As NAB approcahes, I'm wondering how the FCP HDV editing is going to shape up. I'm not near as smart as many of you here, I don't know *why* stuff works, I just like to buy the tools and have it work.

So here are a couple of questions I have and was curious what the 'edutacted' views on these are. I work on Macs, so the answers I'm really looking for are regardign Final Cut, but please share your wisdom on these issues even if it's not an Apple solution.

1. Will we be able to use timecode with HDV? From what I understand, the timecode is there (I mean, I can see it and it works with DV) so is it just a matter of writing tools that can read and use timecode with HDV? Is this difficult? Do you think we'll see this as early as FCP 5?

2. HD monitor? Will we be able to plug an HD monitor into the camera via component, and have the camera connected to the computer via firewire and be able to use the HDTV as a monitor? Same setup as an SD monitor now, just swapping out the camera and monitor to HD stuff. Right now I can only see my HDV footage in it's true glory at home. I'd love to get a monitor for the office, but don't want to spend the money now to find out I've got to have one with firewire or something to use as an editing monitor. Any thoughts on this?

3. H.264 - what will this really do for me? Will I export my HD stuff to this as PC folks are going to Windows Media 9 now?

Thanks for the insights!

It's anyone's guess until some of these questions get answered in the form of shipping products, but here's my take on things.

1. Yes. Sooner or later, someone will implement accurate timecode control of HDV camcorders...and you'll probably see this feature in other low-cost HD solutions like the rumored Panasonic DVCProHD camera.

2. Probably not the way you have in mind, but that won't matter. What we're starting to see now is high-end video cards which can output a component HD video signal directly from the computer, so you wouldn't need a camera to connect your computer to your HD display.

3. Depends on what happens with HD DVD standards in the next year or two. You have the right idea here, and chances are good that H.264 will be a widely supported format for distributing finished HDV projects. But as things stand today there's more practical widespread support for Windows Media HD, including a recently released tool for encoding to that format on Macs. You can encode edited HDV projects to Windows Media HD or H.264, burn the resulting file onto a standard DVD (or future HD DVD) and play it back on any computer or DVD player which supports the corresponding format.

Thanks Kevin.

Any specifics on the high-end video cards you mention? I'm interested in seeing what it's going to cost to get an HD preview out.

Thanks!

Bryan: the video card I'm seeing mentioned most often (at least for PCs) is the geforce 6600gt, and there may be others shipping with similar HD output features. I also see Mac users talking about outputting via HD cards like Kona or Blackmagic, but I'm not sure how practical that will be for working with HDV projects. Maybe someone else can give you a more detailed response on this point.

The theory is that once FCP supports HDV correctly, whether through an improved intermediate codec, or even natively, then you should be able to monitor through the BMD or AJA cards exactly as we do with DVC Pro HD now.

In just under 3 weeks time all our questions should be answered!

Kevin, on the video cards be careful because if you use dual monitors to edit you have to give one up....I think matrox will have a 3 headed card that can do it but just because a card has more than 2 monitor out connections doesn't mean you can use more than 2 unless it is a true triple headed card.