Ok, later on this week my friend will shoot some stuff on his new sony 24p camera in hdv. I will be capturing in Final Cut Pro 4.5hd . First time I will be working with hdv, could someone help me set up my timeline sequence to work with this medium? I know i need to go into user pref and setup 24p so its not a 29.97fps workflow and also if it is shot 16:9 make sure my anamorphic footage box is checked off. Any help would be great thanks.
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FCP HD Work
- Thread starter Espnetboy3
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Espnetboy3 said:
First off--Final Cut Pro 4.5 doesn't support HDV (natively.) Secondly, I don't believe any Sony camera support true 24p. What camera are you using? I'm assuming FX1 or Z1? Those have a 24p effect, but do not shoot native 24p. This could actually be an advantage for you--since it's all recorded as 60i. You won't have to deal with changing the FPS on the workflow. On the other hand, you're not really shooting 24p, either.
As to workflow for FCPHD and HDV, as I mentioned there's no native support. The way I work with HDV in FCPHD is to import via iMovie, then go to the project file, control-click, and "View Package Contents". From there, I import the video files into Final Cut, convert them to DVCPRO HD (since HDV isn't supported in 4.5), and edit DVCPROHD. When I'm ready to go back to tape, I export a DVCPRO HD master, import that into iMovie, and print it out to tape.
It's not the most efficient workflow, but it was the least expensive that worked for me. I still can't wait to upgrade to FCP5, though!
Good luck with your project.
Hotwire,
What Mac are you running and how long does it take you to transcode the video to and from HDV?
Espnetboy3,
Another option is to, using the camera, down-convert the HDV signal into regular DV and use FCP as you normally would.
Lethal
What Mac are you running and how long does it take you to transcode the video to and from HDV?
Espnetboy3,
Another option is to, using the camera, down-convert the HDV signal into regular DV and use FCP as you normally would.
Lethal
LethalWolfe said:
I'm running on a Dual 2.5 G5, and it takes a while to transcode. I haven't timed it, but going from HDV to DVCPRO HD takes a while. I would estimate it takes somewhere between 3 to 5 times the actual length of the clip.
I wasnt aware that 4.5HD couldnt do hd work. It says final cut pro hd on my icon and I really thought it could. Second of all if i would downconvert to sd i would just shoot dv. 24p is 60i correct? Another question is can you shoot 24p dv and not be hi def or is all hi def 24fps?
Espnetboy3 said:
4.5 can do HD work, it just can't work with the HDV format. You have to convert HDV into another HD format (in my case, DVCPRO HD) to work with it--but it will still be HD video.
Espnetboy3 said:
"HD" is a very generic term. It's like saying "personal computer." Including various frame rates and whether or not it's interlaced or progressive there are over a dozen different variations of HD.
Depending on the situation down-converted HDV footage will look better than footage on a DV camera.
No. 24p is 24 PROGRESSIVE frames per second. 60i is 60 INTERLACED fields per second. And, as Hotwire mentioned, none of Sony's HDV cameras shoot 24p. They always shoot 60i and the "cineframe 24" filter, IMO, is craptacular.
IIRC the Panasonic DVX100 shoots true 24p, but is 4x3 16x9, and the Canon XL2 shoots true 24p and has native 16x9. Both are standard def cameras. Panasonic's upcoming HVX200 will shoot a variety of formats including 24p, 16x9 DV.
Lethal
so hotwire when i plug in the camera via firewire to my mac and then choose to capture in fcp are there any settings i will need to have different in order to import and work with this hdv tape? Or do I have to do the whole thing you were talking about in imovie? Thanks alot
Espnetboy3 said:
FCP HD CANNOT, WILL NOT, DOES NOT capture HDV natively. If using firewre you HAVE to go thru an intermediate step (such as capturing via iMovie) to transcode HDV into a format FCP 4.5 can read. The only way to go from a FX1/Z1U to FCP HD via firewire is to set the camera for "down-convert" and send out a regular DV signal.
Lethal
ok so lets say i downconvert and edit it . Can i upconvert to write to tape back to a 2:1 sort of how avid works?
