I have to export an assignment for school to tape and am unsure how to do it. I know the steps to send it to tape in final cut but my question is when using an hdv camera should I have it set to hdv or dv? The footage in the timeline is hdv but the settings on the timeline are ntsc dv 3:2. The tape will be blank that I am exporting to if that matters.

The camera is sony too so it has downconvert but I'm guessing I wouldn't have to turn that on. Also the tape is going to played on a dv deck not an hdv deck since my school doesn't have them.

Hi James, set the camera to DV. Make sure the Final Cut Pro (in Easy Set Up) is also set to DV.

Downconvert is irrelevant as you're not using HDV mode at all to record back to tape.

And to lay back to a camera, I think you'll need Print to Video rather than Export to Tape

Will a HDV timeline/footage be down converted if I record straight back to Mini DV tape or will it be full resolution?

Can this be done on either Avid or Mac?

Anyhelp thanks.

Will a HDV timeline/footage be down converted if I record straight back to Mini DV tape or will it be full resolution?


Hi Simon, not really sure of the question here, but I think the answer is
An HDV timeline with HDV footage will be recorded at full resolution on MiniDV cassette if sent as HDV over firewire to a compatible HDV camera.
HDV will be recorded at DV resolution if downconverted to a DV timeline in the NLE and sent as DV to an miniDV camera (or an HDV camera set to SD DV mode).
The camera will not down convert HDV into DV on the way in, only on the way OUT.