HDV footage at DVinfo.net

Jeff Harper · November 5th, 2008, 06:00 PM

Any day I'm expecting a new cam (Sony FX1000).

During the last couple of years I have, in passing, seen discussion of workflow issues for HD footage. I admit I was quite happy to not have been vexed with these issues, though I alway envied those shooting with the nicer cams.

Having been deliberately oblivious to the seemingly hundreds of posts regarding HD, I now know my time has come. I also know I should have been reading those posts instead of skipping them. Actually I did read many of them, but had no idea what was being discussed most of the time. What with all of the talk of alien types of footage I'd never seen, it was just danged confusing.

Can anyone give me a brief synopsis of what I'm in for with MPEG2 files? What must be done to make the workflow reasonably well?

Is this where Cineform comes in? I don't actually even know Cineform's pupose, but I've seen it mentioned in conjunction with HD footage.

Paul Kellett · November 6th, 2008, 04:09 AM

Jeff, just drag the files onto the timeline as you've been doing with your previous footage, then render as you've been doing previously.
You shouldn't have a problem with HDV unless you've got a really slow pc.
Capture via firewire.

Paul.

Jeff Harper · November 6th, 2008, 05:43 AM

After reviewing threads, it appears playback is pretty miserable with HDV and there's basically nothing we can do about it but pre-render, shrink the preview window, etc.

I could've guessed that I suppose, since when using some relatively minor films effects I get substantial slowdown with a Quad core.

I am not going to be doing any HD filming for paid work in the near future, so I can live with what we have. But I would hope for all of our sake, as has been mentioned in threads before, that new hardware support will be coming. It would really put Vegas over the top, IMO.

Edward Troxel · November 6th, 2008, 07:40 AM

Jeff, you may be surprised. Playback of HDV footage has improved dramatically over the past few years.

Mike Gunter · November 6th, 2008, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Troxel

Playback of HDV footage has improved dramatically over the past few years.

Jeff, Edward is, as always, spot on.

My best,

Mike

Fred Helm · November 6th, 2008, 09:39 AM

Agree with proof... we did entire season of TV in HD on V7 on Duo Core with 2gigs and it was a Cineform festival for us. Even with the intermediary we were previewing at 10-12 frames in preview. We just laid m2t's on our new Q9660's with 8g's and 64bit OS and walla...running smoothly with multiple frame rates and no Cineform. I dont think you will have a problem. Not that Cineform is bad either, just an extra step not needed now.

Jeff Harper · November 6th, 2008, 10:24 AM

Well, that is certainly good news guys! I look forward to trying out some HD footage.

Jon McGuffin · November 6th, 2008, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

After reviewing threads, it appears playback is pretty miserable with HDV and there's basically nothing we can do about it but pre-render, shrink the preview window, etc.

I could've guessed that I suppose, since when using some relatively minor films effects I get substantial slowdown with a Quad core.

I am not going to be doing any HD filming for paid work in the near future, so I can live with what we have. But I would hope for all of our sake, as has been mentioned in threads before, that new hardware support will be coming. It would really put Vegas over the top, IMO.

Jeff,

You've seen posts made by me in the past complaining about playback performance in Vegas with HDV on relatively fast computers. Let me be one of the first to tell you, do NOT let that scare you away from shooting, editing in HD. You are going to LOVE your new camera (I have 2 of the FX1's.). HDV rocks and, frankly, Vegas works just fine with it. Playback performance on your quad when previewing in half resolution (still higher than standard def) you'll find will be plenty adequate. As time goes on though, you'll probably begin to ask for more from Vegas... But honestly, HD is the only way to go and you should definately plan on shooting HDV for *everything* you shoot from this point on.

Jon

Jeff Harper · November 7th, 2008, 04:35 AM

John, thanks for the encouragement!

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the camera!

Steven Reid · November 7th, 2008, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

John, thanks for the encouragement!

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the camera!

Jeff, as you know I recently built a new rig running Vegas 8.1 & 8.0c, and I just started with my Canon XH-A1. Coming from an ancient standard-def Sony Crapcorder and editing on Vegas 6.0 on a budget computer, you can appreciate that I changed everything across the board.

Guess what? Capturing and editing m2T files from my Canon (HDV format) is qualitatively the same as my old SD setup. Plug it in, hit capture, drag to timeline, edit, and render. I remember thinking, "so what's all the fuss about? This is what I've been doing for years with SD!" Quantitatively, it was better because my new rig is so danged fast.

$0.02,
Steve

Jeff Harper · November 7th, 2008, 06:57 AM

Well Steven, since I've been running a Quad-core workstation for many moons (about 16 months) I'm not likely to experience the joy you did, since I'm already accustomed to SD footage on it.

