[Paul Godard]

There is no import image sequence in CSS6, only import multiple files… as said in the tutorial.

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

Yes I import as multiple images, and I followed the 2-3 tutorials on the subject.
What is very weird is that whatever track points I select (relatively contrasted details of image), as soon as I click the arrows, these points move all over my image, as they do not see the pixels at all… there must be something wrong there!

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

Hi

I am mainly a photographer but as I am directing the photography of a movie, I will travel during my scouting trips in Namibia, Botswana and Western South Africa with a P2 HVX-200. I shoot in 1920p and capture from P2 via the card adapter. I have not use the MBP yet as a live full hd monitor. Is that possible?

Regarding external HD, I need speed for editing full hd (basic of course) so eSATA is the way to go and I already have the adapter. I also need mobility. I was thinking to have 2 drives in a small Pelican case with some nice fan to cool them down. That is for storage and I can swap ,the hd. However I also want to be able to play full hd in prores (I am waiting for my FCP6 upgrade), so I guess that for playing that without dropping frames, I need at least 2 drives working together in RAID 0 or 3? This is where I get lost. I also want to know what I can easily build myself to drop the price down. G-Drives are nice looking but their price is like apple to pcs!

Any suggestions/advise welcome…

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

Hi Tom

But you’re in FCP 5.1 and you have no Kona or other hardware I/O device (Am I right?). YES correct

1/ The way I have imported my clips from the P2 cards onto my hd is by using the P2 import feature in FCP 5.1 that creates QT files that are DVCPRO HD 720p50 (I don’t know why 50?). Is that first step correct?

2/ If now we totally forget the video (no video in my movie), and only concentrate on the still images with text over and some transition and I want to create the best quality true hd movie at 1920 x 1080 what would be a/ the ideal timeline settings, b/ the settings to export the best quality QT file to play the hd movie from the mac and c/ from the pc and finally d/ the best way to create the mpg2 files for DVDSP to create the best quality sd dvd?

3/ I definitely need to learn more about the basics, I mean the different hd format, the codecs and so… can you point out a good article or a tutorial available on the web?

I really appreciate your efforts to help me in this matter, as I need to understand first and improve my workflow. Thank you Tom!

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

OK I think I start to get your point Tom.

My problem here however is that I have shot in dvcpro hd 720pN25 and put into a timeline with the hdv 1080p settings. You know I wanted to do that because of the hires stills, and I wanted to work the whole movie at full hd 1920 x 1080.

If I look at the different settings that the presets offer, I do not find any dvcpro hd 1080 which offers a higher resolution at 25 fps (only dvcpro 1080p24 or 1080p30).

Can I simply change the QuickTime Video Settings / Compressor to dvcpro? But which one? DVCPRO – PAL or DVC50PRO or uncompressed or which one? But in FCP 5.1 there is definitely no DVCPRO 1080p25!

OK the video footage has been upscaled but I also want the best quality for all the stills as well as the text which represent 65 % of the movie.

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

That is what I used to do but then some people (Tom if I remember well) reacted on this forum telling that it was not a good idea and that it would be better to use an uncompressed intermediate file.

Here is my workflow :

P2 HVCPRO 720pN25 + 1080p25 + still images in 1080p25 timeline
export to QT with current settings (I use this file to project hidef movie)
put this file in compressor to create the mpg2 for DVDSP (best quality)
create the sd dvd in DVDSP

Tom suggested either to directly create the mpg2 file for DVDSP from FCP using export via compressor but that takes too long. So I am looking at creating an uncompressed intermediate file.

Paul Godard – Soul Photography

[Paul Godard]

Thanks Tom

I see you also own the HVX-200. When I got the camera from Panasonic, I was told – and that was confirmed by other ‘experts’ – that to achieve the best quality with the camera, I had to shot in 720pN25, not 1080. I did some tests and I agreed. I also found that the autofocus was much less responsive in 1080. So this is the reason I shoot in 720pN25.

What is your opinion on that?

Now you suggest that the timeline be dvcpro 720p. OK I understand but what about the stills? If I place the stills at the resolution of 1248×702 and afterwards upscale to a new sequence at 1080p, I will blow-up low res images to 1920 x 1080, isn’t it?

Question : Can I place a high res 1920 x 1080 in the 720p timeline with the appropriate scaling factor to display the pic full page, then upscale to the new 1080 timeline without loosing image quality on the still?

Regarding the dvd workflow, I appreciate the advise. I have already make a test, and I can notice the difference especially on text on screen.

I still have a question regarding the bit rate in compressor. If I use Jeff & Ken calculator I obtain an average of 6.8 and a max of 7.8 for this movie. What are the best values? How does the bit rate affect the quality of the dvd?

[Paul Godard]

OK my first posting might have been confusing.

Let’s say that the most of the video footage I get in my movies is now the 720pN25 from my P2 HVX-200 (so the solution gets complicated, isn’t it?). As I said, I also use a lot of stills – hires of course.

Just to repeat my objectives…

My first objective is to create a movie of the best quality to play on a Mac and PC to a true hd lcd tv or projector.

My second objective — as important — is to downscale the same movie to the best possible sd dvd quality.

Occasionally, I also need to create web movies from parts of the same original movie.

So the questions I am asking are :

1/ What is the best timeline setting (which preset) to have the highest quality in true hd for both the footage and the still images, and what is the best way to create the best quick time movie for a Mac AND a windows PC (the one to use for the projection of true hd on lcd tv or projector)?

Tom you are saying

“Two choices rise to the top: H.264 for Quicktime and Windows Media for Windows.”

Can you tell me exactly how to create the best movie to play on Windows? Is it better to play the file on the standard Windows Media Player, or to download QT Player?

2/ on the other hand, the same movie needs to be delivered on sd dvd. Once again what is exactly the best way to create that dvd via fcp 5.1, compressor 2 and dvd studio pro?

Tom, you are saying

“If you must use an intermediate file for some reason, it is better to go with an uncompressed (or much LESS compressed) format instead of the HDV. This can be done using Quicktime Conversion or by changing the sequence compressor and then exporting QuickTime using those settings.”

Can you please tell me exactly how to export from FCP for DVDSP, in a better way I was doing before? I was told at my initial training not to use “export via compressor”, but create the intermediate QT file instead and do as you know…

[Paul Godard]

My timeline is hdv 1080p, that’s correct. I am upscaling the video shot in 720pN25. The reason is because I mix with still images (50 %) that have even higher resolution than the video and I want to have a high resolution movie in full hd 1920 x 1080 to play from my Mac on a full hd lcd screen or projector.

Is there something wrong to do this?

Should I better upscale to dvcpro 1080p?