Monitoring DVCPRO HD

[Jason Henries]

60P with audio.

[Jason Henries]

This is odd, too.

New Project > Custom Settings > General > Editing Mode > Panasonic P2 720P

That gives three options for timebase; 24, 25 & 30, and allows you to modify the playback settings. Great!

But the pixel dimension and aspect ratios are wrong and you can’t edit them. It shows 1280 x 720 @ square.

DVCPRO HD is 960 x 720 @ 1.333. WTF?

I set it up as a 30P project, imported some 30P footage, and I still get the red line.

I don’t get it. Why doesn’t Premiere allow you to adjust playback settings in the presets?

[Jason Henries]

Okay… so I shot some vanilla DV on the P2 just to test.

[CS3] New Project > Custom Settings > General > Editing Mode > DV NTSC

Set playback settings to my TV (“Monitor 2” on the PCI video card, not firewire)

Imported my DV footage. Plays back RT. No red line. Preview shows on the TV full screen.

Beauty!

Now why can’t I get that in HD?????????

[Vince Becquiot]

As I mentioned earlier, it probably just means that your machine can’t process the native footage because it’s not powerful enough.

I would wait for the new machine, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ve played back DVCPro HD 60P using the settings you mentioned and never saw a render line.

Vince Becquiot
Director | Editor

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jason Henries]

Thanks, Vince! I hope you’re right. I guess I’m in a good position to find out.

You did say you’re using CS3, right?

[Vince Becquiot]

CS4 now, I edited the same footage in CS3. Make sure you have the latest updates as well. BTW, any particular reason you are shooting 60P ? (just curious…)

Vince Becquiot
Director | Editor

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jason Henries]

Upon a recommendation from another P2 user. He shot tons on P2 and edited w/PPro. He said he got the best results with fewest headaches on 60P (played well on mixed timelines, exported easily, etc). I didn’t interrogate him throroughly about his workflow, however.

I’ve only had the HVX since July, and have had tons of work, so I haven’t had a lot of time to experiment. Once the new system is up, I will see what 30P has to offer.

So since you’re using CS4, under the custom settings tab, what editing modes are offered for DVCPRO HD? Are there still only 5?

This is what’s in CS3:

Panasonic P2 720
P2 720 60HZ DVCPROHD
P2 720 50HZ DVCPROHD
P2 1080i/p 60HZ DVCPROHD
P2 1080i/p 50HZ DVCPROHD

The only one that will allow you to change the playback settings is
“Panasonic P2 720”, and that’s the one where the pixel dimensions and A/R are wrong.

Thanks for the info!

[Vince Becquiot]

Same options. Not sure what you mean by wrong aspect ratio.

It should be 960×720 for 720P or 1440×1080 for 1080i/p. Both correspond to the DVCPro HD PAR at 1.333

The problem with shooting 60P is that you not only have to process twice as many frames (harder on the processor during playback), but you also cut your storage in half on a P2 card. It also forces you into a higher shutter speed, thus requiring more lighting for interior shots.

I would recommend 30PN for most situations. 60P would be great for sporting events, but that’s the only thing I can think of.

Vince Becquiot
Director | Editor

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jason Henries]

[Vince Becquiot] “It should be 960×720 for 720P or 1440×1080 for 1080i/p. Both correspond to the DVCPro HD PAR at 1.333”

Correct. They must have changed it in CS4. In CS3 it’s 1280 x 720 square.

[Vince Becquiot] “The problem with shooting 60P is that you not only have to process twice as many frames (harder on the processor during playback), but you also cut your storage in half on a P2 card. It also forces you into a higher shutter speed, thus requiring more lighting for interior shots.”

Negative. I just looked it up. Barry Green’s “The HVX Book”, page 33.

The broadcast standard for 720 is 60 fps (United States, 50 fps Europe). In any 720 mode the HVX is recording 60 discrete frames. In 30P it just copies each frame once. So you get 17 minutes/16GB in 60P or 30P.

That explains why my friend used 60P. He was working for a TV station… why not match broadcast standards? Besides, you’re paying for 60 frames no matter. Might as well use them.

When using VFR, the camera duplicates frames more than once. If it’s not a rate evenly divisible into 60, it uses a pull-down algorithm.

Panny did that because when the VariCam first came out, P2 didn’t exist. They had to lay down 60 discrete frames on tape regardless of FR because the tape always moved at the same speed, so they fixed it with software and came up with the frame dupe method. Then migrated the technology to P2.

So there you have it. The HVX Book rocks! : )

[Jason Henries]

And I fixed my problem.

I opened an existing standard “preset” DVCPRO HD 720/60P project.

I clicked on the > (arrow with a circle around it) in the upper right corner of the monitor panel.

A menu pops up.

At the bottom of the menu is “Playback Settings”.

It gives me the option to output to Monitor 2. : )

It works!

But if I go to Project > Project Settings > General, the playback settings button is grayed out.

Whatever… it works. And I didn’t have to drop $1500 on a matrox card.

Now I wish the new system was built.