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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy Digitizing 1920×1080 clips from my HDX900 camera

  • Digitizing 1920×1080 clips from my HDX900 camera

    Posted by Sonja Stark on May 26, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    Dear Creative Cow,

    I’m using FCP Studio 2 to digitize footage shot at 1920×1080 coming from my Panasonic HDX900 camera. I’m using the following settings to import the footage: Sequence Preset set at DVCPro HD 1080i60 and Capture Preset set ta DVCPro HD 1080i60 48Khz.

    I do NOT want to edit this footage on a FCP sequence timeline but simply store all the footage onto a portable hard drive and give it to my client.

    My question is why is FCP ingesting it at a pixel ratio of 1280×1080 rather than 1920×1080? The client needs 1920×1080 but FCP is downconverting it from the firewire….? Why?

    Thank you for helping

    Walter Biscardi replied 16 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Walter Biscardi

    May 26, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    [Sonja Stark] “My question is why is FCP ingesting it at a pixel ratio of 1280×1080 rather than 1920×1080? The client needs 1920×1080 but FCP is downconverting it from the firewire….? Why? “

    Because DVCPro HD is an anamorphic format. Those are standard frame sizes for DVCPro HD.

    NTSC 1080i is 1280×1080 and FCP automatically stretches it out to 1920×1080 on playback.
    PAL 1080i is 1440×1080

    NTSC / PAL 720p is 960×720

    It’s always been this way with DVCPro HD. If you really want to capture full raster, then you would capture to ProRes, but there’s really no need to do that.

    Walter Biscardi, Jr.
    Biscardi Creative Media
    HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

    Read my Blog!

    STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

  • Shane Ross

    May 26, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    [Sonja Stark] “I do NOT want to edit this footage on a FCP sequence timeline but simply store all the footage onto a portable hard drive and give it to my client.”

    Will your CLIENT be editing with FCP? If not, then this file will be useless to them. The DVCPRO HD codec that FCP captures to only works on computers with FCP on them. Your client will have to buy a third party decoder.

    [Sonja Stark] “My question is why is FCP ingesting it at a pixel ratio of 1280×1080 rather than 1920×1080?”

    Because that is the nature of the format. DVCPRO HD at 1080i is 1280×1080 anamorphic. That camera does not shoot/record FULL raster 1920×1080. The DVCPRO HD format is 1280×1080.

    [Sonja Stark] “The client needs 1920×1080 but FCP is downconverting it from the firewire….? Why?”

    It isn’t downconverted at all…it is a 1:1 file transfer. Digital transfer of information.

    What system will your client be working with? Why not give them the original tapes and let them capture them in the system they are using. Knowing that on the tape, the format is recorded as 1280×1080.

    Shane

    GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
    Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

  • Sonja Stark

    May 26, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Thank you for your response but something is not making sense to me… If my HDX900 shoots native 1280×1080 anamorphic why when I hook up my FS100 (A fire store unit recording quicktime clips simultaneously as the tape rolls) does it record clips at 1920×1080?

    That’s what so puzzling….

  • Shane Ross

    May 26, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    [Sonja Stark] “when I hook up my FS100 (A fire store unit recording quicktime clips simultaneously as the tape rolls) does it record clips at 1920×1080?”

    Does it? At DVCPRO HD? I doubt that. DVCPRO HD 1080i is 1280×1080, no matter how it is recorded. AVCIntra…that is full raster 1920×1080. But that is a tapeless format.

    Shane

    GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
    Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

  • Walter Biscardi

    May 27, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    [Shane Ross] “AVCIntra…that is full raster 1920×1080. But that is a tapeless format. “

    Yep. Unless the Firestore is capturing to the AVC-I codec your files are 1280 x 1080 in DVCPro HD.

    Walter Biscardi, Jr.
    Biscardi Creative Media
    HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

    Read my Blog!

    STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

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