Mixing with HDV in FCP at DVinfo.net

John Benton · February 17th, 2009, 10:01 AM

Specifically for the Audio, Which I am running through an XL-H1,
I am shooting with both camera's simultaneously...
(The 5D footage kinda blows the HDV out of the water...)
But when I put the 5D footage & the HDV in the same timeline I have to re render every move I make to sync audio.
I thought in FC Studio 2 you could mix all sorts of footage in the same timeline

and FCP crashes every 3 minutes
any ideas?
Even trying the Cineform Trial
Thanks,
J

James Miller · February 17th, 2009, 10:38 AM

Hi John, You can mix footage together in FCP but in your case you have to have the sequence set to either HDV or H.264. FCP won't split codec encoding on a cut by cut basis.

If your H1 footage dominates I would transcode the 5D's H.264 to HDV at 1440x1080
then edit away.

You could also encode the H1 footage directly from tape using an intermediate format at capture either AIC or ProRes. Then transcode the 5D's footage to match.

If you bring your footage into Apple Colour for grading then you might as well go with the ProRes on both formats/cameras.

If you have gone to far down the road to recapture or re-encode footage you could always use 'Media Manager' in FCP. Under 'Media' select recompress and select the desired codec. Also make sure you tick duplicate footage as not to destroy your masters.

Brett Sherman · February 17th, 2009, 11:51 AM

The way I do it is to transcode the 5D Footage to another format - ProRes (highest quality) or XDCAM EX (minimize file size), with MPEG Streamclip. MPEG Streamclip is a lot faster than Final Cut at transcoding (almost 7X on my computer). In MPEG Streamclip I set the frame rate to 29.97 so it's NTSC compatible. It might be dropping a frame every 30 seconds, but I haven't seen it yet. You could always retranscode a smaller portion of the clip if you did run into a dropped frame.

Then I set my sequence in Final Cut as ProRes 1920x1080. You'll have to render the HDV material after it's in the timeline, but you can edit with it at a lower res then hit Render at the end of the day.

Brett Sherman · February 17th, 2009, 11:13 PM

Actually it does drop frames when you convert it to 29.97. You can first interpret the file as 29.97 in Cinema Tools then do the conversion in MPEG Streamclip.

Brett Sherman · February 17th, 2009, 11:25 PM

Jeez, I can't get anything right. "Interpret As" is After Effects terminology. It's called "conform" in Cinema Tools. Do a batch conform to 29.97 for your whole folder of clips. It changes the audio sample rate to 44.05 now instead of 44.1. But that's no big deal since you'll want to bump it up to 48khz when transcoding with MPEG Streamclip.

John Benton · February 18th, 2009, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Miller

If your H1 footage dominates I would transcode the 5D's H.264 to HDV at 1440x1080
then edit away.

You could also encode the H1 footage directly from tape using an intermediate format at capture either AIC or ProRes. Then transcode the 5D's footage to match.

If you bring your footage into Apple Colour for grading then you might as well go with the ProRes on both formats/cameras.

If you have gone to far down the road to recapture or re-encode footage you could always use 'Media Manager' in FCP. Under 'Media' select recompress and select the desired codec. Also make sure you tick duplicate footage as not to destroy your masters.

Thanks All,
Actually the 5D footage dominates but I want the H1 sound
I guess the easiest workflow would be to transcode the HDV footage > h264
I like the ProRes - but then I m transcoding each
J

James Miller · February 18th, 2009, 10:06 AM

John, You can capture directly to ProRes from tape on the H1. But that would require capturing again.

Also the ProRes takes less of a hit on your processors and might help with the crashes. Downside is prores takes a lot of disk space.

John Benton · February 21st, 2009, 09:03 AM

Hello All,
I have rendered the MK2 footage AND the HDV footage to Pro Res 422
Via cinema tools and mPeg Streamclip
but I still have to render the Audio from both before I can Edit :
How would you recommend exporting the the Audio (in MpegStreamclip)
Should I have gone Uncompressed? I went with AIC & have to re render the Audio
Thanks for all the Help
John

February 17th, 2009, 10:01 AM	#1
John Benton Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 658	Mixing with HDV in FCP Specifically for the Audio, Which I am running through an XL-H1, I am shooting with both camera's simultaneously... (The 5D footage kinda blows the HDV out of the water...) But when I put the 5D footage & the HDV in the same timeline I have to re render every move I make to sync audio. I thought in FC Studio 2 you could mix all sorts of footage in the same timeline and FCP crashes every 3 minutes any ideas? Even trying the Cineform Trial Thanks, J

February 17th, 2009, 10:38 AM	#2
James Miller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 317	Hi John, You can mix footage together in FCP but in your case you have to have the sequence set to either HDV or H.264. FCP won't split codec encoding on a cut by cut basis. If your H1 footage dominates I would transcode the 5D's H.264 to HDV at 1440x1080 then edit away. You could also encode the H1 footage directly from tape using an intermediate format at capture either AIC or ProRes. Then transcode the 5D's footage to match. If you bring your footage into Apple Colour for grading then you might as well go with the ProRes on both formats/cameras. If you have gone to far down the road to recapture or re-encode footage you could always use 'Media Manager' in FCP. Under 'Media' select recompress and select the desired codec. Also make sure you tick duplicate footage as not to destroy your masters.

February 17th, 2009, 11:51 AM	#3
Brett Sherman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mount Rainier, MD Posts: 428	The way I do it is to transcode the 5D Footage to another format - ProRes (highest quality) or XDCAM EX (minimize file size), with MPEG Streamclip. MPEG Streamclip is a lot faster than Final Cut at transcoding (almost 7X on my computer). In MPEG Streamclip I set the frame rate to 29.97 so it's NTSC compatible. It might be dropping a frame every 30 seconds, but I haven't seen it yet. You could always retranscode a smaller portion of the clip if you did run into a dropped frame. Then I set my sequence in Final Cut as ProRes 1920x1080. You'll have to render the HDV material after it's in the timeline, but you can edit with it at a lower res then hit Render at the end of the day.

February 17th, 2009, 11:13 PM	#4
Brett Sherman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mount Rainier, MD Posts: 428	Actually it does drop frames when you convert it to 29.97. You can first interpret the file as 29.97 in Cinema Tools then do the conversion in MPEG Streamclip.

February 17th, 2009, 11:25 PM	#5
Brett Sherman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mount Rainier, MD Posts: 428	Jeez, I can't get anything right. "Interpret As" is After Effects terminology. It's called "conform" in Cinema Tools. Do a batch conform to 29.97 for your whole folder of clips. It changes the audio sample rate to 44.05 now instead of 44.1. But that's no big deal since you'll want to bump it up to 48khz when transcoding with MPEG Streamclip.

February 18th, 2009, 10:06 AM	#7
James Miller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 317	John, You can capture directly to ProRes from tape on the H1. But that would require capturing again. Also the ProRes takes less of a hit on your processors and might help with the crashes. Downside is prores takes a lot of disk space.

February 21st, 2009, 09:03 AM	#8
John Benton Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 658	Hello All, I have rendered the MK2 footage AND the HDV footage to Pro Res 422 Via cinema tools and mPeg Streamclip but I still have to render the Audio from both before I can Edit : How would you recommend exporting the the Audio (in MpegStreamclip) Should I have gone Uncompressed? I went with AIC & have to re render the Audio Thanks for all the Help John