Mixed HDV workflow

Can anyone suggest a practical workflow in FCP using new HDV footage, old 720x480 QT files, and graphic animations(yet to be created)?
Right now I am converting the HDV footage to 720x480 QT and am planning to work in a DV-NTSC enviroment but am not certain that this is the best approach as HDV seems to be quite finnicky.
It will eventually go to dvd for viewing.
advice anyone?

If you are headed to DVD, a DV-NTSC centric project seems reasonable.
Down-convert the HDV material in the camera to DV and life should be as good as it will get.
good luck.
x

Similar Messages

HDV workflow to output to DVD

I'm having a lot of trouble outputting a decent-looking DVD from my HDV project.
The project is 50-minute long, i.e. 8Gbytes, and the only solution I have found yet is to run it through the Compressor (which takes like 4 days to process). The quality in the end is very bad. The edges are not sharp, the surfaces are pixelated and the interlacing shows when the camera's moving.
Someone please help me find a solution...
Thanks

A simple search for HDV workflow, which you could do yourself, would reveal this post:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@@.68bada77

HDV Workflow Suggestions

Hi, could anyone suggest a workflow for editing HDV material for me. I am working with a Mac G5, OS 10.4.9 and FCP 5.0.4
I have shot my material with my Sony Z1 in the HDV format but don't like editing in that format because of long render times. I was thinking about doing an off line edit and downconverting the footage (in camera) to SD DV and editing that way, then recapturing at HDV. Would this work? I want to be able to deliver a SD DVD to my client now and then be able to print to tape the HDV version so I could deliver that at a later time.
I am just looking for the best possible solution.

Tim,
Here's a popular HDV workflow...not exactly what you're looking for, but a great option:
http://www3.telus.net/bonsai/Step-by-Step.html
Here's another thread from today:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4627255?
Z1User chime in...

HDV workflow, minimum system req

What is the minimum G5 that can handle native HDV editing? And what is a recommended workflow for a nonbroadcast piece? I currently have a dual 1G G4 and will have to update to edit this 1hr. show. I'd rather not use all my income to buy the new system, storage, etc. I do have Sony's HVR-M10U to use for capturing. This show is a combo of HDV and DV wildlife and scenic footage.

http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=1067066
Funny, I just copied and pasted that link in a post yesterday.
Did you try doing a search for HDV workflow?

Best "Capture" workflow for projects mixing HDV tape and XDCAM footage

I'm trying to determine the best workflow for projects that combine XDCAM and HDV footage.
I'd obviously do the editing in a project designed for XDCAM, as that's the higher quality footage,
and render the HDV clips in the XDCAM timeline...ending up with an XDCAM end product.
I'd use SONY'S XDCAM TRANSFER to get the clips into FCP.
My question concerns capturing the HDV footage in this scenario. I've never been able to get
the Log and Capture feature for HDV footage to work, unless I've created an HDV project and am capturing into that HDV project.
So, generally, I create an HDV project, open the log and capture utility which is now set to capture HDV, and then capture the footage. I then close that project and create a new project, designed for XDCAM footage. I use XDCAM Transfer to get the XDCAM footage into the project, and I import
the previously captured HDV footage into that browser and start editing, rendering the HDV in the XDCAM timeline.
My question...do I really have to open, what is essentially a "fake" HDV project just to capture that HDV footage? You don't seem to have the option of capturing HDV footage (out of a camera or HDV tape deck) directly into an XDCAM project. If I try to change the capture or audio video settings of the XDCAM project to HDV, you get messages saying you can't do it.
Is there something I'm missing or a more streamlined way of doing this?
Thanks in advance for any input.

No need to jump through these hoops. Just set yourself up with a universal Easy Setup that will handle both. Choose your regular XDCAM HD Easy Setup then open the Audio / Video Settings window and change the Capture Preset to "HDV" and the Device Control Preset to "HDV Firewire" ... then click the "Create Easy Setup" button and save it for recall whenever needed.
Regarding the overall workflow, I'd seriously question the idea of creating XDCAM HD masters. No real benefit to that unless you need to export to XDCAM HD. Much better would be export your final master as Apple ProRes 422.
Best
Andy

Canon 60D and HDV workflow

Looking for suggestions on this workflow...any better way to do it? I shoot and edit primarily in HDV, with a little added footage from a Canon 60D, resulting in two different video formats. I don't want to mix them in one timeline, requiring frequent renders -- so my solution for now is to ingest the 60D as prores 422, edit it in a prores timeline, then send to Compressor and downconvert to HDV 60i, which I can then bring into my main HDV project and easily mix. I have been happy editing in HDV despite frequent urgings in this forum to ingest as prores. So this is working but I'm still wondering is this the best route for combining these two formats. BTW 60D video looks good, except when you move the camera, so best shot locked down. Better than FX7 in low light. Nice machine, unobtrusive, good for candids.

