HDCam format from HDV footage? at DVinfo.net

Arthur Woodle · May 1st, 2008, 11:26 AM

I have a small 30 sec spot I am doing for broadcast in a theme park in-house video network. I am assembling the spot from footage I shot with my HVR-Z1U. The park gave me the guidelines for submitting the finished clip. They want it submitted in HDCam format. I don’t have the hardware to do this myself, so I will have to hand of the file on disc and have someone print to tape. My question is what should my workflow be in FCP. What format should I edit in, and what should I output the finished piece in? Also I want to do a lot of treatments in After Effects. What format import and output back to FCP? Any help making this transition happen would be very helpful.

Jeremy Doyle · May 2nd, 2008, 07:37 AM

Capture it as native HDV edit away then in your timeline settings change your render settings to render Pro Res. When you're done make a self contained Pro Res quicktime file burn it as a data disc, hand it off to a facility to dump it to HDcam for you.

Having someone dump it to HDcam for you will probably cost 200 bucks.

Arthur Woodle · May 2nd, 2008, 08:06 AM

I did find out that the facility using my tape will accept the project in DVcam format, I imagine the ProRes to HDcam will look much better? Also what format do I export out of After Effects to keep as much resolution as possible?

Jeremy Doyle · May 2nd, 2008, 10:40 AM

You'll want to stay in Pro Res HD because DVcam is SD so essentially you would be downconverting your footage loosing quality and they would then be upconverting.

Best to render out of AE as Pro Res HQ 1920x1080

Arthur Woodle · May 2nd, 2008, 12:49 PM

Is working in Pro Res HD going to be a problem for my G5 Dual core? I also don't have a SATA Raid, I have plenty of internal storage and a external FW 800. I also have alot of RAM. Plus the spot is only 30sec long. I can't wait to upgrade to a Intel box.

Luke Tingle · May 3rd, 2008, 07:14 AM

Your G5 / External FW drive should work fine with Pro Rez, G5's cannot capture/encode realtime Pro Rez HD. Thats were the horsepower is really needed.
I work at a transfer house here in Atlanta and we do FCP Edit to Tape to HDCam or just about any other tape format. Not sure about the rates (I'm just the FCP op) but I hear we are the cheapest in town. PM me if you'd like to know more.

Arthur Woodle · May 3rd, 2008, 03:28 PM

yes that would be great, shoot me you contact info at pylon@comcast.net Thanks again.

Gary Nattrass · May 5th, 2008, 09:26 AM

I recently bought an HDV deck and know that I will have to master to HD and digibeta so I chose the sony HVR-35E as it also has an HD/SD-SDI (serial digital interface) output so I can use it with the above formats.

I agree though that going pro res in FCP is also the best option if you dont have a deck.

Arthur Woodle · May 6th, 2008, 05:54 PM

Help...I just tried to export out of After Effects 7 and I don't have the ProRes option...I just upgraded my FCP to Studio 2 and did not have enough coin left over to upgrade After Effects to CS3. I don't have any experience running Motion so I don't want to try and learn as the production cycle for this project is short. Is there another codec I could come out of After Effects 7 (even if its overkill) to preserve as much resolution as ProRes...by the way what's the difference between ProRes and ProRes HQ? Thanks for any help.

Arthur Woodle · May 7th, 2008, 08:54 PM

Hopefully someone will know what I need to do here. ...(First see my previous post)... What has changed now is, I went ahead and upgraded my After Effects to CS3. So now I am in a comfortable environment to do so compositing work for this 30-sec spot. The work flow ( I thought) was going to be go ProRes on individual clips out of FCP....import into After Effects do my stuff and export back out as ProRes into FCP to do the final edit....but now I am reading that After Effects CS3 does not do ProRes with any consistency or at all. My time is slipping away and I am still dealing with pre production software issues. Help! I could just say to hell with and down convert everything to DV but I have all this sweet high energy HDV footage, and I want to deliver looking better then DV. What should I encode coming out of FCP, that AFX could read and then what should I use coming out of AFX....Animation codec? I should get my AFX upgrade today, I need to start production...I am going to deliver the finished project to a local outfit to encode to HDCam.

