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Is DVCPRO HD codec acceptable for HDCAM delivery
hey AJA Cow
i wasnt sure if this was a Kona question or not. but it has 2 parts:
does Kona have a DVCPRO HD 1080i codec? (as opposed to 720p)
is DVCPRO HD acceptable for output to HDCAM?
the story: we are post for a 13 episode HD program with a very tight delivery schedule. normally we would offline at DV then online at full resolution, either Uncompressed SD or HD depending on the project. we really dont have time on this project to online, so we would like to be online from the beginning. we are planning on building an Xsan with 2 Xserve RAIDs feeding 2 G5 edit stations with Kona LH cards, and a G4 capture station. uncompressed HD editing really isnt an option because of the bandwidth required (and with our editors “stack the timeline as high as you can” editing style). however, from looking at the numbers, DVCPRO HD would work great. if we use the DVCPRO HD codec, will the client be able to tell on the delivered HDCAM? will we have color space and artifacting issues like we do with the DV codec?
will the KonaLH card work in a G4 dual 1Ghz? we would like to make one of our old G4s a capture station for the HDCAM deck. is HDCAM capture and realtime DVCPRO HD convert too much for such a slow system?
thanks for all your help Cow! i know its a Saturday, but if you guys are anything like mee, this is the only time of the week that any work gets done. thanks
eric hansen
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1 Reply
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[Eric Hansen] “does Kona have a DVCPRO HD 1080i codec? (as opposed to 720p)
is DVCPRO HD acceptable for output to HDCAM?”
The codec is Panasonic’s. There is an Easy Setup which allows you to capture to the 1080i DVCPro HD codec either via Firewire or via the Kona 2. But the codec itself is Panasonic.
I cut a series right now in the DVCPro HD codec which then plays straight out to an HDCAM master, so yes, DVCPro HD is perfectly fine to output to HDCAM. However, you should run a test Master and get a QC approval from the Network before doing the full workflow. That’s what we did here to test the quality and output prior to actual post production.
[Eric Hansen] “will the KonaLH card work in a G4 dual 1Ghz? we would like to make one of our old G4s a capture station for the HDCAM deck. is HDCAM capture and realtime DVCPRO HD convert too much for such a slow system?”
The convert from HDCAM to DVCPro HD is happening via the Kona card so I’m pretty sure that would work, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. All of the newer cards are optimized for G5’s. A better thought would be to sell the G4 and pick up the cheapest G5 to use as your capture station.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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