Barry Werger
February 8th, 2006, 12:43 AM
Hi gang...
I've just returned from the Moviola event, which was fun and informative... and revealed a potential large problem for some (potential) HVX users...
A number of the presenters and others present have recommended that P2 cards should NEVER be imported into Final Cut Pro on a G4-based system; there is a very clear and problematic loss of quality in the process of re-wrapping footage as Quicktime footage. The same problem does not occur on G5-based systems. Footage imported to FCP on a G5 will work fine when transferred on a G4; only the transcoding process is problematic.
As a corollary, I asked if the same problem would occur if capturing directly to FCP using a G4 laptop (since the footage must be wrapped as quicktime in that process also, though from a DVCPRro stream rather than MXF). Noone had tested this.
I know that many of us are planning on capturing in exactly this manner (directly to a Powerbook G4); in fact, there's currently no other viable solution for long-format field recording (at least in the smaller-budget/battery-powered range). Certainly many folks here have announced their intention to shoot that way.
Some people suggested that these findings were determined with a pre-release version of Apple software, and that the issues may well have been fixed.
Can anyone with a camera and a Powerbook and the latest FCP test to see if direct capture ("Capture Now") works well?
Thanks,
Barry
I've just returned from the Moviola event, which was fun and informative... and revealed a potential large problem for some (potential) HVX users...
A number of the presenters and others present have recommended that P2 cards should NEVER be imported into Final Cut Pro on a G4-based system; there is a very clear and problematic loss of quality in the process of re-wrapping footage as Quicktime footage. The same problem does not occur on G5-based systems. Footage imported to FCP on a G5 will work fine when transferred on a G4; only the transcoding process is problematic.
As a corollary, I asked if the same problem would occur if capturing directly to FCP using a G4 laptop (since the footage must be wrapped as quicktime in that process also, though from a DVCPRro stream rather than MXF). Noone had tested this.
I know that many of us are planning on capturing in exactly this manner (directly to a Powerbook G4); in fact, there's currently no other viable solution for long-format field recording (at least in the smaller-budget/battery-powered range). Certainly many folks here have announced their intention to shoot that way.
Some people suggested that these findings were determined with a pre-release version of Apple software, and that the issues may well have been fixed.
Can anyone with a camera and a Powerbook and the latest FCP test to see if direct capture ("Capture Now") works well?
Thanks,
Barry