Unless very little of the media is from the 60D and/or you have to output back to tape you're better off doing it the other way around. Gets you out of the whole world of conforming an MPEG codec, which is very weak codec for compositing.

HDV Workflow -- What's wrong with this picture (other than some obvious)

Hi Powerusers,
I have a client with a canon XH-A1, they are ingesting via iMovie HD, cutting a rough timeline in iMovie, and then porting to FCP (via drag and drop) for me to finish on. Seems plausible all editing via AIC (apple intermediate codec). Final destination will be SD DVD, WEB, Handheld media, etc. Am I missing something or is this somewhat acceptable (other than loss of timecode) which they aren't concerned about since it's pretty lo-budget.
Is editing using the AIC horrible (picture looks acceptable). I'm not used to this workflow. I work in DV, SD or DVCPROHD codecs/timelines but am baffled by not being able to ingest directly from Final Cut with this Canon HDV camera, but iMovie has that flexibility (view, start, stop, import) whereas I'm not getting any options other than capture now with FCP.
Thoughts, criticisms, advice greatly appreciated.
cheers

I ended up capturing via FCP using HDV1080i60 easy setup with capture setting working with both Sony HDV over firewire and HDV Firewire Basic.
Seems like all is working well using this setup. It's far more than the client needs as we'll be downconverting the timeline to SD once complete, but good enough now for edit. HDV is not fun to work with I'll tell ya. Still having some errors with log and capture.

Premiere HDV Workflow (After Effects CS3 too)

I'm working with a Sony HDR-FX1 and Premiere Pro CS3 to capture my HDV clips - in mpeg format.
1. I'm looking for the best way to edit these HDV clips in Premiere. I have heard of CineForm's Neo Scene and I was wondering if I NEED this to edit the HDV clips in Premiere or not. If I don't need CineForm, are there any alternatives to editing the footage in Premiere or tips on speeding up the process?
2. Please note that I will be working between Premiere Pro & After Effects (both CS3) and back to Premiere so I'm also wondering what type of file I can export from After Effects to get back to Premiere. Will I need the CineForm codec for this step as well? I'd like to export to a file where I won't lose any quality or compress my video when bringing it back into Premiere for editing.
3. I noticed after importing one of my HDV clips into After Effects it's separated by Upper field first. Will I need to export with Upper field no matter what format I use when rendering from After Effects?
Any tips, links or tutorials on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
Foochuck

Although not absolutely necessary
Cineform prospect HD & adobe cs3 ( premiere & after effects) works very well together. The CFHD format gives You a fluent workflow and is cleraly recommended.
( and this codec should have been implemented as part of "the adobe package" - just like native drivers for P2 and EX1 - but thats another discussion)
( btw : anything less than 2.1 - 2.4 core_2_duo will be a pain without CF as I see it)

Mixing HDV, DV, and Pictures, then exporting it all out

I have a mix of DV, HDV, and jpegs that I've put together in Premiere Pro.
The DV I upscaled using VDub to 1920x1280 (not the prettiest but no worse than it looked when I just let the tv scale it to 1080p. Actually, quite a bit better.)
Now it is time to export and I realized I wasn't sure what PAR I need to export to! My upscaled DV is 1, my pictures are obviously 1, but the other video is still 1.33.

Export to what?
Standard definition DVD? If so, you should have just edited in a SD project.
Blu-ray? Then export to MPEG2 Blu-ray at 1440X1080 using 1.33

Mixing HDV and T1i Footage

I have a project and some is shot on a Sony FX1000 which is captured at 1080 60i and some is shot on a Canon T1i which is 720 30p. I wanted to mix these into a sequence and was wondering what the best way to do so was? Should I use something like MpegStreamclip to convert the HDV to 720 30p? Or maybe something like JES Deinterlacer? What are my best options? Thanks!

tried using your contact me on your website - it didn't work....

DV vs HDV workflow

I've done a bunch of editing of DV/DVCAM footage on my FCP system. I might be editing a HDV project and I've never edited in HDV, actually I've never edited anything other than DVCAM in FCP.
Final output hasn't been decided yet, but it will be BEFORE I begin editing. Right now our options are to edit in HDV for DVD output, edit in HDV and downconvert w/letterboxing to SD, or acquire in SD for SD output w/ letterbox.
Which workflow would be the best and which will cause the least number of headaches.
Also, equipment wise what else will i need. I think I'm good except for just a Camera/Deck.
Thanks
Full Specs: Quad 2.5Ghz PowerPC G5 w/ 4GB DDR SDRAM & OS-X v 10.4.6 & FCS 5.1, 500GB G-Raid (FW800), DSR-45 (FW400)

Depending on the amount of footage and your HD space available, it would be best to edit and finish in HDV before doing your outputs. Just need a camera/deck to digitize the footage. May want to get a HD card for video monitoring + HD broadcast monitor.