To online at full HDV native resolution (after doing your offline in DV) you'd need FCP 5.Espnetboy3 said:
I'm not 100% certain yet if FCP5 does this online-offline thing for HDV the way it does for DV, but I certainly hope it's capable.
might help
a lot of the questions/concerns posted above are fully adressed in this article from HDV roadshow
http://www.uemedia.net/CPC/hdvroadshow/articles/article_13272.shtml
Hope it helps.. .. it did for me
a lot of the questions/concerns posted above are fully adressed in this article from HDV roadshow
http://www.uemedia.net/CPC/hdvroadshow/articles/article_13272.shtml
Hope it helps.. .. it did for me
my question is this: can i convert a file that is mpeg2 to hd quality? i know that hd is a broad term as mentioned earlier here, but you can see what i mean
twoodcc said:
You can convert it to HD *size* but it won't be HD *quality*. You can enlage the SD image so that it'll be as big as an HD image, but you are just making a smaller image bigger. You can't add detail to an image after the fact.
It's kinda like if you take a 12oz can of Coke and dump it in a 1 gallon jug. Do you now have 1 gallon of Coke? No, you have 12 ounces of Coke in a 1 gallon jug.
Lethal
LethalWolfe said:
thanks, i get it now. it makes sense that you can't change the quality anyways, if you could then why have HD camcorders?
on another note, what about something encoded in xvid. is that a form of HD quality?
twoodcc said:
The key to HD is the number of pixels. If the resolution of the clip is 1280x720 or 1920x1080, then it's HD. If not, it's not HD. (That's a very basic explanation, but I'm trying not to get too technical
)Hope that helps!
twoodcc said:
Like hotwire132002 mentioned, if it's 1280*720 or 1920*1080 then it's technically HD. But the quality depends on a lot of factors (mainly the quality of the source footage).
IIRC xvid is MPEG-4 based, so it's a more efficient codec than MPEG-2 (better quality at an equal or lesser file size), but the quality of the xvid file depends on the quality of the original footage. For example, If you took a bad VHS tape and encoded it into xvid it will still look like a bad VHS tape. But if you took some good quality source footage, and properly encoded it in xvid you'd probably end up w/a good looking image (good looking for a compressed image).
Lethal
so how would i go about decompressing an xvid file? and would the image look the exact same after i decompressed it?
can final cut pro deal with an xvid file? can it decompress it?
can final cut pro deal with an xvid file? can it decompress it?
twoodcc said:
xvid, like most compressions, is lossy so once the it's been compressed and image info has been tossed away it's gone for good. To use it in Final Cut you'd have to transcode it (convert it) into a format that FCP can read (and that your system can support).
Transcoding it into DV (if you want to work standard def) or HDV (if you want to work high def) would probably be your best options.
Lethal
how do i transcode it? sorry for all of these questions, but how else will i learn?
also, which will run final cut pro better, a mac mini G4 1.42 with 1gb of ram, or a powerbook G4 1.67 with 512mb of ram?
also, which will run final cut pro better, a mac mini G4 1.42 with 1gb of ram, or a powerbook G4 1.67 with 512mb of ram?
That I'm not sure about. You could try the following though:twoodcc said:
1. Setup a new FCP project
2. import the xvid video and place it in the timeline
3. Export the video w/the "use current settings" (it's something like that) option selected in the export window. This will make FC transcode the video into whatever the settings are for your product (so if you created a DV project it would transcode the video into DV)
4. Import the file you just created in step 3
This may or may not work, but it's a place to start.
I would assume the Mini because of RAM. The render times might be a bit shorter w/the PB, but having more RAM will make the program run smoother. in either case you should be using a dedicated, external harddrive to store your media on.
Lethal
LethalWolfe said:
how exactly do i export the video? i see under file, export, then there's quite a few choices. do i want quicktime movie?
Yes, export->QT movie.twoodcc said:
"Current Settings"
"audio and video"
"none"
"recompress all frames" - unchecked
"make movie self contained" - checked.
Lethal