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FCP HDV and HDCAM workflow
I posted this to the HDV list, too:
Is anybody out there really trying mix HDV and HDCAM besides me?
I am cuttiing an independent music feature using FCP5. I started with a G5 DP 1.8 and a Kona LH card. I am using Lacie Big FW drives. For rough cut purposes, we brought our HDCAM footage into the project by shooting a monitor with visible timecode using a Z1U. We did this because the HDCAM deck resides in another location and I wanted to edit native HDV. The footage is 75% HDV and 25% HDCAM.
Because of exensive use of multiclips, I found that the computer and drives could not handle the 5-camera coverage of our music performances, even though it was all HDV footage. I have now ordered a Quad G5 and am contemplating building a raid. I wish I could wait for the intel macs but I don’t have the time. I will rent or borrow a HDCAM deck to bring in that footage for the final cut.
The first output requirement is SD/DVD for film fest submission. The next step is digibeta to use for fest exibition (believe it or not). The next step is an HDCAM master and possible film transfer.
I would love to hear some sensible suggestions to the workflow.
TIA from the bleeding edge
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4 Replies
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Well, that’s simple… Personally, I would capture everything at 8 bit Uncompressed and edit that way. If your system can handle the pressure, like the Quad G5 you are ordering, then 10-bit is really the way to go but you’ll need a pretty strong RAID system to handle that. Keep in mind that multicam editing requires some serious processing power to operate.
While you are ordering equipment, I would seriously look at the Kona 3 for your main capture card and get a AJA HD10A for your HDV machine so that you can capture HDV at 10-bit Uncompressed. Why not the Kona LHe? Well, you are doing alot of HD quality material and there will be a time when you need to upconvert footage, of which the Kona LHe does not do. The extra bucks will be well worth the time if that need arises and it will.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions -
https://images.apple.com/pro/pdf/L310570A_HDV_FAQ.pdf
I am also working on a similar project, with a mix of HDV and HDCAM. (I’m quite new at handling Hidef footage)
The very last paragraph in the apple document above gave me the impression that one could capture HDV and simply transcode it into uncompressed HD, without the use of a HDV to HD-SDI hardware solution.
Is this even a possibility?
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Yes, you can use Compressor to convert the footage for you. BUT, that will take some serious time to complete. You best option is the hardware converter like the AJA HD10A, it converts HDV to HD-SDI so that you can digitize in any HD format. I have to say that the footage looks absolutely awesome.
It sounds like this is going to be something in your future that will be your mainstay… So, the investment into the AJA HD10A is very small compared to the time invested in the conversion using Compressor.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions -
If you choose to not work in anamorphic SD but in HDV, make sure you capture using apples intermediate codec. This way, the HDV will maintain its aspect ratio and quality, but it will no longer be a long-gop mpeg2 stream, it will be ‘full-framerate’ video, which is much easier for the G5’s processor to handle.
it will take up a lot more HD space, but your multicam should be better.
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