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Sony XDCam EX 1080p with DVC Pro HD 1080i Mix?
I’ve been reading the threads and havent seen this mix for one sequence- which is coming my way; one multicam shoot (the interviews) done in Sony XDCAM EX 1080p24 (35 Mb/s VBR), 23.98 fps. Another shoot done in Africa (the B Roll) was done as DVCPRO HD 1080i50, 1440 x 1080 (1888 x 1062) at 25fps. Even the audio rates are different (16 bit vs 24 bit). Both sets of footage are on hard drives as quicktime files. Would you media manage it all to Apple Pro Res and then begin working? Thanks.
Geek/Nerd/Odd Duck
MacbookPro15″ 4gigsRAM -
3 Replies
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First off, you have to decide what you want your final output to be. Is the 1080p24 acceptable? If so, you need to transcode the DVC Pro scenes into ProRes. We mix XDCAM and ProRes codecs on the same time line with no issues. But you will need to make sure you get the frame rates the same.
I know Apple says that you can mix all types of codecs on the same timeline, but I haven’t experienced good results, especially when mixing 24p with 60i. I haven’t done the particular transcode you’re faced with, but I would think Compressor could give very good results in going from DVCProHD 1080i50 to ProRes 1080p24.
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It”ll end up as 1080p/24- as the interviews were done. The footage from Africa is 1080i 50 so am I dealing with a standards conversion as if mixing PAL and NTSC together? Will I actually be able to take the .MOV coming from Africa, drop it into Compressor and get a 1080p Pro Rez file? Seems unfathomable to me but I’m more than happy to go that route. Should I then also convert/media manage my XDCam footage to ProRez as well? Thanks. Really appreciate the help.
Geek/Nerd/Odd Duck
MacbookPro15″ 4gigsRAM -
I have never done a standards conversion with Compressor, but I see no reason it wouldn’t work. I’ve always heard that 25p converts quite well to 24p, so why wouldn’t 50i scenes? I’ve never had a problem converting 60i to 30p, so it seems like you could convert 50i to 24p without a quality hit as well.
I wouldn’t bother converting the XDCAM into ProRes. In fact, it’s possible to use Compressor to convert the DVCPRO HD directly into XDCAM 24p footage. I would experiment on one scene, and see if I could see a difference in picture quality AND transcode time.
We mix XDCAM and ProRes on the same time line quite often with NO issues. I see no advantages in transcoding your XDCAM footage into ProRes.
Be aware of this…..you will be using Compressor to do this transcode, not Final Cut Pro. Compressor is much better at these kinds of jobs, but it is time consuming. This might be an “over-night” render kind of job.
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