Granted, my processor is still only a Q6600, but hopefully I can learn to overclock it enough to make up for it's age.

Nevertheless, the point having been made that with HD footage running at half resolution it will still look great helps me to understand that things won't be nearly as bad as I had imagined.

I can't imagine what I would do without this place!

Steven Reid · November 7th, 2008, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Well Steven, since I've been running a Quad-core workstation for many moons (about 16 months) I'm not likely to experience the joy you did, since I'm already accustomed to SD footage on it.

Haha. Yes, I suppose you could call it "joy." My wife just called it a lot of money, but that's another story.

Another perk of your purchase, even if you won't produce HD content for awhile: it's been said a number of times here, that an SD project (i.e., on DVD) rendered from HD (e.g., HDV) source looks better than SD-->SD. Well, I just burned my first DVD using this method and, wow, it looks fantastic, even on my aging TV.

Steve

Jeff Harper · November 7th, 2008, 09:07 AM

Well, I had heard some say in the past there couldn't be a difference that it would still just be SD even when HD>SD, but your experience has risen my anticipation even more, if that is possible!

If things turn out as great with this camera as it sounds they will, I will likely fast track my purchase of the second one!

November 5th, 2008, 06:00 PM	#1
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	HDV footage Any day I'm expecting a new cam (Sony FX1000). During the last couple of years I have, in passing, seen discussion of workflow issues for HD footage. I admit I was quite happy to not have been vexed with these issues, though I alway envied those shooting with the nicer cams. Having been deliberately oblivious to the seemingly hundreds of posts regarding HD, I now know my time has come. I also know I should have been reading those posts instead of skipping them. Actually I did read many of them, but had no idea what was being discussed most of the time. What with all of the talk of alien types of footage I'd never seen, it was just danged confusing. Can anyone give me a brief synopsis of what I'm in for with MPEG2 files? What must be done to make the workflow reasonably well? Is this where Cineform comes in? I don't actually even know Cineform's pupose, but I've seen it mentioned in conjunction with HD footage.

November 6th, 2008, 04:09 AM	#2
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Jeff, just drag the files onto the timeline as you've been doing with your previous footage, then render as you've been doing previously. You shouldn't have a problem with HDV unless you've got a really slow pc. Capture via firewire. Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

November 6th, 2008, 07:40 AM	#4
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Jeff, you may be surprised. Playback of HDV footage has improved dramatically over the past few years. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

November 6th, 2008, 09:39 AM	#6
Fred Helm Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: san diego, ca Posts: 150	Agree with proof... we did entire season of TV in HD on V7 on Duo Core with 2gigs and it was a Cineform festival for us. Even with the intermediary we were previewing at 10-12 frames in preview. We just laid m2t's on our new Q9660's with 8g's and 64bit OS and walla...running smoothly with multiple frame rates and no Cineform. I dont think you will have a problem. Not that Cineform is bad either, just an extra step not needed now. __________________ Fred Helm pinnedtv.com Last edited by Fred Helm; November 6th, 2008 at 09:40 AM. Reason: sp

November 6th, 2008, 05:43 AM	#3
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	After reviewing threads, it appears playback is pretty miserable with HDV and there's basically nothing we can do about it but pre-render, shrink the preview window, etc. I could've guessed that I suppose, since when using some relatively minor films effects I get substantial slowdown with a Quad core. I am not going to be doing any HD filming for paid work in the near future, so I can live with what we have. But I would hope for all of our sake, as has been mentioned in threads before, that new hardware support will be coming. It would really put Vegas over the top, IMO.

November 6th, 2008, 10:24 AM	#7
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well, that is certainly good news guys! I look forward to trying out some HD footage.

November 7th, 2008, 04:35 AM	#9
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	John, thanks for the encouragement! Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the camera!

November 7th, 2008, 06:57 AM	#11
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well Steven, since I've been running a Quad-core workstation for many moons (about 16 months) I'm not likely to experience the joy you did, since I'm already accustomed to SD footage on it. Granted, my processor is still only a Q6600, but hopefully I can learn to overclock it enough to make up for it's age. Nevertheless, the point having been made that with HD footage running at half resolution it will still look great helps me to understand that things won't be nearly as bad as I had imagined. I can't imagine what I would do without this place!

November 7th, 2008, 09:07 AM	#13
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well, I had heard some say in the past there couldn't be a difference that it would still just be SD even when HD>SD, but your experience has risen my anticipation even more, if that is possible! If things turn out as great with this camera as it sounds they will, I will likely fast track my purchase of the second one!