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HDV 1080i50 to SD MASTER Workflow
Hello all.
I am working now on a documentary, shot on Sony HDV 1080i50, 70 hours material, to be delivered in DIGIBETA PAL, and I am looking to the best approach to edit and finish it. Coming from the AVID World (yes, I confess…) and having worked not so much with FCP, I really need some help with this project. I will tell you what I do have in mind, and I kindly ask you to tell me if I am crazy or it makes some sense. I do have some specific questions as well. Thank you for your help. Here is my plan:1 – CAPTURE.
70 hours captured in DV (already have!) in order to monitor easyly and work without long GOP.2 – OFF LINE EDITING.
Normal documentary editing. I will zoom/resize the picture a lot. As I shoot in HDV and will deliver in SD PAL, I understand I have a big margin to zoom in an image without any quality loss when downsizing back to PAL. For instance, I only made one wide shot for the interviews. I will use this shot and then zoom the picture for a close up of the face… That is the main idea. How should I do these frame resizes, direct with FCP or should I use some special plug in?3 – ONLINE.
Recapture all material in the Sequence in HD. Now I do not know if I should do it on HDV (remember: we are going back to SD for output) or should I use one of the PRORES 422 Apple codecs. What do you think? All the frame resizes and picture effects will be kept on the recapture, or?4 – IMAGE FINISHING.
Do the colour correction and image finishing (with the HD material). Control and finish all the image movements, zooms and resizes. Apply effects, we do have to make some face blur and things like that. Should I do the colour correction on HD or should I make it once I have already downsized to SD, after step 5?5 – RENDER TO SD FOR OUTPUT.
Here I do not know how to do it, but I want to convert my HD (HDV or PRORES 422) Sequence to an SD Uncompressed PAL 4:2:2 10bit Sequence. How do I do this? Here I do not have nay idea… Could you please help me? Will all the resizes and zoom be kept with the correct resolution when I downsize?6 – AUDIO FINISHING.
Audio mixing and audio effects.7 – OUTPUT IN SD
Export of a Quicktime SD Uncompressed PAL 4:2:2 with 10bit and print to tape.Should I export direct from FCP or use Compressor or something?
That’s it!Please, I would ask you to take some time an help me. If thewe is something that is not clear or you need more information, fell free to write me or post and I will answer as soon as I can. Thanks again.
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6 Replies
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Honestly, the way I would do this is to capture to DVCPro HD during Ingest using something like the Kona LHe or Kona 3. DVCPro HD is a very low data rate format so there’s no reason to start in DV and switch to HD later.
Edit your entire project in DVCPro HD 1080i/50.
When you’re all done, simply use the realtime downconversion of the Kona LHe to lay off to DigiBeta. You’ll have the option to Center Punch, Letterbox or Anamorphic the downconversion.
This is really clean, it’s simple and painless and well worth the money spent on the LHe. AND this allows you to just edit once and lay off twice.
We always edit our HDV native material in DVCPro HD by converting it during the ingest process with our Kona 3’s and we’ve cut documentaries with up to 30 hours of material so far. Next year we’re cutting three feature length documentaries and each will have upwards of 100 hours of material. We will be using the DVCPro HD workflow.
The only thing we are adding here to the workflow is when we finish the color grade in Color, we are now rendering out to the ProRes HQ codec as this has been very clean in early testing. So we end up with a ProRes timeline at the very end ready to lay off to both HD and SD.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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Thank you for your help, I will give a try to this DVCPRO HD Workflow, though I understand that when coming form HDV to DVCPRO HD you got a frame size reduction from 1440 to 1280 pixels horizontal.
Thanks
Steph. -
[Stephane Grueso] “though I understand that when coming form HDV to DVCPRO HD you got a frame size reduction from 1440 to 1280 pixels horizontal. “
Not in PAL 1080i/50, it’s the same 1440×1080, only in NTSC does the frame size reduce to 1280×1080.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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Ok, so if I work in PAL I’ll keep the frame size and just use the interframe codec DVCPRO HD that is 100 mbits per second and offers a very good quality for that bitrate. Just a question, why would you not use the Apple PRORES 4:2:2 codecs? Everyone talks wonders about these codecs! Is it because your capture card, or maybe this DVCPRO HD is just better for a lower bitrate…
Thanks, I will defently give DVCPRO HD a try!
Thanks for your help again -
[Stephane Grueso] “why would you not use the Apple PRORES 4:2:2 codecs?”
Because we’ve had inconsistent results with ProRes. We’ve been using DVCPro HD almost four years now and it’s a solid codec. The best success I’ve had is to capture / edit DVCPro HD and then let Color render to ProRes.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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Ok, I´ll try this then.
Cheers!
Steph.
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