a couple of hvx questions (with fcp and eventually aja io)

[David_K]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to all of this and planing to shoot a series of musical instructional DVDs.
I'm thinking about buying a camera and my research has led me to the HVX.
Editing will be done on my macbook pro in final cut pro.
I didn't decide yet if the shoot is going to be with one or two cameras, but in any case I need 4 channels of high quality audio with means if I work with one camera I have to find another solution for that. I have a couple of questions:

1. Shoot in PAL of NTSC
the DVDs will be sold all over the world, I already have 2 in PAL, but it's not possible to find a US distributor in PAL. Since NTSC plays basically everywhere and I relocated to the US, it seemed the better option. Now I had to go back to Europe though and the question comes up again. Are there issues shooting NTSC in Europe or PAL in the US?
How are the conversion options, how complicated is the process, is it better to go PAL->NTSC or NTSC ->PAL?

2. SD or HD
I originally didn't want to shoot in HD because editing and shooting gets more complicated, but I read that from HD it is possible to go to both NTSC and PAL in good Quality. wth HD I'd have to deal with P2 cards and might have to invest in extra hardware for the editing. In the end everything goes to DVD anyway.

3. Regarding the HVX slowmo features
I use a lot of slowmotion sequences. When doing offspeed recording, does the HVX still record sound? I don't mind to have the frequency go down wth the speed, but I need sound.

4. audio
Since 2 channels of the hvx audio are connected to the internal mics, they are not useable for me. If I invest in a Aja io or Aja io hd, will it be possible to capture the video from the HVX directly into fcp together with 4 channels of audio? Are there other options to capture audio into fcp while capturing video from the camera? Will maybe a simple audio interface do the job?

5. recording format
PAL, NTSC, 30p, sd or hd, 720 or 1080
What is the option that keeps editing on my macbook pro realistic, maybe gives me the option to convert to NTSC and PAL without losing too much quality and generally looks good? It would be way less complicated to simply record to mini dv and not deal with p2 cards, but of course then I lose all the hd options.

thanks in advance for your time and help.

[Barry_Green]

How are the conversion options, how complicated is the process, is it better to go PAL->NTSC or NTSC ->PAL?
The easiest way to do it is to shoot NTSC and then just forget about it. Most (if not all) PAL DVD players can play NTSC DVDs. a 24P DVD should play anywhere in the world.


2. SD or HD
I originally didn't want to shoot in HD because editing and shooting gets more complicated, but I read that from HD it is possible to go to both NTSC and PAL in good Quality. wth HD I'd have to deal with P2 cards and might have to invest in extra hardware for the editing. In the end everything goes to DVD anyway.
HD has advantages (such as reframing, simulating two camera angles from one shot, etc).


3. Regarding the HVX slowmo features
I use a lot of slowmotion sequences. When doing offspeed recording, does the HVX still record sound? I don't mind to have the frequency go down wth the speed, but I need sound.
No, and yes. I fyou use 24pN mode and shoot slow-mo, no sound gets recorded. If you need sound, shoot in 720/60p mode, and conform your footage to 24p in post by changing the frame rate.



5. recording format
PAL, NTSC, 30p, sd or hd, 720 or 1080
What is the option that keeps editing on my macbook pro realistic, maybe gives me the option to convert to NTSC and PAL without losing too much quality and generally looks good?
Any of 'em. But don't shoot 30p if you intend to convert to PAL.

[puredrifting]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to all of this and planing to shoot a series of musical instructional DVDs.
I'm thinking about buying a camera and my research has led me to the HVX.
Editing will be done on my macbook pro in final cut pro.
I didn't decide yet if the shoot is going to be with one or two cameras, but in any case I need 4 channels of high quality audio with means if I work with one camera I have to find another solution for that. I have a couple of questions:

1. Shoot in PAL of NTSC
the DVDs will be sold all over the world, I already have 2 in PAL, but it's not possible to find a US distributor in PAL. Since NTSC plays basically everywhere and I relocated to the US, it seemed the better option. Now I had to go back to Europe though and the question comes up again. Are there issues shooting NTSC in Europe or PAL in the US?
How are the conversion options, how complicated is the process, is it better to go PAL->NTSC or NTSC ->PAL?

