HDV Workflow…?

[Walter Biscardi]

Easiest way to work with HDV is get out of the format when starting Post. Edit in DVCPro HD or Uncompressed HD. Makes the editing process much smoother and faster.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Mark Maness]

When you talk with the manufacturers of HDV equipment, they will tell you the same as Walter. As I have said many times before, HDV is a transport stream, not an edit stream.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com

[Todd Beabout]

Hi Walter.

Is there a way to bring HDV in as DVCProHD through FireWire? Our camera is out on a shoot right now or I’d just try it. The boss has not broken down and bought a HDV deck yet, so FireWire is the only option we are left with ATM. I assume if we had a deck we could just bring it in DVCProHD through SDI and my Kona card, but without the deck… Would you recommend transcoding the source material throught Compressor?

-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios

[Walter Biscardi]

[Todd Beabout] “Is there a way to bring HDV in as DVCProHD through FireWire?”

Only if your camera or VTR could do this.

[Todd Beabout] “I assume if we had a deck we could just bring it in DVCProHD through SDI and my Kona card, but without the deck… Would you recommend transcoding the source material throught Compressor?”

If your camera has Component output, and most pro HDV cameras do, you can get the AJA Component to HD-SDI converter and connect to the Kona that way. No, I would NOT use Compressor to transcode. You really want to come in through the Kona card and let it do the conversion from HDV to DVCPro HD.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Zak Mussig]

So do you to have a Kona, BlackMagic DL HD card, or some other hardware to capture HDV as DVCProHD? I have a blackmagic decklink extreme, but it’s an older SD only version. Does using a capture card lead to an unavoidable digital – analog – digital conversion if your capture device doesn’t have SDI?

We also only have cameras (no decks) to handle capturing and mastering from / to HDV, but I really want to change our workflow and avoid editing (mostly rendering) native HDV.

Assuming I have to master a whole program back to HDV without a card that supports HD, am I looking at nesting into an HDV sequence, and putting it somewhere to render for a ridiculous amount of time?

Is re-capturing DVCProHD from HDV source tapes reliable / frame-accurate? Are there any sketchy HDV drop out or MPEG2 issues with that?

Thanks all for your participation, and great responses. I’m just starting to use HDV, and I really feel better about these things if I know as much as possible up front, and make good workflow plans. I’m also the new guy, and want a rock-solid defense for saying let’s change the workflow you’ve been using for quite a while.

Thanks again,
Zak

[Stuart Cummings]

You want a Connect Le-google and you will find. Stuart

[Walter Biscardi]

[Zak Mussig] “So do you to have a Kona, BlackMagic DL HD card, or some other hardware to capture HDV as DVCProHD?”

In realtime, yes. you can do this via software in FCP, but at least from an AJA Kona card, the results via software are not as good as the Kona card.

[Zak Mussig] “We also only have cameras (no decks) to handle capturing and mastering from / to HDV, but I really want to change our workflow and avoid editing (mostly rendering) native HDV.”

You really don’t want to do this with your camera. You’ll wear the heads down prematurely. If you’re doing a lot of editing / mastering, get a VTR.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters