[Adam Claude jones]

Thanks Gary.

[Adam Claude jones]

Thanks.
I managed to dig up the cable manufacturer and here is the manufacturer’s page for the cable:

https://www.sommercable.com/2__produkte/2__030_meterware/2__600_0174_05.html

For me it sounds like rocket science as I really don’t know much about it.

[Adam Claude jones]

Thanks. I would love to get the Marketek stuff but as I said overseas shipping is so impractical.
I do not need nearly 300 feet though. Just 75 feet.

So do you think I should be fine with the above cable?
One thing I didn’t like is that they mention the cable to be very flexible and I heard HD rated SDI cables are rather stiff and the flexible stuff are normally SD cables.
here are a couple of other specifications I found about the cable I’m looking at locally:

*Perfectly suited for HD-SDI (with this length up to about 800MHz, 1.6 Gbit / s)

Not sure but the brand seems to be SC-VECTOR PLUS 1.2/5.0.

Thanks.

[Adam Claude jones]

[Gary Adcock] “Direct from the camera -correct”

Yep. Straight out of the HD-SDI into a Blackmagic Decklink card.
Thanks for the confirmation. I just wanted to make that I should be using ProRes HQ.

[Adam Claude jones]

Interesting thread, I’m subscribing.
Carry on.

[Adam Claude jones]

Thanks again Gary.
Yeah, I have to figure out the best workflow.
So to summarize about my original question which we got a little side tracked to post workflow and the question was about capturing codec, I should use ProRes 422 HQ to capture the 10 bit 4:2:2 1080p footage for green screen and not ProRes 4444 right?

Somebody also suggested Motion JPEG saying if i don’t want to go full uncompressed this is a good option.
Not that I don’t want to go uncompressed, I don’t think we can really afford it, besides so many have said you can’t really tell the difference in the key with Prores.

Thanks.

[Adam Claude jones]

Well, first I would like to start by thanking both of you for your input. In such a gigantic forum you were the only 2 who bothered replying and not only that but going into deep detail. Thanks!
I would also like to thank you Rafael. I know you are trying to help with the best of the intentions and based on the best of your experience. But considering Gary’s experience I think there’s something to be learned here for all of us. This thing although technical isn’t really exact science in many ways. You will find people pulling for both camps when it comes to any number of subjects, specially when it comes to what looks better, which in this case can also apply to quality. But in the end of the day all you got is your own experiences, which do not come without making mistakes and making mistakes is how you grow and learn about what works and what doesn’t. From the 3 of us Gary seems to have made the most mistakes because he’s the one doing it for the longest and for that reason he is probably the one who knows what works best which makes him the most experienced. Knowledge is great but experience is king! Don’t take this or Gary’s comments in a personal way, I’m sure he like you has the best of the intentions and is just trying to share his personal experiences on the matter. It’s all about the exchange of good info.
Coming back to the initial topic, Gary (Thanks a bunch for all the deep info), so if I got it right, I should capture it in ProRes 422 (because 4444 would be the same quality and just more storage space), edit it on a ProRes 422 timeline in FCP, send to Color and when finished in Color rather than using the send to FCP function I shoulder render it out as a DPX image sequence. I think I got it. But there’s just one thing though. The footage is green screen which means before it even comes into FCP is needs to be keyed and composited, which will be done most likely in Shake. Shake doesn’t really like Prores that much I hear (quicktime in general actually) and even if you go in as ProRes you should definitely not render out as Prores from Shake You should render a DPX or EXR. So it seems to me going into FCP as ProRes would not really be a good idea since it needs to go trough Shake first. Of course, you could cut in FCP, send to Shake and come back as DPX, but that would mean going into Shake as ProRes. So, should it be all convert to DPX first thing after capturing in ProRes to start it all in DPX already?
I guess one of the workflow could look like: capture>edit>composite>back to edit>color grade>back to FCP>final output.
Or what would you suggest and when should it leave Prores?
By the way, there will also be XDCAM and HDCAM footage (recorded in camera) mixed with the show which are the non green screen portions if it needs to be taken in consideration. So they should probably be either converted to ProRes 422 right away or to DPX depending on what is done for the green screen stuff?

My head is about to go kaboom!

Thanks a lot for the great support.

[Adam Claude jones]

I see. Thanks.
So you can’t use the send to FCP function. You have to render out and re-import in FCP. I never did that but I would think you would have to render a self contained movie then? If so you would lose the ability to tweak the cut, transitions etc. There are advantages in using the send to FCP function, specially with a big sequence.
So why not convert to 4444 before going into FCP? Would it slow FCP any? Thanks.

[Adam Claude jones]

So you are saying I should capture it in ProRes 422 but then convert it to ProRes 4444 before editing?

[Adam Claude jones]

Not sure I understand what you mean here Rafael.