2. SD or HD
I originally didn't want to shoot in HD because editing and shooting gets more complicated, but I read that from HD it is possible to go to both NTSC and PAL in good Quality. wth HD I'd have to deal with P2 cards and might have to invest in extra hardware for the editing. In the end everything goes to DVD anyway.

3. Regarding the HVX slowmo features
I use a lot of slowmotion sequences. When doing offspeed recording, does the HVX still record sound? I don't mind to have the frequency go down wth the speed, but I need sound.

4. audio
Since 2 channels of the hvx audio are connected to the internal mics, they are not useable for me. If I invest in a Aja io or Aja io hd, will it be possible to capture the video from the HVX directly into fcp together with 4 channels of audio? Are there other options to capture audio into fcp while capturing video from the camera? Will maybe a simple audio interface do the job?

5. recording format
PAL, NTSC, 30p, sd or hd, 720 or 1080
What is the option that keeps editing on my macbook pro realistic, maybe gives me the option to convert to NTSC and PAL without losing too much quality and generally looks good? It would be way less complicated to simply record to mini dv and not deal with p2 cards, but of course then I lose all the hd options.

thanks in advance for your time and help.

1. Possible issues include flicker from discharge light sources either way and flicker from any video/CRT sources. Other than that, I run into Euro crews here all of the time shooting PAL and I have shot NTSC all over the U.K. with no problems, other than an occasional flicker from a discharge lamp. I am in the DVD business and since most PAL territory DVD players can play NTSC but hardly any NTSC players can play PAL, I would agree with authoring your product in NTSC unless your end product is totally appealing more to Europeans and Americans would not be interested in it.

2. I would highly advise you to shoot and edit in HD. SD is dead/dying and if your product has any archival value at all, HD will be a wise choice. Editing HD is not any more difficult than SD, it just takes a different card/box/monitoring system and sometimes more throughput on your drives, although DVCProHD is a super EASY to edit with, I do it on my MBPros internal drive all of the time.

3. The HVX captures no audio during slow motion shooting.

4. Not sure on this one but when capturing video from the HVX into FCP, you would be using the HVX's FireWire output into FCP. SO I can't see where any other audio inputs would come into the chain. My advice would be to capture your audio to a separate computer with it's own interface and marry them in editing later. With the HVX into FCP, you are limited to it's two XLR inputs and the HVX's other two channels which are essentially useless other than for ambient near the camera.

5. If you are capturing to FCP, use 1080 formats, they look better than 720 and since you are not recording to a P2 card or firestore, the extra size will not matter much to you. Always record to the best format you can. As far as converting to NTSC/PAL, two different issues. If you are shooting and capturing with an NTSC HD camera, downconversion to NTSC from HD is real time with the Kona cards, I do it all of the time and it look superb. To get your HD to PAL will require either lots of rendering using a plug-in, which may give you undesirable motion artifacts or you will need to take your source HD video to a post house and have it converted on a high-end Teranex or Snell & Wilcox box in real time. Much $$$ but it will look good.

Good luck,

Dan

[David_K]

thanks for your quick and helpful responses.
So NTSC 24p seems to be the way to go.
Can you tell me exactly with what kind of light sources the flicker might appear when shooting ntsc in Europe and if there is a way around it?
Regarding the audio recording, the DVDs include a lot of short scenes and slowmotion shots in between. Recording the audio extra and then manually syncing it afterwards means a lot of extra work since I´ll probably have around 70 hours of short scenes that I have to edit.
I was wondering about capturing through an Aja io hd, connecting the hvx and 4 audio channels to it.

Simulating 2 camera angles from one shot, does that mean to use different parts of the original bigger hd image?
What exactly do I need to edit hd in final cut on a mbp? Will I need additional hardware?

thanks,

David