xh-a1 recording size. dumb question at DVinfo.net

John Cambell · December 23rd, 2008, 10:56 PM

This is probably a dumb question, but I just read that the xh a1 records 1440x1080. Ive been importing my footage to final cut pro and I see that its all 1920x1080. Is this a big mistake. Should I be importing my footage as 1440x1080?

Richard Hunter · December 24th, 2008, 04:52 AM

Hi John. I don't know if FCP has any strange ways of handling HDV, but in general, it is best to keep it in native resolution, 1440x1080 until final render. Then you can make it 1920x1080, 1280x720 or any other size that you need for your particular delivery method. That way, you only go through one resizing step.

Richard

Patrick Myers · December 24th, 2008, 10:58 AM

Check what preset you are using to capture the footage. If you have a different prestet selected in FCP then the footage might save itself in a different format.

Battle Vaughan · December 24th, 2008, 12:48 PM

Just use the appropriate HDV timeline setup --1080 60i (usa) or 50i (pal) depending on which your camera produces --- and final cut will handle it. When you output with Compressor or Quicktime, you can select the output resolution you want. The thing about 1920 vs 1440 is that HDV handles the width with non-square pixels which interpolate to 1920 on playback. Final cut handles all this, nothing to concern about -- if your clips import without needing to render (grey instead of red line over them) your setup is correct. Edit away, output what size you want. Our workflow here is to output a full-res quicktime movie and then compress for the web at 480 x 272 for the web...that way we have a full-size archive file and the web-sized file as well. / Battle Vaughan/ miamiherald.com video team

John Cambell · December 24th, 2008, 11:29 PM

Ok so I set my capture preset to apple prores 422(HQ) 1920x1080 at first and captured some footage with it and it looked fine. Then I read and saw that my camera (xh-a1) records at 1440x1080 so I captured the same footage at apple prores 422(HQ) 1440x1080. Again the footage looked fine but when I went to the capture scratch folder and right clicked and pressed get info, it said the dimensions were 1920x1080 not 1440x1080. Then I found some older footage that I uploaded using HDV preset that was 1440x1080 and opened it using quicktime and also opened a 1920x1080 clip using quicktime and compared them and it seemed like there was barely a difference in size. It definitely didn't look like the dimensions were correct to each other. This is really confusing me. Does anybody have any answers?

Jerome Cloninger · December 26th, 2008, 11:11 AM

John, 1440x1080 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.333333:1 is going to show up the same as 1920x1080 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1:1. Either way will work fine........

Battle Vaughan · December 26th, 2008, 01:00 PM

I'm curious, I thought ProRes was an intermediate codec used, for example, in transcoding avchd to something FCP could edit. There are easy-setups for HDV in all it's flavors--we use the "1080 60i with the Sony firewire in" setup and never worry about 1440 or 1920, as FCP just takes care of everything. But, makes me wonder, is there an advantage to ProRes or AIC for that matter, that we should consider? /Battle Vaughan/maimiherald.com video team

December 23rd, 2008, 10:56 PM	#1
John Cambell Regular Crew Join Date: May 2008 Location: Haiku Hawaii Posts: 83	xh-a1 recording size. dumb question This is probably a dumb question, but I just read that the xh a1 records 1440x1080. Ive been importing my footage to final cut pro and I see that its all 1920x1080. Is this a big mistake. Should I be importing my footage as 1440x1080?

December 26th, 2008, 11:11 AM	#6
Jerome Cloninger Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: East TN Posts: 415	John, 1440x1080 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.333333:1 is going to show up the same as 1920x1080 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1:1. Either way will work fine........ __________________ Jerome www.jeromecloninger.com

December 24th, 2008, 04:52 AM	#2
Richard Hunter Trustee Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Lipa City Batangas, Philippines Posts: 1,110	Hi John. I don't know if FCP has any strange ways of handling HDV, but in general, it is best to keep it in native resolution, 1440x1080 until final render. Then you can make it 1920x1080, 1280x720 or any other size that you need for your particular delivery method. That way, you only go through one resizing step. Richard

December 24th, 2008, 10:58 AM	#3
Patrick Myers Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Springfield MO Posts: 38	Check what preset you are using to capture the footage. If you have a different prestet selected in FCP then the footage might save itself in a different format.

December 24th, 2008, 12:48 PM	#4
Battle Vaughan Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, FL USA Posts: 1,505	Just use the appropriate HDV timeline setup --1080 60i (usa) or 50i (pal) depending on which your camera produces --- and final cut will handle it. When you output with Compressor or Quicktime, you can select the output resolution you want. The thing about 1920 vs 1440 is that HDV handles the width with non-square pixels which interpolate to 1920 on playback. Final cut handles all this, nothing to concern about -- if your clips import without needing to render (grey instead of red line over them) your setup is correct. Edit away, output what size you want. Our workflow here is to output a full-res quicktime movie and then compress for the web at 480 x 272 for the web...that way we have a full-size archive file and the web-sized file as well. / Battle Vaughan/ miamiherald.com video team

December 24th, 2008, 11:29 PM	#5
John Cambell Regular Crew Join Date: May 2008 Location: Haiku Hawaii Posts: 83	Ok so I set my capture preset to apple prores 422(HQ) 1920x1080 at first and captured some footage with it and it looked fine. Then I read and saw that my camera (xh-a1) records at 1440x1080 so I captured the same footage at apple prores 422(HQ) 1440x1080. Again the footage looked fine but when I went to the capture scratch folder and right clicked and pressed get info, it said the dimensions were 1920x1080 not 1440x1080. Then I found some older footage that I uploaded using HDV preset that was 1440x1080 and opened it using quicktime and also opened a 1920x1080 clip using quicktime and compared them and it seemed like there was barely a difference in size. It definitely didn't look like the dimensions were correct to each other. This is really confusing me. Does anybody have any answers?

December 26th, 2008, 01:00 PM	#7
Battle Vaughan Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, FL USA Posts: 1,505	I'm curious, I thought ProRes was an intermediate codec used, for example, in transcoding avchd to something FCP could edit. There are easy-setups for HDV in all it's flavors--we use the "1080 60i with the Sony firewire in" setup and never worry about 1440 or 1920, as FCP just takes care of everything. But, makes me wonder, is there an advantage to ProRes or AIC for that matter, that we should consider? /Battle Vaughan/maimiherald.com video team