Kona 2 and questions about DVCProHD vs. HDCAM Mastering…

[David Battistella]

Answer to #1

The KONA does not convert the HDCAM to DVCPRO HD, you just select that codec as the preset you want to capture to and it will capture any HD source to that codec (CINEALTA included). SO yes, you can capture HDCAM to DVCPRO HD CODEC.

#2

Yes you can play out the DVCPRO HD to HDCAM for mastering, the KONA will do this.

Free Advice. Do not cut SD at all if you intend on cutting in the DVCpro codec. at 24frames persecond the DVCPRO hd is only 5.5mb/sec vs 3.8mb/sec for DV, you are not saving usin much extra space to capture everything at your final HD resolution.

If you do cut it all DV,

Then I suggest a 10bit uncompressed online and color correct or XML the FCP project to Final Touch and CC it there.

If you do not have the drive speed or capacity to do this then a DVCPRO HD online will look great too.

David

I can’t believe it’s not butter!

[Walter Biscardi]

[belsokar] “1. When its time to online the HDCAM source, can the KONA 2 convert HDCAM direct to DVCProHD? Or will I have to capture uncompressed HDCAM first and then convert?”

You can capture directly to DVCPro HD. You simply select the DVCPro HD codec as the Easy Setup to capture to. Feed the HDCAM via SDI and you’re set to go.

[belsokar] “2. Once I’ve finalized the DVCProHD project, are there any issues to be concerned about with mastering out to HDCAM from the DVCProHD masters? Is it a safe assumption that the Kona 2 can handle this alright?”

You’re talking about two different things here. If you’re mastering to HDCAM from a DVCPro HD Master, then you’re talking about going tape to tape. That should be done through a Terranex converter.

If you want to take a DVCPro HD 720p timeline and master directly to a 1080i HDCAM VTR, you cannot do this with the Kona 2. The Kona 2 (or 3) does NOT do a cross-convert from 720 to 1080 or vice versa.

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

Director, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

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

[David Battistella]

Walter is right about the cross conversion, so a potential workflow, using teh 1200A deck with HD option would be to tell the 1200A to convert everything to 1080 when it is capturing the footage. So capture everything, Varicam and HDCAM footage to DVCPRO hd 1080 workflow.

One goes up, one comes down 🙂 Evrybody happy in the middle.

David

I can’t believe it’s not butter!

[Basem Elsokary]

Thank You both for the tips….

How much space would DVCProHD 1080 take vs. 720? Just trying to figure out the drive space before I order here…

Also, you stated at the online stage to go 10 bit uncompressed…would it make any difference whether or not I went with a DVCProHD 1080 timeline or 720 timeline?

Thanks again for the feedback!

[David Battistella]

If you go to the AJA site, This page,

https://www.aja.com/support_kona.html

and download the Footage calculator, you can figure out the math all by yourself.

As for teh 1080 vs 720, I suspect it might be easier and cheaper to make the 720 to 1080 with the 1200a than make the HDCAM 720P.

David

I can’t believe it’s not butter!

[Basem Elsokary]

The main reason I was going to cut SD was that I have alot of footage (30+ hours), and was planning on throwing it on a BigDisk or some external firewire drive to hand to an editor…

is your main point that I’m not saving much space? or are there other issues to be concerned with when cutting in SD?

thanks again for the feedback…

[David Smith]

[belsokar] “How much space would DVCProHD 1080 take vs. 720?”

Digital Heaven offers a cool (and free) little video file calculator widgit for the Tiger OS. I keep it on my laptop, so as not to have widgits running on the editing machine.

https://digital-heaven.co.uk/videospace/

Take a look at their Final Cut plug-in offerings while you’re there, as well as their nifty (did I say that?) logging software.

Regards,
David