editing, archiving and burning hdv for a1

[William Boehm]

over the past six months i have recorded wildlife and scenic footage in the pacific nw, and have about 20 tapes to edit. we could not afford the upgrade of a computer system, or editing software until now. thus the questions.

1. computer i can search other threads for having a computer built, windows pc...but think i will be using vegas 8? rather than go cineform and pp3.

2. workflow....can you edit the material, then transfer back to the a1 or the hv20 in high def for archival, without loosing information?

3. dvd burning..blue ray is now or will be the dominating medium?

thanks for any future comments. i want to keep things simple, and the editing basic music, time lapse from digital images imported etc. it seemed the vegas workflow was simplest...

bill,
bothell, washington

[Marcel D. Van Someren]

Just my opinions:

1. As far as computer and software, I recently purchased Newtek's SpeedEdit software. You might want to check that out. I now use it more than PP3, Edius, etc. It has many advantages and is resonably priced. Working with HD files and even larger resolutions in real time is a snap in this program and you don't need a super computer to get it done.

2. Why not consider burning your media files and project files to a Data DVD for archival purposes? You're not reencoding the data so you don't lose anything.

3. Blu-Ray is the winner. HD DVD will no longer be manufactured in a few months according to Toshiba

[William Boehm]

mark..thanks for the reply. can you decent high def codec without loss of information? I had not heard of this video editing program.

Do you archive to a dvd on a gold disk like photographs?

thanks for your reply

[Marcel D. Van Someren]

SpeedEdit can capture HDV as m2t - pretty much standard codec there and you can immediately edit it in real-time. They do have a codec they call SpeedHQ, which you can render to...it is an .avi wrapper of any resolution you want at 4:2:2: and 4:4:4 (alpha) color space. You can edit in that format too...along with all of the native formats you would expect.

The application is "resolution independent" and you can mix mpg2, quicktime, flash, avi, HDV, DV, DVCPro HD, etc., all on the same timeline and the application doesn't even blink. There's no converting to one format or another necessary. The more I dig into this application, the more I am impressed. Again, it may or may not meet your needs but you should at least investigate it. You can see it at: http://www.newtek.com/speededit/ I think the SpeedEdit goes for around $399 at B&H and if you happen to be an educator or a student, you can get the achedemic license for $295. You should also check out their forums...you'll get a lot of your questions answered there about the application.

As far as Data DVDs go, I use the cheapest brand, double layer disks I can find which gives me about 8 gig of storage for raw clips or finished footage. Depending on how large your clips are, that may or may not be practical. Another way to go is external hard drives. These days, you can buy an external 1 TB hard drive for about $300.

I've never used tape to store completed footage. Too many bad things can happen to tape.

Really it's all about what you need, your budget, and personal preference. Check out all of the different NLE's, compare their price/perfomance. Do the research and I'm sure you'll be able to find something that suits you.

[William Boehm]

i am considering then speededit...is it easy to color saturate, change brightness and darken etc? bill

[Marcel D. Van Someren]

I haven't done a lot of color correction in the application yet, but what little I have done seems pretty simple. Maybe you can find a shop nearby that can demonstrate it to you?