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HDV & DV in same timeline questions
I think I know the answer but I want some help before spending the cash. Here goes:
G5 Dual 2.5ghz with ATI X800 XT & 30″ Apple LCD – FCP Studio 5 & JVC DV Deck
I inherit a training video project started in HDV shot with the Z1U camera. Training video series that will eventually end up as DVD’s (so not broadcast – but still of professional quality). I get the hard drive. open the project and can cut while viewing the computer – but no output to my NTSC monitor. Project needs reshoots. Producer does not see tha value in HDV after seeing footage from both cam’s (Z1U and DVX100b). So I Need a reasonable way to salvage the HDV footage (downconvert it) without wasting too much rendering time (a mixed format timeline would be nice) to deliver this project as a DVD.
Am I looking at Blackmagic or Aja? $1000 or $2000?
-DM
G5 Dual 2.5Ghz
OSX4 FCP5
Lots of Ram – Lots of cables – Lots of bills… -
9 Replies
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Can you get your hands on a Z1U? I’m almost 100% sure that they have in-camera downconvert.
Ed -
Does that means recapturing 8+ hours of footage and matching it in the timeline?
-DM
G5 Dual 2.5Ghz
OSX4 FCP5
Lots of Ram – Lots of cables – Lots of bills… -
Work in a DV timeline.
Cut the HDV edit footage into a DV timeline (copy and paste your existing edit) and let render overnight. Done.
Any new HDV footage you might cut in needs to be rendered, but after the big downconvert (all done while you were sleeping) it’ll be only a little annoying. All new DV footage will cut right in and playback without rendering.
You absolutely WILL NOT need any new equipment or capture cards.
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I assumed that you hadn’t started editing yet. You can either recapture to DV (as I mentioned in my last post) or
do as suggested by dndobson to render the HDV overnight. If you haven’t started editing, then recapturing as a batch
isn’t much work. If you go the overnight render route be careful of constantly forcing the need to rerender clips when
you play with them in the timeline, it can add up to a lot more time then simply recapturing to DV up front.
8+ hours of tape doesn’t mean 8+ hours of your time. It can be a few minutes of button pushing over 8+ hours.
If you don’t have a Z1U around, or to borrow, then renting one may make the overnight render the best option.
Ed[David M.] “Does that means recapturing 8+ hours of footage and matching it in the timeline?”
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Was thinking of using compressor to convert the original media files to DV files and then relinking them. That might be overkill though. I’ll try the copy/paste / render method first.
Thanks!-DM
G5 Dual 2.5Ghz
OSX4 FCP5
Lots of Ram – Lots of cables – Lots of bills… -
Oooo… Yuk! What a predicament your in?
I hate it when producers and directors don’t see the need to stay with the same format through a project. Especially a project such as yours.
My best advice is to have a system with a AJA Kona LH and use it to downconvert your footage to DV. IF you do this through the deck, the deck will make your blacks look extremely black.
Personally, I use a Kona 2 and the AJA HD10A component video converter. My audio come thru firewire – no sync problems at all! I have purchased a couple of the AJA HD10AVA’s to replace the HD10A so that I will have video and audio. The downconverted video looks great!
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yes – but downconverting with AJA HD card still requires recapturing the whole lot of tapes and then relinking – correct? Also I don’t have the card or the deck. Aja’s & BMD’s websites makes it seem like you buy the card and install the drivers you will be able to edit mixed formats in a single timeline on the fly. I guess I’m not up on my techno nerd nomenclature. “Downconverting” as the term gets tossed around on the Aja and Blackmagic websites implies a simple realtime conversion of files to a lesser quality format within your editing app (timeline) – however – after much research – what it actually means is this: Capturing footage at a lower resolution.
-DM
G5 Dual 2.5Ghz
OSX4 FCP5
Lots of Ram – Lots of cables – Lots of bills… -
Sorry, David..
Sounds like your in a real pickle with this. Sounds like it would be a great time to discuss with your company the need for the capture cards to eliminate such problems in the future. Cheap investment compared to the time involved trying to figure out what to do with this problem. DV is on its way out as a medium of choice (for serious video professionals). HD is the way now and HDV is going to be an important part for the moment.
At this point, the only solution I see is that you convert all your HDV to DV using compressor and waiting a long time for it ro render out – OR – you can just drop your HDV on your timeline, use the Motion tab to adjust your framing and size and render as you go. Either way, the processs is going to be painful and lengthy.
As for your questions… recpautring a downconverted signal is rather easy in FCP and relinking is automatically done. The thing you have to do after downconverting is changing your sequence to the settings you downconverted. Easy. As for mixing on timelines… companies like AJA and Blackmagic are very misleading in their marketing. What they are really saying is you can capture any footage in the codec of your choice to edit in a timeline. And yes…. downconverting is technically a lesser quality BUT for the capture cards, it will look much better than a tape deck’s downconvert.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
How about this? – test how long it takes to media manage and recompress a small amount of footage. If it’s slower than real time, then recapture.
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