importing miniDV in better quality??

[Todd Beabout]

You will need a capture card that supports uncompressed input, such as an AJA Kona or Blackmagic card. Then you will need a DV deck that either has SDI or component out (this will need to match the input of your capture card).

Hook them up together and Final Cut will do the rest.

Of course there is a bit more to all of this, but that is the short answer.

-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios

[Shane Ross]

Please note that once you shoot DV to tape, you are already at the DV compression…5:1 compression, 4:1:1 color space. There is no way to UNCOMPRESS that with a capture card. What a capture card will do is capture it at a higher resolution so that less artifacting and loss will occur to the footage than if you did the same at DV resolution…but that’s it.

The only way to capture uncompressed 4:2:2 (isn’t HD the only format capable of 4:4:4?) is if you come directly out of the camera and into the computer via a capture card…bypassing tape. but that means lugging a MacPro and Raid storage to the shoot and tethering it to each camera…

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Victvillain]

so are you saying that you can’t get a higher quality image out of miniDV?

And if a capture card and deck is what I need what would be some of the more inexpensive ideas?

Thanks for all the info

[Shane Ross]

[Victvillain] “so are you saying that you can’t get a higher quality image out of miniDV?”

Once you record your image to miniDV or DVCAM, you are in the 5:1 compression and 4:1:1 color space. That is set in stone. The best way to capture that with NO loss of quality is via firewire. That is a simple data transfer…image quality will be identical. There is NO WAY to improve the quality of that image. The best you can do is capture in a way to LESSEN the amount of quality loss if you do heavy filtering, or if you add text and graphics.

[Victvillain] “And if a capture card and deck is what I need what would be some of the more inexpensive ideas?”

Only two options…capture from the camera or deck via firewire, or with a deck and a capture card. The cheaper is the deck via firewire.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Victvillain]

wow. So waisting the money on a capture card and deck wouldnt improve any of the footage?

What way is the best wqy to capture with out lessoning the quality adding filters/titles?

And what is a good “cheaper” minidv deck that would allow me to use forewire or sdi?

[Shane Ross]

[Victvillain] “So waisting the money on a capture card and deck wouldnt improve any of the footage?”

Only if you are an ABSOLUTE STICKLER for quality. Because, as I stated, when you render out 8 or 10-bit uncompressed, or ProRes, the image will show less artifacting than if you render out DV. It is the fact that the footage will be in a 4:2:2 color space and better compression than a 4:1:1 colorspace that brings this about.

[Victvillain] “What way is the best wqy to capture with out lessoning the quality adding filters/titles?”

With a capture card via SDI as uncompressed 10-bit or ProRes.

[Victvillain] “And what is a good “cheaper” minidv deck that would allow me to use forewire or sdi?”

Cheaper? Well, any deck with SDI out isn’t gonna be cheap. Talking thousands here.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/477026-REG/Sony_HVR1500_HVR_1500_HDV_DVCAM_VTR.html

That is the cheaper of the bunch…

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Adam Smith]

It wouldn’t improve the footage, as that was decided when the signal was compressed and written to DV tape, but it could very well improve the overall quality of your finished product, depending on how much rendering you do.

What about capturing via Firewire and then setting your project to do all renders in uncompressed or ProRes? You wouldn’t have to add a capture card, and you could still avoid the repeated-compression issues with DV. This is assuming you don’t use Firewire out to master back to DV tape, which in the end would require crunching everything back down to DV…

—
Video Photographer / Avid Editor / Final Cut Neophyte

[Uli Plank]

My short answer: Don’t waist your money on capture cards, get a better camera. DV ist 4:1:1 (in NTSC) and you can do nothing about it.
DVCPro50 for example is doing 4:2:2 and you can see that. If you want to stay in SD, there are good second-hand offers around these days.

Regrads,

Uli

[Victvillain]

“This is assuming you don’t use Firewire out to master back to DV tape, which in the end would require crunching everything back down to DV… ”

sorry to be such a noob when it comes to post, but can i get suggestions on exporting/mastering from final cut rather then exporting it through firewire…

[Adam Smith]

That really depends on what equipment you have… if you need to output finished projects to tape for archiving, dubbing or whatever and all you have is a DV camera/deck, then you’ll just have to settle for one more round of DV compression when it’s laid to tape.

If the video is for some sort of digital use or delivery (web, DVD, flash, movie file, etc) then you can output an uncompressed or ProRes master quicktime of your project and use that as the source.

You might want to test to see if you can comfortably play/work in these less compressed (and much larger) video formats before you go too much farther. Perhaps you can copy an old DV project with lots of graphics and re-render to compare? See how well your drives can keep up, see if the performance is still adequate for your realtime effects needs. And see if you (or your clients) can tell the difference between the DV and not-DV.

There’s always going to be better gear out there, the trick is buying only as much as you need to. Or do like I did, run out of money and then tell yourself “That’s good enough!”

—
Video Photographer / Avid Editor / Final Cut Neophyte