AVCHD FCP 6.02 G5 workflow? at DVinfo.net

Dan Brockett · January 5th, 2009, 11:55 AM

Hi all:

I will be purchasing a Canon Vixia HF10 or 11 for an upcoming project. The project requires the smallest possible, least intrusive camera and from what I have heard from friends who own them and from other posters on the Net, the little Canons are pretty cool. Small, light, cheap and decent quality.

My question is, how do you deal with AVCHD footage from SDHC cards with FCP? I mostly shoot P2 so I am totally familiar with the P2 workflow. What I am not familiar with are ProRes 422 and ingesting and dealing with AVCHD video.

1. I have a dual 2.3Ghz G5 PPC. 4GB Ram, FCP 6.02, Aja Kona 3, 8 drive 4TB Sata RAID.
2. How do you ingest AVCHD footage? Is it through log and transfer like P2?
3. What does FCP bring the AVCHD footage in as? Converts it to Pro Res 422 automatically? Or do you have to bring it in a Apple Intermediate Codec or can I/should I bring it in as DVCProHD codec?
4. Will my antique dual 2.3Ghz handle straight editing (NOT capturing obviously because it is from card) with ProRes 422 okay?

There will be no compositing, layering or anything fancy with the AVCHD footage, straight cuts and dissolves, but we do want to have the ability to output a quality HDCAM SR or D5 master for broadcast delivery. The Canon will shoot AVCHD 1920 x 1080, probably mostly shot in their version of 24p and 30p, which I believe is embedded in a 1080 60i stream.

If anyone has experience in dealing with AVCHD with an older G5 and outputting broadcast masters, please post your experience and what you know about the questions listed above.

Thanks,

Dan

Battle Vaughan · January 5th, 2009, 01:43 PM

I believe you have to have an Intel Mac to do avchd. It works on our dual-Xeon Mac Pro's pretty well. You see the clips in log&transfer right way and when you select a clip it transcodes to either ProRes or AIC depending on your set up. After the clip is transcoded it is just like any other ProRes timeline. Nice thing about 6.0.5 is that if it recognizes your sequence setting differ from the clips, it offers to do the setup for you. Depending on your camera you may have 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 avchd....

Our sequence setups are: 1920x1080 cameras: 1920x1080 hdtv 1080(16:9), pixel type square, apple prores422 48 khz 16 bit audio..

For the Vixia cameras with 1440x1080, it's 1440x1080 (16:9) pixel aspect ratio HD1440x1080, again prores422 48 khz 16 bit audio. Hope this helps // Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

Dan Brockett · January 5th, 2009, 04:00 PM

Thanks Battle.

I think I may have a viable work flow by ingesting/transcoding the AVCHD using my MBP, then transferring via a FW drive from the MBP to my G5 RAID. I just ran some tests and it seems that my old G5 will edit ProRes 422 pretty well, it just won't capture/ingest it, which makes sense since ingesting/converting it is requiring a real time codec conversion but editing it is just editing it.

I don't have the Canon yet so I have no AVCHD footage to try it but based upon what I have read, this should do the trick.

Thanks,

Dan

January 5th, 2009, 11:55 AM	#1
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	AVCHD FCP 6.02 G5 workflow? Hi all: I will be purchasing a Canon Vixia HF10 or 11 for an upcoming project. The project requires the smallest possible, least intrusive camera and from what I have heard from friends who own them and from other posters on the Net, the little Canons are pretty cool. Small, light, cheap and decent quality. My question is, how do you deal with AVCHD footage from SDHC cards with FCP? I mostly shoot P2 so I am totally familiar with the P2 workflow. What I am not familiar with are ProRes 422 and ingesting and dealing with AVCHD video. 1. I have a dual 2.3Ghz G5 PPC. 4GB Ram, FCP 6.02, Aja Kona 3, 8 drive 4TB Sata RAID. 2. How do you ingest AVCHD footage? Is it through log and transfer like P2? 3. What does FCP bring the AVCHD footage in as? Converts it to Pro Res 422 automatically? Or do you have to bring it in a Apple Intermediate Codec or can I/should I bring it in as DVCProHD codec? 4. Will my antique dual 2.3Ghz handle straight editing (NOT capturing obviously because it is from card) with ProRes 422 okay? There will be no compositing, layering or anything fancy with the AVCHD footage, straight cuts and dissolves, but we do want to have the ability to output a quality HDCAM SR or D5 master for broadcast delivery. The Canon will shoot AVCHD 1920 x 1080, probably mostly shot in their version of 24p and 30p, which I believe is embedded in a 1080 60i stream. If anyone has experience in dealing with AVCHD with an older G5 and outputting broadcast masters, please post your experience and what you know about the questions listed above. Thanks, Dan

January 5th, 2009, 01:43 PM	#2
Battle Vaughan Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, FL USA Posts: 1,505	I believe you have to have an Intel Mac to do avchd. It works on our dual-Xeon Mac Pro's pretty well. You see the clips in log&transfer right way and when you select a clip it transcodes to either ProRes or AIC depending on your set up. After the clip is transcoded it is just like any other ProRes timeline. Nice thing about 6.0.5 is that if it recognizes your sequence setting differ from the clips, it offers to do the setup for you. Depending on your camera you may have 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 avchd.... Our sequence setups are: 1920x1080 cameras: 1920x1080 hdtv 1080(16:9), pixel type square, apple prores422 48 khz 16 bit audio.. For the Vixia cameras with 1440x1080, it's 1440x1080 (16:9) pixel aspect ratio HD1440x1080, again prores422 48 khz 16 bit audio. Hope this helps // Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

January 5th, 2009, 04:00 PM	#3
Dan Brockett Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,109	Thanks Battle. I think I may have a viable work flow by ingesting/transcoding the AVCHD using my MBP, then transferring via a FW drive from the MBP to my G5 RAID. I just ran some tests and it seems that my old G5 will edit ProRes 422 pretty well, it just won't capture/ingest it, which makes sense since ingesting/converting it is requiring a real time codec conversion but editing it is just editing it. I don't have the Canon yet so I have no AVCHD footage to try it but based upon what I have read, this should do the trick. Thanks, Dan