[Jason Henries]

I stand corrected. You are right. The native mode does save space. I’ve read that section at least three times (obviously not very carefully) and never picked that up.

I’ll have to shoot some tests in PN mode and see how it all works. Like I said, I’ve only had the cam since July and barely had time to do anything but turn it on, point, and press record. Must set aside some time after the New Year to get better acquainted with my new friend.

Best to you, Vince. Enjoy the turkey! 🙂

[Jason Henries]

And I fixed my problem.

I opened an existing standard “preset” DVCPRO HD 720/60P project.

I clicked on the > (arrow with a circle around it) in the upper right corner of the monitor panel.

A menu pops up.

At the bottom of the menu is “Playback Settings”.

It gives me the option to output to Monitor 2. : )

It works!

But if I go to Project > Project Settings > General, the playback settings button is grayed out.

Whatever… it works. And I didn’t have to drop $1500 on a matrox card.

Now I wish the new system was built.

[Jason Henries]

[Vince Becquiot] “It should be 960×720 for 720P or 1440×1080 for 1080i/p. Both correspond to the DVCPro HD PAR at 1.333”

Correct. They must have changed it in CS4. In CS3 it’s 1280 x 720 square.

[Vince Becquiot] “The problem with shooting 60P is that you not only have to process twice as many frames (harder on the processor during playback), but you also cut your storage in half on a P2 card. It also forces you into a higher shutter speed, thus requiring more lighting for interior shots.”

Negative. I just looked it up. Barry Green’s “The HVX Book”, page 33.

The broadcast standard for 720 is 60 fps (United States, 50 fps Europe). In any 720 mode the HVX is recording 60 discrete frames. In 30P it just copies each frame once. So you get 17 minutes/16GB in 60P or 30P.

That explains why my friend used 60P. He was working for a TV station… why not match broadcast standards? Besides, you’re paying for 60 frames no matter. Might as well use them.

When using VFR, the camera duplicates frames more than once. If it’s not a rate evenly divisible into 60, it uses a pull-down algorithm.

Panny did that because when the VariCam first came out, P2 didn’t exist. They had to lay down 60 discrete frames on tape regardless of FR because the tape always moved at the same speed, so they fixed it with software and came up with the frame dupe method. Then migrated the technology to P2.

So there you have it. The HVX Book rocks! : )

[Jason Henries]

Upon a recommendation from another P2 user. He shot tons on P2 and edited w/PPro. He said he got the best results with fewest headaches on 60P (played well on mixed timelines, exported easily, etc). I didn’t interrogate him throroughly about his workflow, however.

I’ve only had the HVX since July, and have had tons of work, so I haven’t had a lot of time to experiment. Once the new system is up, I will see what 30P has to offer.

So since you’re using CS4, under the custom settings tab, what editing modes are offered for DVCPRO HD? Are there still only 5?

This is what’s in CS3:

Panasonic P2 720
P2 720 60HZ DVCPROHD
P2 720 50HZ DVCPROHD
P2 1080i/p 60HZ DVCPROHD
P2 1080i/p 50HZ DVCPROHD

The only one that will allow you to change the playback settings is
“Panasonic P2 720”, and that’s the one where the pixel dimensions and A/R are wrong.

Thanks for the info!

[Jason Henries]

Thanks, Vince! I hope you’re right. I guess I’m in a good position to find out.

You did say you’re using CS3, right?

[Jason Henries]

Okay… so I shot some vanilla DV on the P2 just to test.

[CS3] New Project > Custom Settings > General > Editing Mode > DV NTSC

Set playback settings to my TV (“Monitor 2” on the PCI video card, not firewire)

Imported my DV footage. Plays back RT. No red line. Preview shows on the TV full screen.

Beauty!

Now why can’t I get that in HD?????????

[Jason Henries]

This is odd, too.

New Project > Custom Settings > General > Editing Mode > Panasonic P2 720P

That gives three options for timebase; 24, 25 & 30, and allows you to modify the playback settings. Great!

But the pixel dimension and aspect ratios are wrong and you can’t edit them. It shows 1280 x 720 @ square.

DVCPRO HD is 960 x 720 @ 1.333. WTF?

I set it up as a 30P project, imported some 30P footage, and I still get the red line.

I don’t get it. Why doesn’t Premiere allow you to adjust playback settings in the presets?

[Jason Henries]

60P with audio.

[Jason Henries]

Negative. Didn’t fix it.

[Jason Henries]

[Vince Becquiot] “The render line often indicates the wrong type of project for the files on the timeline. Does it only appear after you change the preview to the external monitor ?”

Nope. It’s there all the time. I even pulled the PCI card out and re-opened the project. The red line remains.

I think the problem is that the “custom” project settings disassociate all of the installed codecs. So Premiere suddenly doesn’t understand that you’re using native footage. Everything has to be rendered.

Some of the “stock” project types will allow you to modify the playback settings without selecting the custom “desktop” setup. DVCPRO HD 720/24 or 30P, for instance will allow me to modify the playback output. 60P won’t.

Maybe CS4 will make the difference. Certainly the new machine will help render times and smooth out playback. I just hope it will recognize that my HD footage IS native.

Oh, and it’s a Quad.