Setting up an off-line suite.

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Robb,

I’m a little confused and need to clarify some points before I can provide any suggestions.

[Robb Stan] “All the system would have to do is capture DVC Pro footage via firewire at 8 bit SD uncompressed resolution”

This confuses me. If you capture DVC Pro footage via firewire, Final Cut Pro HD will capture it in the compressed DVC Pro format using one of Apple’s easy setups. If you use a DeckLink Extreme to capture from the SDI or analog outputs of your DVC Pro deck, then you can choose to capture it in various formats including 8 or 10-bit uncompressed, DV, DV50 (DVCPRO 50) and PhotoJPEG. However there would be little point in capturing via the analog or SDI outputs only to save to a DV50 timeline as this would involve decompression and recompression of the video leading to unnecessary degradation of the video. If you want to work in the DV50 format, then capture it via Firewire from the deck. If you then want to output to output to a Digibeta or Betacam SP, you can then use a Blackmagic DV50 easy setup to output to deck via the SDI or component analog outputs.

[Robb Stan] “(1) Is the Apple uncompressed 8 bit SD codec compatible with the Black Magic 8 bit codec?”

We have a detailed technical note regarding the various 8 bit codecs. The short version is that the Blackmagic and Apple 8-bit codecs are written to the same standard and therefore are compatible, ie files captured with one codec can be used with the other codec.

Beginning with the DeckLink 5.0 drivers which we use on Tiger with Final Cut Pro HD 5, we no longer include our own codecs and have standardized on Apple’s codecs for simplicity. So we simply use the Apple 8-bit uncompressed codec in all cases in Final Cut Pro HD 5 and you don’t even have to consider compatibility issues.

[Robb Stan] “(2) If the media is captured on a G-Raid will the project and captured media files be compatible with the G5, FCP 5, and Tiger.”

Yes.

[Robb Stan] “(3) What operating system should I install on the G4?”

The G4/1 GHz DP is a little under our recommended specifications for Final Cut Pro 5 with Tiger but may be fine as we did not have such a machine to test when compiling our recommendations. recommended specifications. It is definitely fast enough for use with Mac OS X 10.3.8, Final Cut Pro 4.5 and the DeckLink 4.8 drivers. If you plenty of RAM in your G4, it would be worth trying with Tiger and Final Cut Pro HD 5.0.2.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design