Capturing and incorporating BetaSP with miniDV in Final Cut Pro through the LHe

[Khashyar Darvich]

By the way…

Our goal is to transfer the video to film for theatrical distribution (it is a film featuring the Dalai Lama), and so I am not sure if this will affect what the settings (for the Kona Utilities, or FCP) should be.

Thanks again for your ideas,

Khashyar

[Jim Krause]

Hi Khashyar

For starters, I suggest picking a codec that you want to edit with and capturing all of your footage into this codec. This way you won’t have to render clips into the timeline. While DV is fine, many who are working with numerous graphics prefer DVC Pro50, or something with a little better color space. But if most of your footage is from DV sources, there’s not much point in moving up unless you are adding lots of graphics, photos, AE-generated eye candy, etc..

Let’s assume you choose to edit with DV. You can capture the DV footage either via firewire, or through the Kona card if you want to do some processing on the way in. Before capturing the BetaSP footage, simply set the Easy Setup setting to Kona “NTSC US Betacam 8-bit to DV.” Then capture through the component connection. It’ll transfer all of your incoming footage into the DV codec without rendering.

Good luck with the project

– Jim

[Jim Krause]

Since all of your footage is already NTSC 29.97, there’s no point in converting it to anything else before the edit. Once you have a finished master find a good transfer house to help.

Best

– Jim

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thank you very very much for your help, Jim.

Yes, I might as well stay with the DV codec since over 75% of my footage was shot on miniDV.

You mentioned “set the Easy Setup setting to Kona NTSC US Betacam 8-bit to DV.” I see that the “Easy Setup” is an option in Final Cut Pro. Will the Easy Setup setting just apply to footage being captured from the Kona card? Or will FCP also apply this setting to footage that is being captured through my minDV deck via firewire?

Also… if I am batch digitizing footage from an EDL that includes video from DV and BetaSP, how will FCP know which deck to capture from if both decks are connected to my Mac? Does it ask you, with each tape that you load, which deck that you want to capture from?

I am asking these questions because I want to have a good sense of what to expect since I will be renting a BetaSP deck and don’t want to waste any time during my weekend rate period 🙂

Thanks again for the informed helped.

Khashyar

[Jim Krause]

[Khashyar Darvich] “You mentioned “set the Easy Setup setting to Kona NTSC US Betacam 8-bit to DV.” I see that the “Easy Setup” is an option in Final Cut Pro. Will the Easy Setup setting just apply to footage being captured from the Kona card? Or will FCP also apply this setting to footage that is being captured through my minDV deck via firewire?

Also… if I am batch digitizing footage from an EDL that includes video from DV and BetaSP, how will FCP know which deck to capture from if both decks are connected to my Mac? Does it ask you, with each tape that you load, which deck that you want to capture from?”

Once you’ve captured something into FCP it will stay in the same codec- even if you change the Easy Setup later. So in your case you could easily toggle back and forth as needed between firewire DV-NTSC and the Kona Betacam setting with no adverse effects. However if you like being able to see the output of your Kona display while you edit, you’ll probably want to go back to the Kona setting : )

When you are logging in FCP you can save specific capture settings. When you are later batch digitizing, you can recall the capture setting, or apply a different one if needed. The reality is that you’ll want to capture your beta clips separate from the DV clips. And yes, FCP will prompt you for reels- so be sure to name them properly during the logging stage.

Best regards

– Jim

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thanks for the great information, Jim.

You mentioned that if I combine the two different tapes (minidv and BetaSP), that I will not be able to monitor one of those types of footage through the Kona output, however… If I capture the BetaSP footage with the “8 bit to DV” setting, won’t the BetaSP also be “translated” into DV codec to match the codec of the miniDV?

So, in fact, I can capture the miniDV as “NTSC DV,” and translate the BetaSP during capture also as “NTSC DV” codec. Am I makin the righ assumption?

Also, during batch capture, can I choose which reels to capture so that I can seperately capture the miniDV and BetaSP in two different groups? Or, does FCP ask for the tapes in the order that they appear in the EDL sequence, or by reel number?

Thanks again for sharing your experience and feedback.

Khashyar

[Jim Krause]

[Khashyar Darvich] “You mentioned that if I combine the two different tapes (minidv and BetaSP), that I will not be able to monitor one of those types of footage through the Kona output, however… If I capture the BetaSP footage with the “8 bit to DV” setting, won’t the BetaSP also be “translated” into DV codec to match the codec of the miniDV?

What I was implying- and what I’ll try to clarify- is that when you change your Easy Setup from the Kona setting to “firewire DV-NTSC” in order to capture DV footage through a firewire connection, the Kona output/display will go blank. If you want it back (in order to use the Kona card and see what you’re editing) you need to change it back to the Kona. No worries. Your Kona and DV-captured clips will be there in the same project and all be the same file types, etc.

Also, during batch capture, can I choose which reels to capture so that I can seperately capture the miniDV and BetaSP in two different groups? Or, does FCP ask for the tapes in the order that they appear in the EDL sequence, or by reel number? “

Yes for batch capturing you can pick which items you want to capture so you can capture your miniDV and Beta tapes separately. Take a look at the manual (around p 265 I believe) for more info on this.

Happy editing

– Jim

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thanks very much Jim. You have been a great help.

I will check the manual, and I also also bought a couple of books on
FCP, including the Final Cut Pro 4 Bible (the “FCP 5 Bible” doesn’t seem to be out yet.

Again, I appreciate all of your thoughtful feedback.

Khashyar