Young filmmaker needs help with 30P

[Matt Doe]

Has the footage been captured yet?

If not, you want to capture native to what was shot, in this case HDV. The easiest way to go is use the Easy Setups in Final Cut to match what you shot and capture over firewire.

[Chris Poisson]

I disagree completely. Capture to ProRes, drives are really cheap right now and the quality will be outstanding and no conforming. Transitions and color correction will be far superior to editiong with HDV, even if you render to ProRes. Start out with a codec worth editing with.

Have as good a day as you can.

[Teague Fleury]

So it’s definitely worth the extra storage space to capture to ProRes HQ? I read in a seperate forum that by capturing hdv to prores, the footage compresses even further rather than making an exact copy by capturing to native hdv. I want to know what’s best before i spend weeks capturing all this footage. Thanks very much for your help.

-Teague

NOMAPSfilms.com

One Man. Two Wheels. No Maps.

NOMAPS Films is currently in post production on a feature length HD documentary film about a solo motorcycle adventure from CT to Panama… and back.

[Matt Doe]

Chris is right, capturing to ProRes is the way to go, totally forgot about that option (even though that is what I do with all my 5D Mark II footage) with my first response.

You will not be compressing the footage more by capturing to ProRes

[Gary Adcock]

[Teague Fleury] “So it’s definitely worth the extra storage space to capture to ProRes HQ? I read in a seperate forum that by capturing hdv to prores, the footage compresses even further rather than making an exact copy by capturing to native hdv.”

you gain nothing from going from HDV to ProResHQ.

Plain ProRes is more than sufficient for your needs with all the benefits and 50% less hassle.

as for converting to PR from HDV- the other poster is incorrect, as ProRes will actually keep MORE detail and Color intact since your footage is I-frame 4:2:2 @ 10bit instead of HDV’s GOP based Mpeg as 8bit 4:2:0

funny my math tells me that while you will not gain anything- you also will not loose anything in the translation.

Please take a look at my prores article listed below.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflow for the Digitally Inclined
Chicago, IL

Inside look at the IoHD
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/adcock_gary/AJAIOHD.php

ProRes-A Closer Look
https://tinyurl.com/b3c3nx

[Matt Devino]

I agree with these guys, ProRes (not HQ) is the way to go. For the 60i stuff just capture it as 60i, but work in a 30P timeline and it should look nearly identical to the 30P footage. Use the easy setups FCP provides for HDV to ProRes conversion over firewire, they will keep your footage at the original 1440×1080 aspect ratio which is a good thing as it will save drive space. You can convert to 1920×1080 square pixels when you are finished editing and ready to master.

[Chris Poisson]

Yes, I never said HQ, what a waste. These guys here know what I’m talking about, if you have fast enough drives and enough of them you are much better off going this way. BTW FW 800 Raids seem to be fast enough to process a couple of streams of 1080 ProRes, I use a SATA array, which is more than fast enough, even on my MBP.

Have as good a day as you can.

[Teague Fleury]

yeah, like i said originally, i am still learning so I wasn’t quite sure if ProRes HQ was necessary. Now that i know it’s not, i am excited to be able to capture more efficiently and know that i am on the right path.

The moral of the story is that i should capture using ProRes, edit all my footage (60i and 30P) in a 30P timeline at original size of 1440 X 1080, and then scale to 1920 X 1080 when finished. I guess there is nothing left to do but start capturing!!!

I can’t thank you guys enough for all your help, it means a great deal to me.

-Teague

NOMAPSfilms.com

One Man. Two Wheels. No Maps.

NOMAPS Films is currently in post production on a feature length HD documentary film about a solo motorcycle adventure from CT to Panama… and back.

[Dan Nocera]

If Teague shot in HDV isn’t the regular Pro Res codec even over-kill? I thought the new Pro Res LT was the best choice for transcoding from HDV because its just about double the bit rate of HDV – 50Mbits. Of course I’m assuming Teague has FCP 7. . .

Another thought- If you want the 60i footage to look its best you should de-interlace it using compressor instead of de-interlacer in FCP. You can batch convert all of the footage after you have captured it. Just pull the footage into compressor and use the quicktime pro res preset. In the third tab in the inspector turn the frame controls on. Set the OUTPUT FIELDS to progressive and deinterlace to better (or best if you have a few days free for rendering) Un-check adaptive details.

I’ve found that compressor does a better job of deinterlacing(set on better or best) than FCP. Final cut will deinterlace the 60i footage simply by pulling it into a 30P timeline but it will be the equivalent of compressor’s FAST(Line Averaging) setting . . .

There are plugins that you can also use in FCP like Nattress Smart Deinterlace instead- but you have to render to playback.

Dan Nocera
CTFCPUG Moderator

If all else fails give it a whack!!
-Anonymous Techie