May 1st, 2008, 11:26 AM	#1
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	HDCam format from HDV footage? I have a small 30 sec spot I am doing for broadcast in a theme park in-house video network. I am assembling the spot from footage I shot with my HVR-Z1U. The park gave me the guidelines for submitting the finished clip. They want it submitted in HDCam format. I don’t have the hardware to do this myself, so I will have to hand of the file on disc and have someone print to tape. My question is what should my workflow be in FCP. What format should I edit in, and what should I output the finished piece in? Also I want to do a lot of treatments in After Effects. What format import and output back to FCP? Any help making this transition happen would be very helpful.

May 5th, 2008, 09:26 AM	#8
Gary Nattrass Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cornsay Durham UK Posts: 1,992	I recently bought an HDV deck and know that I will have to master to HD and digibeta so I chose the sony HVR-35E as it also has an HD/SD-SDI (serial digital interface) output so I can use it with the above formats. I agree though that going pro res in FCP is also the best option if you dont have a deck. __________________ Over 15 minutes in Broadcast Film and TV production: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044352/

May 6th, 2008, 05:54 PM	#9
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	Help...I just tried to export out of After Effects 7 and I don't have the ProRes option...I just upgraded my FCP to Studio 2 and did not have enough coin left over to upgrade After Effects to CS3. I don't have any experience running Motion so I don't want to try and learn as the production cycle for this project is short. Is there another codec I could come out of After Effects 7 (even if its overkill) to preserve as much resolution as ProRes...by the way what's the difference between ProRes and ProRes HQ? Thanks for any help. Last edited by Arthur Woodle; May 6th, 2008 at 05:54 PM. Reason: left out word

May 2nd, 2008, 07:37 AM	#2
Jeremy Doyle Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Brainerd, MN Posts: 287	Capture it as native HDV edit away then in your timeline settings change your render settings to render Pro Res. When you're done make a self contained Pro Res quicktime file burn it as a data disc, hand it off to a facility to dump it to HDcam for you. Having someone dump it to HDcam for you will probably cost 200 bucks.

May 2nd, 2008, 08:06 AM	#3
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	I did find out that the facility using my tape will accept the project in DVcam format, I imagine the ProRes to HDcam will look much better? Also what format do I export out of After Effects to keep as much resolution as possible?

May 2nd, 2008, 10:40 AM	#4
Jeremy Doyle Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Brainerd, MN Posts: 287	You'll want to stay in Pro Res HD because DVcam is SD so essentially you would be downconverting your footage loosing quality and they would then be upconverting. Best to render out of AE as Pro Res HQ 1920x1080

May 2nd, 2008, 12:49 PM	#5
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	Is working in Pro Res HD going to be a problem for my G5 Dual core? I also don't have a SATA Raid, I have plenty of internal storage and a external FW 800. I also have alot of RAM. Plus the spot is only 30sec long. I can't wait to upgrade to a Intel box.

May 3rd, 2008, 07:14 AM	#6
Luke Tingle Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 88	Your G5 / External FW drive should work fine with Pro Rez, G5's cannot capture/encode realtime Pro Rez HD. Thats were the horsepower is really needed. I work at a transfer house here in Atlanta and we do FCP Edit to Tape to HDCam or just about any other tape format. Not sure about the rates (I'm just the FCP op) but I hear we are the cheapest in town. PM me if you'd like to know more.

May 3rd, 2008, 03:28 PM	#7
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	yes that would be great, shoot me you contact info at pylon@comcast.net Thanks again.

May 7th, 2008, 08:54 PM	#10
Arthur Woodle Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Marietta, GA Posts: 32	Hopefully someone will know what I need to do here. ...(First see my previous post)... What has changed now is, I went ahead and upgraded my After Effects to CS3. So now I am in a comfortable environment to do so compositing work for this 30-sec spot. The work flow ( I thought) was going to be go ProRes on individual clips out of FCP....import into After Effects do my stuff and export back out as ProRes into FCP to do the final edit....but now I am reading that After Effects CS3 does not do ProRes with any consistency or at all. My time is slipping away and I am still dealing with pre production software issues. Help! I could just say to hell with and down convert everything to DV but I have all this sweet high energy HDV footage, and I want to deliver looking better then DV. What should I encode coming out of FCP, that AFX could read and then what should I use coming out of AFX....Animation codec? I should get my AFX upgrade today, I need to start production...I am going to deliver the finished project to a local outfit to encode to HDCam.