HDV in iMovie, is it full quality??

[Erik Lindahl]

iMovie and FCE uses a quite brutal way of editing HDV. The HDV MPEG2 stream is converted to an “Apple Intermediate Codec” during capture. Then when your finnished with your editing, it’s transcoded back to HDV/MPEG2. This makes it impossible not to release a loss in picutrequality while ediitng.

FCP5 seems to have native HDV/MPEG2 editing, which means you DON’T loose quality when editing straight cuts. However, if you apply filters or crossdissolves, the picture will be recompressed giving you you a generation loss (only one, not TWO as with the iMovie/FCE solution).

For HDV Editing go with FCP5!

[Mark Linthicum]

[Erik Lindahl] “iMovie and FCE uses a quite brutal way of editing HDV. The HDV MPEG2 stream is converted to an “Apple Intermediate Codec” during capture. Then when your finnished with your editing, it’s transcoded back to HDV/MPEG2. This makes it impossible not to release a loss in picutrequality while ediitng. “

Well that is what i thought.

I just want to capture medea for a “Film Out Test”. The first one here in LA! I did not want to give them a lower resolution image and I do not want to have to by software for this test. I guess I will go analog out of the camera.

Thanks, Mark