FCP 5 and mulitiple formats in same timeline or project??

[Shane Ross]

This is true. It is best to capture everything with the same codec…DV/NTSC or 8-bit uncompressed for example. This way they all have the same dimensions and color space.

If you are working on a DV timeline, then capturing the HDV footage as DV is a snap. Most cameras downconvert on the fly and export a DV signal out thru the firewire cable.

[Shane Ross]

OH, just as an FYI, Vegas 5 edits multiple formats on the same timeline.

[Chris Poisson]

Huh???

I mix formats in an uncompressed timeline all the time. Yes, you have to render it, but it works fine.

[David Bogie]

You CAN have lots of different formats in the same timeline in FCP but you cannot view many of them in realtime. Apparently, Vegas is the only solution for multiple formats in real time. Strange that Apple can’t figure this out. Maybe in FCP5.5 or FCP6? Probably only run the Intel Macintosh.

it will cost us more money to do what it should be doing.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Shane Ross]

I believe he means in realtime Chris…

[Pierre]

So you mean that if you’re watching footage from different formats in the same timeline that it’s really SLOW… or it skips or studders?

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Shane,

Yeah, guess I was taking your answer too literally. Plus, I just assume if your projects are like mine, there is always gonna be some rendering somewhere down the line!

[Dom Silverio]

[bogiesan] “Apparently, Vegas is the only solution for multiple formats in real time.”

Actually, Avid has always been able to do this prior to Vegas’ existence – even HD in SD or vice versa.
Also, Vegas has limitations out on output to client monitor because the lack of hardware. With Avid, even Mojo can output 15:1s, DV, 1:1, HDV and DVC Pro HD out to a SD client monitor. However, Mojo does not output HD signals. (hopefully, in the future it will).
Adrenaline can do.

[Jeremy Garchow]

You need to get your self a nice capture card that can handle the input of all of those formats and then digitize them to the same codec. DV would be good to start with since it eats up the least amount of bandwidth and since you are doing a doc, I imagine that you will have hours upon hours of footage. When you are finished with the offline edit, you can then do the online at whatever resolution you want, as long as they all match. In your case, the Kona LH would be the best solution being able to handle the SDI from the DV50 and then down-convert the analog HDV input from the HDV camera.

Happy digitizing

Jeremy

[Sean Oneil]

Let me clear this up.

Since Final Cut version 5 came out, yes, you can mix as many formats as you want in the timeline w/o rendering. You get an orange render bar which means it will attempt to play it back in RT. You do not necessarily have to render it while eding (although you’ll eventually have to render your final sequence before mastering to tape).

The playback quality will depend on the load and the speed of the Mac. If it’s too much to handle, you can make sure DynamicRT is on and that could help.

So for example, you can make a standard-def sequence, say DV50 for example. On this timeline, throw down a DV25 clip, an 8-bit Uncompressed clip, a 10-bit clip, and even an IMX clip. They’ll all playback smooth and full quality on my dual 2.5ghz G5. No rendering required. And the playback will also play through a Decklink card.

I’ve even tried this with non-FCP codecs, like Animation. It wasn’t perfect but was very, very good.

The one exception is Photo-JPEG which Apple purposefully prevents it from working with any RT capability unless it is the half-res “Offline-RT”. There is a simple hack to fix that though (search the forum).

All that said, it probably isn’t the best workflow to rely on. Figure out what the limitations are and if it’s worth it. Like people here are saying, working with one format is a much smoother editing experience no matter what. Take in everything uncompressed and the same format if you can. But of course time, disk space, disk speed, 3:2 pulldown, deck availability and other factors could make that a problem. So weigh your options carefully.

Sean