EX1 Firewire Question

[Craig Seeman]

It sure seems like a backward awkward way to get to SD.

[Aaron Cadieux] “I find the AVI Letterbox Clip Browswer downconversion to be unmatched. “

This confuses me. Do you mean you want to go back to DV codec? Why? that’s absolutely horrible. I’d use 8 Bit Uncompressed.

It’s hard to figure out the goal of your workflow other than SD but what you’re doing is really going to mash your file. XDCAM EX to HDV to SD DV. UGH!

I can make a score of other suggestions but can’t do more than guess without a real objective explained.
Permiere Pro is cross platform so I can’t even discern whether you’re on Mac or Windows.

[Aaron Cadieux]

Ok. I am on a PC. I have some XDCAM sequences that I want in letterbox SD at the best possible quality. If you have a better suggestion than my original plan, I’m all ears.

Thanks.

Aaron

[Craig Seeman]

What’s your objective with the Standard Def file?

Can Premiere render to an 8 bit uncompressed SD file?
Final Cup Pro does this by creating an 8 bit uncompressed timeline and dropping the HD sequence in it.
One can also do this in Compressor but I’m sure any good compression app on Windows such as Episode or ProCoder would do a nice job of it.

If Premiere can export back to EX MP4 codec you can use ClipBrowser to create a new BPAV and put that back on card and into the EX camera. You could then downconvert out of the SDI port real time assuming you can feed the SDI to something such a DigiBeta deck. Without knowing the purpose of the SD file it’s hard to point to a best workflow.

I don’t go to SD tape at all anymore. For broadcast delivery I use MPEG-2 Program or Transport Streams. Even if going to another post house it’s easier to deliver a file rather than tape and the other post house can process as they see fit. Corporate clients ask for something for web page or DVD (or even file) for presentation.

Generally though SD 8 Bit Uncompressed file can be handled easily through most “pipelines.”
DV is about the worst possible SD you could deliver with given its compression.

[Rafael Amador]

I agree 100% with Craig.
Treat well your EX-1 footage and will look like shoot in BetacamDigital.
If you end in DV, you better shoot DV.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Alan Lloyd]

Render those at SD letterbox uncompressed. They will then be files. Large files, to be sure, files nonetheless. Uncompressed in intermediate stages is your friend, as long as disk space is along for the ride.

Once you have them as uncompressed SD letterbox files, what do you intend to do with them?

[Michael Slowe]

Wrong Rafael,my DV end product originally shot as HD on the EX1 looks much much better than DV or DVCAM originated material.

Michael Slowe

[Craig Seeman]

But it’s not going to look as good as DigiBeta. High quality source is always important and EX to DV can certainly look better than DV to DV BUT if you’re delivering SD, I can see no reason to prefer DV to 8 bit Uncompress 4:2:2.

Maybe a client only has a DVCAM deck and you need to hand them a tape but if they have any modern computer and NLE I’d hand them any number of file formats before I’d hand them a DV tape.

[Rafael Amador]

Michael,
Any thing shoot with my EX-1 looks better than any thing shoot with my PD-170. Even if I compress the EX-1 footage to DV, will look better. Is not just a matter of the format, but of the camera (Lens, CMOS/CCDs, etc).
Your EX-1 footage have 1920×1080= 2.073,600 samples of Y’ against 720×486= 349.920 for DigiBeta.
About Chroma, it have 1920×1080/4= 518.400 color samples per frame.
DigiBeta has 720×486/2= 174.960 color samples per frame.
You know what that means?
This camera is a DREAM!!!
But depends on you how you manage what the EX-1 offers you.
If I have to shot EX-1, then transcode to HDV, then go to DV..I really prefer to shot with the PD-170 and treat the picture well. I really don’t know how will look the EX-1 footage after so many “aggression”.
The same than Craig, I only understand going from Ex-1 to DV if you print to video.
For any other purpose a soon as I have to render, I go to ProRess or 10b Unc.
That footage deserves the best.
Cheers,
rafael
PS: I should say: “One year happily away from DV” 🙂

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Michael Slowe]

Craig, there is no client, I just want to be able to show my films. Projected generally, not by me so the medium has to be either tape (preferable) or DVD. When it can be Blu-Ray that would banish tape.

Michael Slowe

[Stephen May]

This is facinating. We all work in a FCP world, so for many reasons that we get, we do things our way, and it make sense. He’s not working in FCS2, plus he’s on a PC. AVI files are huge, and so they better look good. He says in his original post that he finds the Cip Browser downconvert to be unmatched. Maybe it is.

As for DVCAM tape, here’s the thing: If you’re going to show your playback on a CRT which is interlaced, then trust me, it will look very good. Seriously. Even in high-end shows where top qualiy DLP projectors are pushing the image downstream from a professional switching system, the image will look very good, and there will be none of the possible artifacts and/or ‘chunging’ that can happen when the image is being sent as a digital file. He may have produced a short (90 minutes he said) and hopes to show it at a film festival or something like that. I’m only sugfgesting that the COW pro’s be open to people who turn to you for direction, especially when it sounds unusual or sometimes foriegn to our workflow.

I’m dumbfounded by the issues of HD flatpanels and their finite resolutions constricted by the pixels that struggle to present ratios and formats that do not exaclty match the resolution of the panel. Circles that looked smashed or systems that fill the panel at the cost of the truth of the ratio instead of letterboxing or whatever. It’s as though we’re being force-feed the flat panel, and for that matter, HD as well. Granted, I love the EX1 and I can vouch for the great quality of the high res after it’s been downconverted, but what workload to always be converting everything down in a world where Blu-Ray isn’t in everyones home or office.

I watched a DVD (regular old DVD, Standard Def) of a John Mayer concert; Into The Light – fantastic set of the JMT with Pino Palladino, and it looke so good that I had to check out the workflow! Guess what? It was shot on film and converted. It was amazing. The color, the contrast, the saturation, it was all pleasing to the eye. On that note, my tube bass head also sounds fantastic. We’re being sold down the digital river folks. Does anyone know what I’m talking about? -s

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer