Which software/hadware is best to edit HVX 1080i and 720P P2 footage for the highest quality DVD's and print to HD tape?

That's a rather vague and open-ended question. What platform? PC or Mac? What do you mean by HD tape? DVCPRO HD or HDCAM?

I am primarily a Mac person so of course I would say that FCP is the best way to edit. If you want to go back to DVCPRO HD tape to a Panasonic HD1400 (or earlier model of HD1200A) deck, you could go firewire as long as the deck has the firewire board installed. If you want to go out HDCAM, then throw a Kona 3 board in the Mac which can do a real-time uprez and let you go to HDCAM.

On the PC side of things, Canopus Edius Broadcast 4 reads MXF files natively and even mixes different codecs on the same timeline. To go out to HDCAM via SDI, you would need a board from Grass Valley/Canopus for the PC.

You can always acquire directly on a PC configured with DVRack Pro HD and then edit in your PC or Mac editor of choice.

More specifics about your workflow, platform prefs, etc etc would help narrow the question.

Ned Soltz

William,

Ned is right; that type of question has so many possible answers you'll be flooded with responses from across the board.

The best way to approach this question is from your current hardware/software background. Are you currently a PC or Mac user? As Ned notes, there are options either way but as a general rule it's best not to reinvent the wheel when considering which hardware platform to use when selecting an edit system.

If you're used to the PC-type methodology of finding and organizing files/folders and installing hardware then stay with that route; likewise for the Mac side. Keep in mind, there is no such thing as which platform/hardware is best, it's all about which is best for YOU.

Like Ned, I'm a Mac guy to the core, but I'm currently jealous that Canopus is talking to P2 MXF files without requiring rendering or third-party transcoding (I currently use HDLOG to convert my P2 files into QT's before I import them into FCP). However, it's quite possible that in the next iteration of FCP that MXF will become "native" as well.

However, if your experience and workflow is open-ended, meaning your current setup is not platform dependent then I'd obviously recommend the Mac/FCP route. On the PC side Canopus Broadcast gets the nod, but there are other options that are just as capable/powerful.

The only strong recommendation I can make is if you go the PC route and that because PC's are so susceptible to net-nonsense that it's best to have your edit system and your email/web-browsing system physically separate - don't connect your edit system to the 'net, period. Program updates can be saved to CD and installed to the edit system that way. That will completely eliminate the possibility of any intrusions and will keep your system running it's fastest since you won't have to worry about running anti-virus/anti spy-ware programs in the background stealing valuable system resources.

What about Avid...I understand that now MXF ARE become "native" plus it can handle most major formats on the same timeline and this new thing I've heard -- of Script-based editing blows my mind.

(I currently use HDLOG to convert my P2 files into QT's before I import them into FCP)
Robert, as I've posted elswhere, I'm hoping to collect an HVX200 tomorrow and I must admit, I hadn't bargained on buying any extra hardware for it. I rather gathered I could import (and use) footage via Firewire or by using some sort of card reader (PCMCIA)?

Are you saying I need more hardware to import MXF files into FCP?

The last post on this thread seems to suggest otherwise - but of course, I may have the wrong end of the stick:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2500424�

Andy

Andy,
You can import P2 directly into FCP....
no other software is needed.
With 5.1.2 you can trim the in and outs
and just import the parts you need.
I have both FCP and Edius because I
receive raw .mxf files sometimes......
With Edius you must copy the entire
.mxf file and if you have audio with
it you must still have the entire P2 folder
intact.

Thanks Mike -

I have FCP 5.1.2 so that's a relief.

Andy

Let me know if you need any help after you
get your camera....

Thanks again, Mike -
I'd say that's pretty much a dead cert!

Andy

Andy,

As "MZHD" Mike points out, FCP will take direct import of P2-MXF files however during the import process it must also convert the files to QT's so they are actually usable, which means you must wait for this conversion (rendering if you will) to finish for each clip. It's the same process as importing HDV footage that hasn't been previously converted however it takes a great deal LESS time to convert MXF than HDV (M2T), which is one of the major benefits of the HVX workflow. The speed of your hardware and available RAM will determine how long the import process takes for each clip.

Future releases of FCP (most likely FCP 6) MXF will become a "native" codec and not require conversion/rendering during import, it will simply be drag-drop-edit.

My guess is that by the time both the 2000 and 500 Panny bodies are out FCP will have completely caught up with P2, including the new AVC/H.264 codec that the 2000 will be able to shoot (with add-on card).

during the import process it must also convert the files to QT's so they are actually usable, which means you must wait for this conversion (rendering if you will) to finish for each clip.
Thanks - I see now!

Not too much of a problem I hope, as I have a Quad with 8GB RAM.
I read that the process can work in the background while you continue to edit in FCP.

Just can't wait to get the HVX tomorrow!

Andy

I have the same system/setup with an external array for fast file access/renders. Look for a review on that in the next day or so.

