Should I shoot on/in DV or HDV?

[David Roth weiss]

Anne,

I always suggest that no one ever shoot DV again when HDV is a possibility. There are a few things you need to learn about handling HDV, but it’s no big deal, certainloy nothing you can’t find answers to right here on the Cow. You will need to jump into HD sometime, and there’s no time like the present.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Zane Barker]

AMEN

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[David Roth weiss]

[Zane Barker] “AMEN”

Thank you my son… Now say three hail Mary’s.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Rafael Amador]

I absolutely agree with David and Zane.
The most of my works i finish in SD but I shoot in HD (EX-1) for two reasons:
– The quality of the picture. When color graded and down-converted, for my self, looks like Betacam Digital;-)
– I archive the most of my rushes and doesn’t make much sense to keep things for future use in SD when the days of the SD are more or less counted down.
Like most things in life, is just to start.
Cheers,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Randy Lee]

I completely agree about shooting HDV and downgrading to DV. It’s the way to go. But re-reading the original post, I wonder if she was really asking if she needs to be buying the HDV tapes instead of the DV tapes, to shoot on. In which case, every time I’ve shot HDV, I’ve used DV tapes to do it. Salespeople will tell you to get the HDV tapes (which cost what, 3X as much? More? For me with no budget and eating ramen, let me tell you, that extra $10 a tape buys a LOT of ramen noodles), but I’ve never heard a good explanation behind doing so and the same old tapes seem to be working just fine for me and everyone else I’ve talked to. Any other opinions on this?

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Randy,
Thats is a good point.
Manufactures create confusion to sell the same product with two different prices. In both cases you only need a tape able to record a 25Mbps digital stream.
Recording analog when you use unappropriated tapes you can loose information in the high frequency areas, so color information. In digital you record “0’s” and “1’s”. You need to make a ver-very-very bad recording to be unable to rebuild the stream on playing back.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Anne Swigard]

Oh, boy, now I feel like the rookie I am. Please help me, then. I love the idea of shooting HD on DV tape. What is the setting to shoot on, if you have a Canon XH-A1 (or if you just happen to know it)? I was ready to pony up the extra $$ for the HD tapes, but if I can accomplish this on DV tape, all the better. It’s a looong 2 day shoot, and that would get expensive.

Next, when I go to import the video into FCP, what are the settings for that? I’ve been importing DV (shot on this camera) using NTSC Firewire Basic, but it sounds like I need to import differently as well.

Thanks for all the great posts, everyone! You are making this much more clear of a choice for me.

Anne

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Anne,
You don’t need any special setting to use DV tapes for HDV recording. Just insert the tape and Rec.
Don’t buy HDV tapes but buy good DV tapes.
if you want to download your HDV stuff to FC you have the HDV Capture Presets.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[David Roth weiss]

Anne,

Your camera shoots 1080i HDV on plain vanilla DV tape. You’ll need to break out the manual for the camera settings. As for FCP, just use the HDV 1080i 60 Easy Setup and capture via firewire as you’ve been doing.

As far as the debate on whether to use regular or premium DV tapes, that’s your call. Many get away with using the cheap stuff… My client happened to buy a box of Sony DVC tapes for $5 a tape, and so far I haven’t seen a single dropout. My own philosophy is that if you avoid playing back DV tapes in-camera while out in the field that will save you from most dropouts.

As you get better acquainted with HDV there are optional ways to edit and handle it, but for now just don’t even worry about all that. Just be sure to achieve good focus, as the resolution is six times greater and soft focus will show. And, give yourself plenty of preroll when shooting because should you need to recapture anything after editing HDV requires more preroll than DV.

One last thing, there is an HDV forum on the Cow, and you would be wise to read up over there.

Good luck…

David

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY â„¢

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Chris Poisson]

Anne,

As I type, I am capturing a 1 hour DV tape shot in HDV on a Canon A1 just this morning. I shot at 30f, and I am capturing to DV anamorphic. As the guys above said, if you can shoot HDV, do it. The downconvert in the A1 is just great, but you’ll have the HD material should you need it in the future, in which case you can capture to ProRes.

Have a wonderful day.