[Chris Simpson]

You see I figured it would get complicated. I notice DNXHD is an HD codec, I’m certain they shot DVCam.

I shall make enquiries but the producer is all business not editor.

But thanks guys, if it flies I ‘m certain there’s a whole can of worms I’m sure I’ll be back to open with you all.

[Chris Simpson]

So are you saying go grab all digital material on to something portable, transfer it to my RAID, then download the Avid Codec, push and pull and prod it a bit and I could be in business?

It couldn’t be that simple?!

Do you think I should run this by our cousins on the Avid forum?

[Chris Simpson]

Only what\’s on the web, but was thinking of purchasing 4 MRC1Ks for my Sony V1s, as the ki pro and even the mini is a bit steep, I ingest hdv as pro res for multicam shoots, but now I\’m holding off having tripped up over something on the web, and seeing the ninja advertised. It would be nice to able to record pro res and better take it directly off the front end of the camera at 1920×1080, I was toying with making a big investment in Sony EX, but having worked shoots with EX operators, i feel the ninja might save me a good deal of money, might significantly extend the life of my v1s or maybe only upgrade to Z5s for about half the price of EX, sort like bolting on a turbocharger to an automobile, instant extra power! And tapeless to speed up post. Win, win, win!

I need to know more!!! There must be a catch…

[Chris Simpson]

I’ve pre striped hundreds of HDV and dv tapes in handycams then used them in another camera without any wander in the timing of the subsequent tapes, this is admittedly using nothing but Sony camcorders but also stands comparison in multi clip sequences utilising QT files shot by card based onboard cameras, that have themselves been transcoded in Compressor from 1080/720 30p or 60p to 1440/1080 50i at very worst there maybe a single frame out over 15mins, which I put down to the transcoding of the QT files.

Did a bit more Internet and discovered my V1s do have bars and tone of it’s forebear PD150/170 lineage so I’ll put a minute of bars and tone on each tape as previously suggested.

[Chris Simpson]

Fair enough!

and thank you, Dave.

Incidently thinking over my own workflow, as I shoot HDV and capture as Pro Res in FCP, for multi clip/cam shoots and where I have a mixture of Timecode cameras and ordinary consumer B roll cameras, so can’t multi clip sync by timecode, and where ‘log and capture’ does not work, and ‘Capture Now’ has to be deployed, is there actually any point striping tape for myself, I could understand why I did it with log and capture for DV, but I do it out of habit when shooting HDV, but actually now wonder if there is any point to pre striping HDV tapes with timecode? (Forgive me if this sounds slightly mental).

[Chris Simpson]

Thanks Shane, at least I know I can give up trying.

In truth it’s been something of a vanity exercise, just wanted to see if my Mac & Raid could handle 8-10 streams of Pro Res, for the work that i’m doing and if I ever got to a point where I was asked I could I work in Multiclip Pro Res, outputting to Blu Ray if required (I don’t own a Blu Ray burner), that said onscreen graphics look much crisper on Pro Res than they do on DV,

Although the next question may prompt a Blu Ray burner, how would you recommend archiving the finished Pro Res material so it’s flexible enough to be output in as many flavours as I might be asked, and so I can edit this finished output, hack it into smaller edited highlights. Leave it as Pro Res? although looking in compressor that looks like 60Gb per hour.

If I was happy leave 200Gb of finished work permanently on the Raid what would recommend for codec for a data dvd, and what file size and codec could be accommodated/recommended seems a shame to just dump the Pro Res, but save it for future use on a Blu Ray, as a data file. Am I right in thinking I could also run the Pro Res through Compressor and output DV versions that could be dropped into a DV timeline and Print to Video as DV?

Kind of warming to a Blu Ray, love to see as video in Blu Ray, so recommendations on a Blu Ray burner for Mac Pro, software Toast (which flavour?) and the best brand/most reliable Blu Ray blank rewrieable disc media?

[Chris Simpson]

It couldn’t be that simple could it, I wouldn’t care, despite using se2200A mic a fairly standard recording studio mic, I still sound fairly lo-fi. Like working in HD it was another vanity purchase. A cheap USB mic, well at least it would be a cheap easy fix, a USB mic, will give it a try if it’s there’s not a settings answer from the collective.

[Chris Simpson]

Thanks Jerry & Steve,

I like the portability of the MX02, I have a MBP as well, could I transfer a finished Pro Res file to my Mac Book Pro then output through the MX02, in say a production house, through the SDI to Digideta? Do you think?

And Jerry, the CalDIgitalHDOne looks a tad on the expensive side, anything else with the horsepower, to handle 8 streams of Pro Res as my budget was more akin to Caldigital HDElement.

[Chris Simpson]

Cheers Shane. So it’s not scuppered before I start, guess it gets complicated from here.

I have Mac Pro on which I work from, the MBP (Geforce 8600m GT card) is a back up and for simple or fast edits and review on site.

Delivery format would be one pure/new 16×9 anamorphic 625 component Sony digital beta.

Gobbledegook…
All material is quality and technically assessed, this checks that all levels conform to the current edition of the EBU tech 3267-e, which defines PAL-i and provides a basis for the definition of 625-line component video system. All programme levels must not exceed the following when correctly lined up to bars and tone: Luminance must not exceed 1v (100%) or go below sub black (.3v)

Programme peak sound levels must not exceed line-up levels by more than +8 dBu (PPM6).

The workhorse is a Mac Pro, ATI Radeon HD4870 for capture over FW800. Is FW800 good enough do you, or should I be bracing myself for expense from something to capture through an SDI, maybe out of the HDMI port on the V1. What kind of set up would you recommend? Just enough to get the job done.

I like the idea of capturing as Pro Res, edit and output as? I’ve been looking at the codecs in FCP/Compressor, and searching online seems to suggest something like an Uncompressed 8 (or maybe 10) bit. And looking at the safe area specs it seemed as though the frame was 702 by 625 a custom frame size, (is that anamorphic, not very wide for 16 by 9). Or maybe something wrapped in QT wrapper, although transferring/dubbing to a Digi Beta deck depends on the post house, I get the impression, and that transferring a file to MBP would need something like an SDI card in it to transfer from?

[Chris Simpson]

I think I’ve seen something similar on my Mac Pro working with 7 and 8 DV clips. This is probably too easy to be the problem solver but I’ll say it anyway, have enabled “Multiclip playback” on the sequence timeline drop down it’s on the left hand side of the timeline, where you select Dynamic or Safe RT.

I found my MacBookPro despite being expanded to it’s limit really struggled with HDV, to the point where I figured as a back up to my Mac Pro it just wouldn’t cut it. It’s little more than a way to check “rushes” in the field HDV or DV, just doesn’t have the horses.