Someone the other day was describing P2 as a "negative"
and it does not get processed until it is copied or converted.
The thing I like about 5.1.2 is that you can choose to only
import the video (or audio) and you can trim the i/o.
Even though I make a backup copy of the P2 I rarely import
all the clips and now I can only use what I need.

I'm a Mac person too, but be aware that there have been issues with P2 card imports, P2 stores not mounting and corupt data on the MAC platform concerning the P2 workflow. This is not happening on the PC side of the equation.

Having said that, I had previously invested a lot on a private g5 solution so don't intend to move away soon, and am taking the risk, having had a problem with the P2 store (not mounting certain partition) and in a p2 card import (copied to hardisk first), where one file was corrupted. (since I had already formated the p2 card, that particular clip was lost.)

The best current system (never heard issues with it) seems to be Edius Broadcast, by canopus. I love FCP, with Motion, soundtrack pro and Livetype really making things easier and faster for me in a couple of jobs, but it seems like FCP is not the most reliable solution for P2- maybe with FCP 6...

I am, right now, just a 'semi-professional,' video maker, so I make no claims to super-expertise. (Biggest projects a Safty Training Film, a school education project, one product demonstration, etc. all for non-broadcast).

But now moving up in equipment/software it would be Very Nice to know: Is there a problem with Avid? 'Cause, only being a FCE user I was thinking of getting Avid XPress Pro specifically because it handles HDVPRO HD now and this multi-format editing possible on one timeline sounds like a very useful feature.
Some forum folks have said it's color correction is also better than FCP.

I'll mention that what really STUNNED! me was seing a demonstration of an awesome New Feature I don't think has ever existed in the World before: Script-based editing.

I'm more of a 'writing-guy,' using Final Draft Screenwriting software a lot and Avid says it can: Match/Synch the video to a script! They go on to even say that you can Edit the Video by triming and changing words in the script!

Obviously, I thought, you'd need a special file format for this and - BOOM - there was a freebie update for Final Draft recently and there is was: a special Save As... where the script was saved as: Avid Script-based Editing!

So...unless Avid turns all skin-colors green and destroys video clips, this new idea/feature of 'script-based editing,' blows my mind and although I refrain from frothing at the mouth at New Tech (although I'm certainly an avid techie - ha) - I now feel like a teen-ager waiting overnight for a new PS3.

!?

I'm a Mac person too, but be aware that there have been issues with P2 card imports, P2 stores not mounting and corupt data on the MAC platform concerning the P2 workflow. This is not happening on the PC side of the equation.

Having said that, I had previously invested a lot on a private g5 solution so don't intend to move away soon, and am taking the risk, having had a problem with the P2 store (not mounting certain partition) and in a p2 card import (copied to hardisk first), where one file was corrupted. (since I had already formated the p2 card, that particular clip was lost.)

The best current system (never heard issues with it) seems to be Edius Broadcast, by canopus. I love FCP, with Motion, soundtrack pro and Livetype really making things easier and faster for me in a couple of jobs, but it seems like FCP is not the most reliable solution for P2- maybe with FCP 6...

I have Edius as well....it has it's own set of issues.
You can use the .mxf files natively but you must copy
them to a drive before you can edit. And Marcus at dvfilm.com
has seen issues with the Panasonic DVCPRO codec that is required if you use CineForm. I do not know if Edius shares this same issue??

I have Edius as well....it has it's own set of issues.
You can use the .mxf files natively but you must copy
them to a drive before you can edit.
Why? I demo editing straight from the card. As cards get bigger, the whole concept of copying to a drive is going to disappear from our workflow.

Why? Because most of the shoots I do are at least 6-60 cards.
Sure you could do demos but most productions have to copy the
cards to a hard drive to continue shooting....
And do you dump them to an external that will be fast enough to edit DVCPRO HD? A laptop internal drive might be big enough to copy the cards for a days shoot but no way could you edit on a laptop with a full drive.
What I do is carry FAT 32 formatted externals and as we shoot I dump to those. I can then use that to import the P2 cards to my MAC using FCP 5.1.2 and I can mark in and outs and decide if I want audio with the video or just the video. Once the QT video is copied to my G-Raid I can edit direct from these with Firewire 800 - no dropped frames. I have a back-up on the FAT 32 drive and sometimes the producer with take that FAT 32 drive and on his PC he can view and log with the Pana P2 viewer.
We don't import into FCP directly from the cards....
On some occassions we have just to do quick edits....
But we always copy the P2 to another hard drive......
So with Edius it is nice to be able to look at a P2 volume but I can do that with P2 log on the MAC. Edius does not cut it for us an editing tool that we can do paying gigs with. FCP continues to push forward and the fact that DVDSP, Live Type, Motion and SoundTrack Pro are all integrated just makes more sense for us.

What's the problem with copying to a HDD drive. You had to do it when you worked with tape. The difference now, is that I can transfer an 8 gig card over at 1.5 - 2 times faster than real-time, when working with 1080p footage. Faster, of course with 720pn footage. Instead of realtime, with p2 and EDIUS it is faster than realtime transfer, and I can easily find and copy only the clips I want.

Jason