HVX200 P2 transfer to AJ-HD1200A Deck

thefilmaddict

thefilmaddict

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My work place just purchased the Panasonic AJ-HD1200A DVCPRO HD Deck. The deck has the 1394 FireWire interface installed.

This is good news for me as I will be able to borrow it from time to time to make DVCPRO HD dubs of my P2 footage.

I am writing this post to find out how I can use the deck with the HVX200. Here are some questions:

1. I currently shoot in the 720 24pn mode. Is this mode compatiable with the the AJ-HD1200A deck or should I start shooting in a different mode?

2. Can I just hook up a fire wire cable to the deck and the camera and make a direct dub (meaning P2 HD to a DVCPRO HD tape via the 1394 firewire interface)? Is it as simple as pressing play on the HVX200 and record on the deck?

3. Anything else I should know about using this camera with this deck (will I need additional equipment)?

4. I edit at home using Final Cut Pro HD. Will Final Cut Pro spit out DVCPRO HD 720 24p footage to the deck via fire wire? Is it as simple as pressing play on my Final Cut Pro timeline and record on the deck?

THANKS!!!
 
1) no, because no data comes out the firewire port in 24pN mode. If you want to send it to the deck you'd need to use 24P mode.

2) yes.

3) No, it's pretty straightforward.

4) Yes. And this is also a way you can use 24pN footage with the deck -- FCP will convert it to "24 over 60" which is something the deck can record.
 
Why do all the conversions? You can capture direct from the HVX200 to Premiere Pro in HD AVI files if you have a laptop on scene with a firewire port and/or PCMCIA card slot. I just bring my laptop along, hook it up, and capture direct to the laptop harddrive. No need for P2 cards, or tapedecks

::: Connor
 
Thanks for the info, Barry. You rule as always!!!

Just to clarify: So if I want to continue shooting in 24pn mode, I will have to first import the P2 footage into Final Cut Pro, then output to the deck via firewire

OR

I can go directly out of the camera if I shoot in 24p mode (not 24pn)

Do I have to do anything special (sequence/project settings) in Final Cut Pro to get my sequence to output at 24 over 60 or is this an automatic thing?

THANKS!!!!
 
You can do both.

And for FCP, just tell it to "print to video" and it'll take care of it. Firewire DVCPRO-HD transfer is always done at 100 megabit, so it knows to conform the footage and output it the way you want.
 
but most people won't have their footage on the p2 cards, it will be on a hard drive somewhere... after all it only hold 40mins of 720p HD and i've been told that the camera can't read the files off of the hard drive, it has to be either off the cards or firestores... thus you can't output to the AJ-HD1200A deck. Is this true?!
 
On a PC platform, can I go Vegas (w/Raylight) avi file -> deck ? Im also thinking of using a DeckLink with the AJ HD1200A with SDI board , and I assume this would be a higher quality signal , or the same as firewire? Any other issues with using Vegas ?

Thanks so much. . .
 
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