workflow suggestions

[Joe Main]

Hi guys, newbie here, been trying to read as much as possible here for the last few months. I know some of these workflow discussions have been discussed before, and i did search the threads and read them, but now that some of you have been working on fcs5 and hdv for a few months, i wanted to get some updated opinions.

I am doing 2-camera shoots, hdv from z1's, and wanted to get some suggestions on workflows. I am using a quad G5, 6gigs of ram in case that matters.

The content is destined for:
SD dvd-widescreen
web delivery through download in a choice higher or lower quality
Blu Ray as soon as there is support for it from dvd studio pro and some consumer players

I am really concerned with quality, so i don't mind some longer processes to get to a high quality finish.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

[Hans Damkoehler]

Originally Posted by Joe Main

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Hey Joe,

I just stumbled across your post here and would suggest that you narrow your question a little. Can you make it specific? Is there an aspect of workflow that is troubling you? Has there been something you've seen posted here that is intriguing that you want to have amplified?

There are some great minds out here who are willing to help but I think they may be confused by your post. At least I am. :o)

[Joe Main]

Originally Posted by Hans Damkoehler

Hey Joe,

I just stumbled across your post here and would suggest that you narrow your question a little. Can you make it specific? Is there an aspect of workflow that is troubling you? Has there been something you've seen posted here that is intriguing that you want to have amplified?

There are some great minds out here who are willing to help but I think they may be confused by your post. At least I am. :o)

Sorry to be vague, like i said, i am a newbie.

I am just wondering, if i am going to take my hdv footage, initially edit it for web distribution through downloads, and also for sd dvd, and later ( say in a few months) re-distribute in BluRay, what would be the best way to go about things? Import and edit in native hdv, downconvert through camera, downconvert in finalcut, use the intermediate codec, edit it offline, or somehow convert it to uncompressed hd if my hardware will allow. I am worried about all of the rendering that will take place if i edit in native hdv. I pretty much would like some suggestions on a roadmap from my original HDV footage to final output in these three mediums:
SD DVD
web clips
BluRay

I may be asking for a lot of info, i know there has been some talk in the past with regard to working with hdv, but most of that was discussed right as FCP5 came out, and i wanted to get an update view on it now that people have had a few months to play around with it.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I am still working on the tutorials that i got with some final cut training books i bought, i will soon be working on my footage.

[Hans Damkoehler]

Originally Posted by Joe Main

I am worried about all of the rendering that will take place if i edit in native hdv. I pretty much would like some suggestions on a roadmap from my original HDV footage to final output in these three mediums:
SD DVD
web clips
BluRay

Joe,

First off, there are a lot of other guys out there with better chops than me at this but I'll give it a shot.

Secondly, are you doing some really heavy layering or something? I mean, a quad G5 with 6 gigs of RAM is smokin'! Now, if you think you really need to do uncompressed you would also need a KONA (or the like), a RAID, etc. (By the way, how is your hard drive setup? Two internal 250's?)

Anyway, I'd probably just import native HDV and be unafraid of rendering. Again, not knowing your content, content length, etc., its hard to say anything but generalities. But, as for SD DVD your most basic (and very good!) approach is to just edit like normal in HDV, export your timeline through Compressor and whip it together in DVD Studio Pro. Unless you're going berserk with graphics, plug-ins, filters, corrections and multi-layers you should be pretty good. Better than messing with uncompressed ... that's for sure!

As for web clips you can always use Compressor to get your different qualities and there are a number of other programs out there that specialize in this if compressor doesn't do the trick.

Blue-Ray ... who knows? I'd have to wait and see what that will look like as far as workflow goes.

Anyway, based on what you've said I see no special need to edit in anything but HDV.

I've no idea if this helps at all but at least you've got a response now! :o) Good luck and enjoy that quad!

[Hans Damkoehler]

Joe,

Just re-read your post and wanted to clarify ...

FCP5 works natively now with HDV so there's nothing really to fear there. I've done it for almost a year now with great results ... and not much rendering, even on my lowly dual 2 Ghz G5.

I'd forget about uncompressed unless you've got a nice big RAID and a KONA.

[Joe Main]

Hans, thanks for the input. My worries with native hdv are that i hear every render will lead to a bit of a loss in quality. I guess i just need to play around with it and see how it goes. Thanks again!

If anyone else has any opinions it would be greatly appreciated.