[King Cole]

Thanks for the additional information. I’ve been looking at some G-Raid external drives that look good. My boss has one that he has used for HD, so he has guided me on what drives could work and what would be required to hold uncompressed HD, because I agree and understand the need to avoid further compressing the footage.

[King Cole]

Arnie,
Thanks for the reply. That I have.

Thanks (yet again) to everyone for their answers.

JC

[King Cole]

Thanks for the reply. Let me clarify.

After we have edited a rough cut. I would think the best process (meaning the one that maintains the highest quality) would be to uprez the footage in the rough cut to HD. Then, add graphics, effects, etc. to this HD footage so the graphics originate in HD. The reason the pertains to the Kona card and my question is that if we have a timeline of SD miniDV footage, and we would then like to add our HD graphics, we would (correct me if I am wrong) uprez the timeline to HD, add our graphics, and then either downconvert through the card for SD output or maintain the HD quality for HD output. In uprezing the timeline to HD, I am asking if there is a way to do this using the Kona card that does not involve the HD deck. I am only asking this because if it does require an HDCAM deck, I will need to recommend this purchase to my director. I know an HD deck would be required for an output to HDCAM tape, but would it be required for the sort of “loop” that involves taking the SD footage in the timeline, uprezing it, and returning it to the computer for further editing?

Thanks for holding my hand through this and I hope my question/situation is clear,

JC

[King Cole]

Thanks to both for your very quick replies. I appreciate your guidance in an area I am obviously new to. I was not aware that the conversion was not instantaneous for the Decklink which gives the Kona an obvious advantage. A few more questions: Is it possible to convert the already imported/digitized footage to HD without outputting to an HDCAM deck? We do not have an HDCAM deck, so this would be an additional cost. If the HDCAM deck is not the only option, what hardware, etc. would be required to convert the miniDV SD to HD?

Finally, are you all of the opinion that this would be the best route for me to go? I believe my director/producer has the budget for the card and additional require hardware, but is there another smarter alternative such as renting a machine that can do this or some other solution?

Thanks for the responses, your answers, and opinions,

JC