EX1 to KONA LH to FCP

[thefilmaddict]

I shot a bunch of test footage today. I will create a link and put some clips up for viewing after I edit something together.

First, I have a quick question...

I have a Mac Book Pro with the latest version of Final Cut Pro. I know that I can use a USB cable, the EX1, the Sony Conversion Software and FCP to bring in my EX1 clips, but I would rather edit on my old G5 with an older verrsion of FCP. I want to do this because I have a big monitor hooked up to the system (I'd rather only use the laptop as an editor when I am on the road).

How do I get my EX1 footage into my older version of Final Cut Pro?

I have a Kona LH card with SDI in, so I attached the camera to that and created a DVCPRO HD 1080i 29.97 Project (it's a Kona LH Easy Setup). I captured the footage live and everything looks good.

Is this the best way to capture using my old G5?

Would working with native Ex1 files on the latest version of Final Cut Pro look better or about the same?

Thanks!

[thefilmaddict]

Also, if someone can answer the above question, I have a second question...

I shot in 1080 24p, but digitized 1080i. How do I make it 1080 24p?

[thefilmaddict]

I installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my laptop. I guess that I could install it again on my G5, right (I am not sure how many computers I can put it on)?

I think that I would just need to upgrade my Operating System. I am using 10.3.9 now. I would need to upgrade to tiger or leopard. This would allow me to edit with XDCAM files directly using the Sony software. Should I go this route? Does leopard have any major issues?

[Elton]

I think if you're not in a huge hurry with your material, it's best to either edit native XDCAM or transcode to ProRes via Media Manager.

If your edits are extremely fx-intensive, go ProRes all the way.

If you want to edit native 24p XDCAM HQ stuff, it's best to avoid capturing via HD-SDI because the output always contains pulldown which is a pain to extract from a signifigant amount of footage.

I would argue against converting to DVCPRO HD 1080, especially if you shoot native XDCAM HQ 24p because you will lose 33% luma (detail) resolution going from 1920 x 1080 to 1280 x 1080.

ProRes is a better intermediate codec to work with and can really simplify things overall. I have no problems with an older g5 dual 2.7 and a Kona LH card. I would also think it could work fairly well with the MacBook Pro.

[thefilmaddict]

Thanks Elton.

I bought Leopard today and installed the XDCAM transfer software and the latest version of Final Cut Pro.

I like the idea of importing native files and not having to worry about pulldown.

The camera and FCP work well together.

[ffaf07]

If you want to edit native 24p XDCAM HQ stuff, it's best to avoid capturing via HD-SDI because the output always contains pulldown which is a pain to extract from a signifigant amount of footage.

You bring up a good point, however capturing native a true 4:2:2 codec from the camera would be an interesting test. I think it would be worth the time to show everyone footage from the camera captured with such colorspace.