Editing Footage shot with Panasonic AJ HDX900 DVCPro HD EX

[Shane Ross]

720p24 takes up about 22GB per hour. Not much at all.

Your current system is MORE than capable of handling this footage. Just make sure that you capture it to a drive separate from your system drive. Internal SATA drives, external Firewire 800 drives and external SATA Raids all work. I started with two 500GB FW800 G-Raids and still use them, and my Dual 2Ghz G5 (non-quad).

No special software needed to work with that footage. FCP has been able to capture that footage via firewire ever since FCP 4.5, thus the reason it was called FCP HD. Just rent an AJ-HD1200 or HD1400 deck and attach it to your computer via firewire and capture away.

For slow motion you will need to shoot 720p60…60p. Then you use the DVCPRO HD Frame Rate Converter that comes with FCP. Here is the tutorial:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=8&page=https://www.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/dvpro_hd/index.html

[Darcyana Moreno] “They offer to transfer the footage to regular DV for me to edit. The footage will be broadcasted. If they transfer it to mini DV. Will it loose too much quality once broadcasted on TV?”

There is no need to do this. And yes, you will lose quality. A LOT of quality. Since DV takes 13GB per hour, and DVCPRO HD 22GB per hour, and both are capturable via firewire…why go DV?

Now, what are you required to deliver on? What format? HD? SD? This is a big factor to take into consideration when working with DVCPRO HD. For output you will most likely need a High Def Capture card. But, you can master back to DVCPRO HD tape if the client accepts that format.

Read my blog of my experiences with DVCPRO HD. Start at the beginning, as you will get up to speed as I did. Last year I was exactly were you are now…wondering all this. So reading from the beginning (skipping stuff that doesn’t pertain, of course) will help. The blog address is http://www.lfhd.net.

Good Luck.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Darcyana Moreno izel]

Hi, Shane

And thank you so much for your knowledgeable response. I do have some more questions that I hope you can help me with.

What capture setting should I use when capturing the footage to FCP?
They are shooting on 720p24 but I believe they will shoot 720p60 for the slow motion footage. So how would this affect my capture settings and sequence settings?

The Music Video is to be broadcasted on MTV. I believe they accept Digital Beta. So it would be outputted to SD. Do I have to treat the footage differently since I will be outputting it to be broadcasted on TV from HD to SD?

Do I have to do any conversion of the footage frame rate to play smooth on TV? Or Are there any specific sequence setting I should worry about when outputting?

They also want me to use Magic Bullet on the footage? Do you have any suggestions on this matter?

Thanks again for your time and help,

Darcy

[Shane Ross]

[Darcyana Moreno Izel] “What capture setting should I use when capturing the footage to FCP?”

The one that matches the shot footage, and specifically one that is what you want your project to be at. FOr example, if you shot 720p24 and a majority of your footage is that, then choose the DVCPRO HD 720p24 Easy Setup. Your sequence will be 23.98 non-drop (can’t avoid that). When you drop 720p60 footage into it and you want it to play normal speed, all you need to do is render and it will match fine.

[Darcyana Moreno Izel] “they will shoot 720p60 for the slow motion footage. So how would this affect my capture settings and sequence settings?”

It won’t. If your project is set up for 720p24 it will capture that footage as 720p60. The camera flags the footage as to what it is, and FCP takes note of those flags and captures accordingly.

[Darcyana Moreno Izel] ” Do I have to treat the footage differently since I will be outputting it to be broadcasted on TV from HD to SD?”

You will have to downconvert it. You can either output an HD master and then have thae converted, or get an HD capture card and downconvert when you output. Hmmm…the biggest issue is with timeline timecode. DVCPRO HD 23.98 only offers a non-drop timeline, and your delivery master will need to be drop frame. So…you will have to figure out the differences in timing. How this will work when outputting…dunno. Never had to do that. I have always output an HD master then downconverted later. Maybe others will know and chime in.

[Darcyana Moreno Izel] “Do I have to do any conversion of the footage frame rate to play smooth on TV?”

No. Conversion happens when it is output to tape. 23.98 to 29.97. Pulldown is added back.
[Darcyana Moreno Izel] “Or Are there any specific sequence setting I should worry about when outputting?”

I need to defer this to people who know better than I.

[Darcyana Moreno Izel] “They also want me to use Magic Bullet on the footage? Do you have any suggestions on this matter?”

Magic Bullet Look Suite? For a specific color look? Then just make sure that your levels are legal when you output.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Darcyana Moreno izel]

Thank you so much for all your help.

Sincerely,

Darcyana