Canon HV20 24P HDV workflow, Some things with FCP and Quicktime are ODD.

Canon HV20, 24P, HDV, CMOS sensor...
First, I do hope and pray that the FCP dudes are making this work native at HDV 24p -- great!
But until then, there's a workflow (see below) and a real oddity I can't figure out, and if anyone has any thoughts about it that would be great.
Sometimes, the image captured/shown/exported is a lighter picture, and other capture/playing/export methods are darker picture. Example: the captured 60i from Final Cut Pro has a light gamma picture when viewed in Quicktime Player.
But playback in Final Cut Pro appears darker, and rich. But then exporting it out turns it light again, but export out to a MPEG-2 DVD is darker again? ODD.
Can anyone explain the FCP capture size of 1888 x 1062?
Anyhow, here is some workflow success that I had.
Capturing in Final Cut Pro using the HDV 1080/60i setting with HDV firewire basic NDF. But 60i is evil. So that's not enough. Got to get it to 24P,since that allows 20% more bandwidth, space, faster renders, and DVD players can play it.
Transcoding to a regular editing codec before converting to 24P is required. I found that MPEG Streamclip would create a wierd, jagged edges on small moving figures with high contrast, no matter what the settings, so I refuse to use it to export the footage.
So instead, FCP has an additional capture option of "Apple Intermediate Codec" or something like that, which transcribes it on the fly to AIC. I always stayed away from AIC like the plague, but they must have spent some time with it because it's nearly identical to the HDV original.
Next, open up in Quicktime Player, and start the clip on that second P frame. Sounds odd, I know. Goto the first interlaced frame, and back up two frames. Mark the "I", and then move that Out marker to the end, and then Trim the clip to the selection. Do that with all the clips, and then you can batch 24P them all.
If you don't want to find that one frame each time, here are the other settings:
First, open up the clip inside cinema tools, and then select Rev. Telecine button.
Find out which of these your clip is doing at the very beginning:
p-p-i-i-p - aa
p-i-i-p-p - bb
i-p-p-p-i - bc
p-p-p-i-i - cd
i-i-p-p-p - this is no good. must remove at least one frame from the beginning of source file
i = interlaced frame
p = progressive frame
all settings use the F1-F2, style one, standard upper/lower

Sometimes, the image captured/shown/exported is a lighter picture, and other capture/playing/export methods are darker picture. Example: the captured 60i from Final Cut Pro has a light gamma picture when viewed in Quicktime Player.
But playback in Final Cut Pro appears darker, and rich. But then exporting it out turns it light again, but export out to a MPEG-2 DVD is darker again? ODD.
This is known. This happens with ANY footage you look at in FCP and QT player. QT lightens the gamma of the footage. Why? Something to do with adjusting the image for computer monitors.
Shane

Mixing HDV and DVCPRO HD footage in a timeline?

Can this be done in FCP 6?
Thanks.

But you would have to render one or the other depending what you sequence settings are.
Not with FCP 6 David. You can mix formats on the same timeline without rendering. That is the point of the mixed format timeline. BUT...he is right, eventually, before you output, you will have to render something. If your sequence settings are DVCPRO HD, then the HDV will have a light or dark green render bar above it. WOrkable for editing, but in the end you will have to render before you output.
Now mixing FRAME RATES...that is another story.
Shane

DVC Pro HD, HDV workflow

I'm a Varicam user, and have done well editing that and P2 stuff together. But I've got a possible partnership coming up with a guy that prefers the Sony HDV format. (mostly because of cost, I think.) I'm nervous about that mix, and would like some feedback from those of you that have experienced it.

You can mix the formats in the same sequence for your creative cutting, but when time comes master your final edit, or send it to COLOR for color correction, you will need to convert all the HDV you used in the timeline to DVCPRO HD.
Shane

