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Should I shoot on/in DV or HDV?
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Thank you, David, and Rafael, too! You have given me a lot to think about. One thing, David: I do remember that when I went to import what I’d recorded, I had trouble. I had to set the camera to downconvert, and didn’t know that I’d shot in DV (or, there’s a possibility I set the camera for DV b/c those were the tapes I had and just don’t remember). I will carefully follow the instructions in the manual, as well as review the information on the HDV portion of this site.
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Wow, Chris, thanks for the settings! Can I ask you a couple of question? Does downconvert actually tell the camera that even though you’ve shot in HD, that you’ve shot on a DVC tape? Why would I want to capture it in other than ProRes from the beginning? What is the benefit of doing it as you are right now?
Realizing I have a LOT to learn,
Anne -
Hi Anne,
Most of the time I do capture right to ProRes, in fact, all 5 hours of other tapes for this project were captured to ProRes, and edited in an anamorphic DV sequence. The main advantage doing this is the scaling you can do with the footage, or pan and scan, buttery smooth “camera” moves.
But, the reason I’m downconverting right now is that this segment is for time lapse, and will not need to be resized, so I’m just saving disk space.
Regarding the tape, the camera doesn’t know the difference, HDV tape is just like insurance, DV tapes work just fine.
Have a wonderful day.
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Just a couple of points, because I think this could get confusing for a beginner…
1. The tape that you use has no effect on the format. Go ahead and use a good quality DV tape, and you can still shoot HDV on it, no problem, and the tape doesn’t affect the rest of your workflow. It’s the format you shot that matters, whether it’s HDV or DV.
2. You need to know what you’re doing with these before you move on from here, and so we can help you more.
We’re talking about Pro Res and codecs but don’t know that you can use them, or need them. To make use of Pro Res, you need an Intel Mac running Final Cut 6 or greater. But if this is a one-time thing, just going to DVD, it might be easier and quicker, with less possible snags along the way, to just down-convert right out of the camera and go to the standard NTSC-DV that most beginners start out with. In which case, set up Final Cut as NTSC, and set the camera to down-convert to DV (assuming that you shot HDV, that is.) It should work out just fine. If you want or need the HD footage, that’s a completely different ballgame.
Let us know and we’ll help keep things easy for you. Or do some looking around on the COW, we’ve been through all the rest of what you need to know before, and it should be fairly easy to find.
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You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT need and Intel Mac to capture ProRes, that’s a myth. It is a RAM intensive process, but G5’s do it just fine, see my tutorial, done on a G5 dual 2 Gig with 4.5 gigs RAM.
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/poisson_chris/hdv-prores.php
Have a wonderful day.
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Chris is correct Randy. Capturing HDV to ProRes via firewire can be done on non-intel G5s.
However, try to capture HDV to ProRes using a capture card with a non-Intel machine and it doesn’t work. I’ve never been quite able to wrap my brain around that one, but that’s life.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Alrighty. Proven wrong, and seconded. But at least I learned something. I’m not likely to use that at all where I work, since we’ve got all Mac Pros with Kona 3s, but I might have to try it out at home on my Dual 1.8 G5 and see how well it can handle Pro Res. Thanks for the info. One of these days I’ll know as much as you guys… until then I live, read, and occasionally get a detail wrong. As long as Anne is on the right track, I’m fine with that just this once. Thanks again.
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Very cool, Randy, that we’ve both learned something (and that you’re so humble about it!). Well, I’ve learned a lot from all of you, and can’t thank you enough!
Best to all of you!
Anne
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Randy,
No ill will intended by any means. Just trying to clear up confusion.
Have a wonderful day.
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No offense taken, Chris. I, and everyone else reading this, learn more when you point out those little errors. I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’d rather learn every last bit of it than go without knowing. I’m 22 and grew up farming, but I’m doing what I can to break into a new world. I know a lot, enough to help the company that I’m with solve almost every single problem that we’ve run into getting 3 Final Cut systems up and running, but by no means do I know everything, and that’s why I turn to this forum. I would rather be corrected than not be. Keep the help coming.
Anne, I’m guessing that you’ve got a pretty firm handle on your workflow now? Feel free to ask if you’ve got any more issues. That’s what we’re here for. Otherwise, best of luck to you on your project.
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