Final Cut Conversion: Shooting on PD-170 or HDV matching to 24P Advanced footage

[Dndobson]

Wow, some choice, since Neither Camera does 24P (advanced or standard.)
But since the 170 has been around longer and I’ve read the HDV camera doesn’t offer any improvement in the DVCAM world, go with which ever camera the shooter feels more comfortable with.

[Sprocket Size]

Thanks for responding. So… I’ll be able to load the HDV tapes from a DV-Cam deck and won’t need to worry about conversion in FCP? I read somewhere that people were having problems with getting 16×9 from the HDV and that it would auto-convert to 4×3… Is this a myth.

Thanks so much.

Kate

[John Davidson]

We did a live show with 3 vx100’s and one Sony z1u in it’s cineframe mode (picture profile 4).

Here’s a link to a BTS of the event.
https://www.magicfeatherinc.com/Kelly/bts.htm

95% of these shots are on VX100’s, but there are a few wider shots (where people are on stage during the event and the camera is centered – I think the first shot is where people are dancing). The HDV shots are quick in this BTS, but I think it’s a good example of how closely you can match the camera footage.

We actually digitized the footage in as DVCam, though we shot it in HDV. You will need a sony hdv deck if you shot with hdv because standard DV decks won’t play hdv tapes.

Our biggest butt pain was the color correct. That was more an issue with the constantly changing lighting during the show than with the footage format. I know I’ll probably get screamed at for this, but we found it’s easier to shoot at the PP4 setting (the Z1u’s Cineframe Film look mode) and match to the VX100’s simulated 24p that way. it really looked cool. Alot of folks really get upset by that format though.

Let the public castigation begin.

[John Davidson]

I just noticed the South Africa part – PAL changes the landscape a bit. If you shoot HDV Pal, I don’t think you have to use the Picture Profile 4 Cineframe mode on HDV.

[Sprocket Size]

Thanks for all the advice!

So you can’t use an HDV tape in a DV-Cam deck. Is that right?

Kate

[Rsieben]

No…you can not play HDV footage in a DVCam deck. The new Sony HDV decks are pretty solid machines and are priced very reasonably, IMHO. They will play and record HDV, DVCam and DV tapes and are PAL/NTSC switchable. Another benefit is they will do real time HDV to DVCam or DV down conversion.

Ric