Bless this board. My HDV workflow 1

As I edited my 88-minute documentary over the last two months using FCP 5.0.2, I pored over the pages of this board several times a day. I was looking for tips, workarounds, and collective wisdom. For I had foolhardedly decided to edit the piece in native HDV.
Well this community got me through that painful ordeal. So I want to share what worked for me. For the most part, it's merely a synthesis of what better minds here have come up with. But I know there's a real need for a solid discussion about how to work with HDV. So I thought maybe someone might benefit from my experience.
1. WHY HDV?
- I was in the market for a new camera. I wanted to try 1080i. Sony was the only real, affordable player at the time. So I went for the Z1 (I'm a PD-150 afficianado).
2. WHY EDIT HDV?
- Until this documentary, I had downconverted everything when capturing. And it looked great. It certainly is the easier way to go. Especially if you KNOW you're going to broadcast and will have a post-production house get everything in order.
- But this time, with FCP 5.0 available, I wanted to try native HDV editing. Also, I wanted the ability to show the finished product in HDV via G5/camera output to an HD monitor or projector before finalizing for broadcast.
- Doing so also allowed me to order up 1080i graphics and see how they fit in the finished product.
- Some of the film festivals are now requiring HDCAM masters, so if I had to do things 'on the cheap,' I thought I can at least do a quick and dirty dub from HDV tape/camera to HDCAM tape.
3. EQUIPMENT
- No question, using a dual G5 made a huge difference in real time editing. Powerbook editing worked, but was a little sluggish and didn't allow me to see much in real time.
- I used Cinema Display for monitoring, which is a real cheat. There's no way I would use that for color correction though. I'm hoping to have SDI/Blackmagic etc. for my next project.
- I started out with 2 500 GB Lacie firewire drives to capture my 70 hours of footage. But they proved to be really unstable. So as soon as I had logged everything, I subclipped everything I needed and used Media Manager to copy them to a 2nd internal SATA drive. Much more efficient, much safer.
4. MIXING RESOLUTIONS ON THE SAME TIMELINE
- 20% of my footage was shot with a Sony TRV-900 camera with anamorphic adapter for true 16:9. I originally brought those SD clips into my HDV timeline. Requiring a render, and a resize each time.
- Thanks to this board, I discovered it was much easier to batch compress all my SD subclips in Compressor to uprez them to HDV. Worked like a charm in the HDV timeline afterwards.
- 1440x1080, 72 DPI for importing still images into an HDV timeline. Same thing for sequential images (animation).
5. EDITING HDV
- Fabulous and painless.
...continued...

6. BURNING HDV TO SD DVD
- It was always best to export the timeline to a self-contained Quicktime movie using "Current Settings." Much quicker than exporting directly from FCP to Compressor.
- iDVD's downconversion of an HDV Quicktime file was awful, with blocky artifacts etc.
- Using Compressor or Quicktime to downrez the HDV Quicktime file to SD, and then burning in iDVD was better. But it appeared dull, the titles looked pixellated, and I got that deinterlaced "film look" without really trying.
- My BEST solution was to use Compressor to turn the HDV Quicktime file into an SD MPEG2 file for DVDSP. But my G5 kept crashing (darkened screen, "reboot" message in several languages) a couple of hours into the compression. It was only after I used Disk Warrior on my system drive that it finally worked. I've heard that G5 memory is finicky as well, but I ran MEMTEST several times without a hitch. It doesn't help that my Quicktime file is 16 GB.
- Thanks to this board, I came across the best custom Compressor setting for HDV to SD for DVDSP. Because I'm dealing with an 88 minute feature plus 7-minute trailer for a single-sided DVD, this is what I did:
DVD: Best Quality 120 minutes 16:9. Use the Inspector to modify settings:
- VIDEO FORMAT tab Field Dominance: Bottom First
- QUALITY tab One Pass (NO VBR), Average Bit Rate 7.0, Best Motion Estimation
- GOP tab GOP Structure: "IP"
- FRAME CONTROLS "Off"
- FILTERS Check "Deinterlacing" select "Blur"; Check "Sharpen Edge" Amount "10"
Importing this asset into DVDSP, I used the MPEG2 file along with the smaller Dolby AC-3 file, discarding the larger AIFF sound file.
7. PRINT TO VIDEO
- This is the real hangup for me. I can't do it back to my Z1. It always stutters about 8 minutes into the piece.
- ScottSV from this board ( Scott SV, "FCP5 & Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Cam - Print to Video?" #1, 04:16pm Sep 17, 2005 CDT) suggested outputting the sequence to a Quicktime AIC file (custom settings 1920 x 1080, 60 FPS, top field dominant), then importing that new file into iMovie, then exporting to camera. It's a long process but it worked for me on a much smaller file. But you need tons of hard drive space and patience, and iMovie just quit on me when I tried with a 44-minute chunk of my documentary. I may go out and buy another large hard drive and try it again.
- Avid has just come out with its HDV plug-in for XPress Pro. But it only works with MT2 transport files, which are also huge. I've always had much more success with Avid when printing back to tape than with FCP. Even with SD. That said, I enjoy using FCP a whole lot more.
- I've heard that Apple is working on this HDV print-to-video issue. I hope they come up with a solution soon.
Feel free to check out the H.264 version of my movie trailer for "Independent America" at http://www.hrhmedia.com/page13/page14/page14.html. It's a fabulous codec, but as you can see, still not a flawless conversion of the original HDV file.
Hope this really long posting will be helpful to others. Special thanks to Scott SV, Max Average, Waymen, David Bogie and countless others for helping me get this project done through their feedback to this community.

Mixed HDV workflow

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