-
Project Settings Question
I am about to start a fairly large project and since I don’t do a lot of HD work I am looking for some guidance. A freelancer has shot a few hours of footage on a Canon xf100 in the mxf format. I downloaded the XDCAM software and have managed to figure that out to a certain extent. But, before I set up the project in Media 100 I could use some help. The project will have to air in both HD and SD and I have to make the client a DVD as well. The SD would be delivered in DV settings 720 x 480. The HD will end up playing in HD 1080i. I will do some of the compositing in AE.
Here is a couple of screen shots as to what XDCAM transfer tells me I have.
First of all, when I set up Media 100 what Codec should I use? Is there such a thing as a Cannon xf codec that I should download or should it be Apple Pro res HQ or DVCPRO HD?
Under Preferences/Video Input/Media standard I’m a little confused as to which choice.
Under configurations do I choose HD 1080i 29.97 or go with 720p 59.94? The preview in XDCAM transfer indicates the clips to be 59.94i .
The goal is to end up with 3 half hour shows, and I would hate to bring in all of this footage and make a mistake right off the bat.
That’s a lot of questions, but if anyone can help I would appreciate it.
thanks
Dave
-
4 Replies
-
Sorry, Not sure what happened to the screen shots let’s try again.
And This
a href=’https://images.creativecow.net/48497/clipinfoxdcam.jpg’>
Thank You!
-
Here is how I do the importing.
It works for me. -
Dave, if you have the latest Media 100, as you appear to have judging by your codec choice, you should certainly choose the ProRes 422 HQ codec. As you have a large project you will doubtless have a lot of media and some codecs are very good at filling your storage drives! ProRes, by some Apple miracle, manages to reduce file sizes without degrading the quality.
From your screen grab it looks like the material was shot in HDV (not HD) which earlier versions of Media 100 could not handle directly. I used to have to go through the Convergent Design converter box to get my HD. I now shoot with an EX 1 which Sony Transfer supplies to Media 100 and I can choose my import codec. However I believe Media 100 can now transcode HDV, others will confirm this please.
I shoot in Europe at 1920 X 1080i at 25 fps for PAL DVD’s (and BD”s). The encoding software BitVice does a wonderful downscale to SD for the DVD’s but obviously I also have an HD file for archive and further distribution material.
I hope that this is helpful but we all have different workflows, shoot in different formats, live in funny places that use NTSC and PAL and have different final product requirements. You are absolutely right in wanting to get your choices correct at the outset.
Michael Slowe
-
Thanks Gerry and Michael for the prompt replies. I was guessing the pro res HQ codec was my best choice, but I dreaded importing that much material only to learn there was a better option. I’ll also check out the software you mentioned for the down convert.
I appreciate the assistance.
Cheers
Dave
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up