Newbie question..matching XA10 & XHA1

[Jeff Hinson]

Im thinking of ordering a XA10 to use for wedding shoots along with my XHA1.

Ive always shot with XHA1 and still want to keep the cam due to the 20x zoom...which is useful for school plays and other events.

How do I match the two cams since they shoot different size video 1440/1080 and 1920/1080 ? I assume I bring the XA10 down to 1440...but actually "how" do I do that.

Im using Adobe CS5.

[Les Wilson]

The 1440x1080 capture format of the A1 is an anamorphic format. Basically that means it's a properly shaped 1920x1080 image that is squeezed into 1440x1080. So in order for it to look right, it has to be unsqueezed. Your NLE should be doing this automatically for HDV and showing it as 1920x1080.

You don't have to shoot the XA in 1440x1080 mode in order to match with the A1 (or any other HDV camera) but you certainly could... the XA10 appears to have that mode (page 183 of the UG). Note it doesn't say it records in the HDV CODEC, just that resolution.

You have to decide which format you are using in your NLE for that project and convert the footage from the camera that wasn't shot in that format. Or, have your NLE re-render the non-native footage throughout the editing process.

Alternatively, you can convert both to a common format. Prores is one such format that's an uprez and pretty much lossless. It takes time and the files sizes are much larger so there's an impact.

Each of these alternatives has tradeoffs that depend on your NLE and workflow.

After normalizing the formats, color issues between the cameras will be the next challenge. It's easiest if you can get camera color profiles (presets in A1 parlance) that make them close so there's minimal CC in post.... unless you like doing that all the time. YMMV.

[Jeff Hinson]

Les
That's great news !
I think I'll be okay with Adobe CS five
Merry Christmas
Jeff

[Jeff Harper]

XA10 doesn't offer 1440, it's card based. I think it's usually tapes that record at 1440x1080.

[Don Palomaki]

The XA10 has about 5 HD recording bit rates. The two top rates are 1920x1080 with square pixels, the three lower are lower bit rates at 1440x1080 resolution with non-square pixels - similar to HDV, but in AVCHD rather than HDV format. The lower bit rates allow longer recording on a memory card. I normally record a the highest bit rate.

Whether or not you need to transcode upon capture to a common format for editing depends on the capability of your NLE. I use EDIUS and can mix formats on the timeline without problem. Which work flow you use will depend on your systems, your end products, and what is most comfortable for you.

I've found the XHa1 and XA10 footage mix well, at least for my purposes -mostly event work delivered on DVD. The cameras rarely have the same point of view or angle on the scene so subtle differences in image color balance are masked by different lighting angles, etc.

[Jeff Harper]

Don, how strange to me that 1440 is offered by the XA10, it seems like a kind of odd thing, but if it's to allow longer more space on a card, I guess that's an nice option to have. But 12mbps is not a bit rate I can see needing, but on the other hand if it would allow matching cams, that would be a good thing.

Is it the XP+ mode in 12mbps? Thanks.

[Don Palomaki]

From the USA user manual page 183
MXP andFXP are 1920x1080
XP+, SP, LP are 1440x1080

From page 149
MXP = 24 Mbpd
FXP = 17Mbps
XP+ = 12 Mbps
SP = 7 Mbps
LP = 5 Mbps

Allowing for the different pixel count for a full screen (due to pixel aspect ratio) FXP and XP+ are roughly similar levels of data compression.

Boils down to folks selecting the image resolution and data rate they need. And 1440x1080 anamorphic is a Blu-ray supported standard.

[Jeff Harper]

I really appreciate that Don. I can imagine trying out 12mbps only to be pretty pissed that the footage was 1440!

[Don Palomaki]

Keep in mind that Canon's HDV is about 25 Mbps and 1440, but uses less efficient compression.