the connections are more consumer than a big mac!

You did mention 1080p though. There is a problem with that. The Z1’s only shoot 1080i, and a pretend 1080p…where they just chuck out every second field, resulting in considerable quality loss.

As for uncompressed…yes, you will need a fast raid, no way around it. The MJPEG codec is good as a second choice, again, it’s all about your final destination.

For progressive, we have always cut Native 1080i HDV in premiere, and ourput the MASTER to progressive, de-interlacing on the way out. The quality is much higher, there is less messing around, the footage takes up less room and doesn’t have to live on a raid, and you keep your generations to a minimum.

I have toyed with many workflows…and my conclusion….I with the Z1 had SDI out!

Cheers

Brett

Brett Howe
Creative Director / Producer
Brave Vision Pty Ltd