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XL-H1 users…share your experiences please?
Hi! I’ll apologize in advance for cross-posting this from the HDV forum. We’re considering moving into HDV to supplement our normal SD workflow. One absolute will be adding another G5 (quad, yay! 🙂 with the Final Cut Studio suite and a Decklink HD or Aja card. We’re leaning toward the XL-H1 since we shoot exclusively on Canon equipment now. But I’m tentative because of a few things.
First, there’s the issue of long GOPs and camera movement. I’ve been scouring the net all day, and haven’t really found a lot of definitive information on this. For simple pans and zooms, the type you’d perform in corporate and educational material mostly, have any of you experienced problems? Is it just a bunch of negative hype?
Second, there’s workflow. Long GOPs and editing…do I edit native in FCP, or transcode? What are the results? I work heavily in After Effects, so I can’t imagine working in MPEG would turn out very well. But transcoding involves time and hard drive space. One’s expensive, the other not so much.
Third, I’ve found only one deck (Sony HVR-M10) available for playback. And everything I read says it’s basically the Z1 guts in a little black box for not much less money. So maybe I just skip the idea of a dedicated VTR and play out of the camera, at least until there’s a Firestore solution.
On a side note, do any of you XL-H1 users out there capture your footage through its SDI output? Or doesn’t it upconvert there, only passing through live video?
Like I said, I’ve been Googling and foruming and reading my tail off today. Many of the posts and articles I’ve found are from 2004. Certainly by now someone’s come up with a definitive answer to some of these questions. So it’s time to beseech my fellow Cowmunity members to share your experiences with the rest of us. If nothing else, some up-to-date answers are better than stale ones.
Thanks in advance!
Clint F
Bismarck, ND -
15 Replies
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Clint,
Go to http://www.dv.com and watch Adam Wilt’s webcast from DV Expo East 2005 entitled: Maximizing Success with DV Cameras. Among other things he talks at length about the way HDV cams compress to tape using MPEG2 and 15 frame GOPS, as well as the pitfalls associated with this format. If you’re consideriing the Canon XL-H1 Adam Wilt’s webcast is a must see. Also keep in mind that the Canon XL-H1 doesn’t have a true progressive scan mode, but rather an “F” mode, and this is something that Final Cut Pro can’t deal with at the moment. Of course, even HDV shot @60i looks better than DV shot @60i, provided you change the way you shoot. Adam Wilt explains this, too.
– Don
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We just bought two of the H1’s and so far we love the camera, our workflow is to shoot in HDV and edit in FCP in the DVC pro HD 100 format 1080i . It looks great. Do not edit in HDV unless you need to.
We have aja kona 2’s but the aja LHe card has all the right connectivity for you to get your HDV camera masters in if your using the sony m10u which works very well just not in 24f.
good luck
Bob@ playimage Inc.
Playimage Inc. / FCP 4.5 HD
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Hi, I’m editing some footage on Saturday. I have not had a chance to even touch the XL H1 and I’m trying to find out the correct capture/sequence settings for 30F. Can Final Cut handle 30F HD video from the XL H1?
Thanks,
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[nvelis] “Can Final Cut handle 30F HD video from the XL H1?”
Not yet. You need to shoot in 60i for editing in FCP. If you’ve already shot your footage in 30F I’m at a loss as to what to suggest other than connect the XL H1 to another camera/deck and do a straight transfer using a codec that’s already supported by FCP.
– Don
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Hi, Thanks. We are shooting this afternoon so still time to change format. As far as the workflow for 60i, according to a previous post.
“our workflow is to shoot in HDV and edit in FCP in the DVC pro HD 100 format 1080i ”
I’m looking through the capture presets and my options are
DVCPRO HD 1080i50
DVCPRO HD 1080i60any suggestions on which to use?
Thanks,
Neobe -
DVCPRO HD 1080i50 is for PAL format video and DVCPRO HD 1080i60 is for NTSC video. So, since you live in a NTSC country you’ll probably want to use the second option you mentioned.
– Don
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Don – is zooming/panning/cropping the H1 HDV footage in an SD FCP timeline viable? caveats?
There are plans at dvxuser.com to capture and edit their sony/canon/pana/jvc shootout footage on an as-shipped G5.
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[Peter Ralph] “is zooming/panning/cropping the H1 HDV footage in an SD FCP timeline viable? caveats?
“Sorry, Peter but I don’t know. I don’t own an XL-H1. But I do read a lot. The cameras that I do own are all standard def. I’ve decided to hold off on any HD buying decisions for at least another year ro so.
– Don
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thanks Don – I have read conflicting opinions on this issue – no comaprison reviews so far dealing with workflow issues.
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Hi I was able to capture 30F with Final Cut Pro using capture now and edit the footage in a 1080i60 sequence. I was also able to capture 24F using DVXDV and then convert it to Quicktime and use that in a 1080i60 sequence.
The only problem so far is that it needs to render everything. Bringing the clips into the sequence requires a lot of rendering as does just about any change to the clips. Anyone have any ideas on workarounds? The sequence settings do match the capture settings.
Thanks,
Neobe
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