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DVC Pro HD and FCP 4.5
I am planning to purchase the Panasonic AG-HVX200. I am not wanting to edit totally uncompressed. My question is, can DVC Pro HD from this camera be edited with firewire 800 drives? Also, will I need a Decklink HD card or KONA card for workflow?
Currently, I am working on the corporate video production budget for next year. I am using DSR 400 2/3 chip cameras now. I feel the the new HVX200 will be a great addition for a more film like result. Basically, I am trying to figure out what is the minimum equipment that I will need to edit using this codec which is new to me but old hat to most of the folks on this list.
Right now, I have a G5, (2) 1.8 processors, and firewire 800 Lacie drives. Will someone please suggest what hardware I will need to add in order to capture, edit, and create DVD’s using DVC Pro HD (again, I am not talking uncompressed).
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5 Replies
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You won’t need the Kona. FCP 4.5 was called FCP HD when it first arrived because it stood for DVCPROHD. It is already optimized for capture and playback of DVCPROHD via Firewire. 800 drives are solid for this purpose. I would suggest upgrading to FCP 5 simply because it’s even faster and more solid than 4.5 plus many new upgrades.
Noah
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We are in a very similar situation. We are planning on buying the Kona LH but largly for the improved performance. I can’t say though that I’m exactly sure what the specific benefits will be. I’m guessing More streams of DVCPROHD and more effects without rendering. We also want the IO capabilities. $2000
We are looking at a external SATA array from ProMax. 1.7 TB with four drives. Again, I can’t sayspecifically what advantage this will give us, but I figure it will be improved performance and more streams with 200MB per second throughput. $3000
These two devices should come in around $5000 total.
We are picking up the Panasonic BT-1700w monitor as well as it seems like a great budget monitor with tons of input and output options and the added bonus of doubling as a field monitor. $2700
I would love any input about this rig if anyone has any thoughts. But I think this is where we are going.
David Garcia
Halflife* Digital -
So will I import using firewire or some kind of P2 reader? What about monitoring playback. I will not need a card for that?
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If you want P2 support you will have to upgrade to FCP 5.0.
And yest the BT-LH1700 is sweet, don’t forget the embedded audio card for single cable connection on SDI and HDSDI.
Best,
Jan
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems -
Good to hear that Firewire 800 drives can handle DVCPro HD editing. I think it’s safe to say that SATA drives internally on a Mac can handle DVC Pro HD editing also, and probably do a better job. I regularly get up to 30 Megabytes/sec with the internal SATA drives and I believe DVCPro HD requires around 12 – 16 Megabytes/sec sustained data transfer rates. Does anyone have real-life throughput specs for Firewire (1394) 800 drives?
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