DVCproHD on a *gasp* PC? (and 720x960??)

Ryan_W

Ryan_W

Active member
Hi all. So I'm capturing via MacBook and editing in Final Cut where I have these nice DVCproHD files which I want to bring into After Effects on my PC to work on... but I don't have the codec. I tried downloading the Avid Codecs LE, but it seems to be full of some kind of playlist files, which I don't understand. Anybody offer some help on this matter?

Also, another random question. In final cut, when I capture 720p, it seems to be 720x960, not 720x1280. After Effects on the MacBook seems to think it's 1280, though... what's up with that?

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your help in answering my borderline retarded questions like these. It's been invaluable.
 
Soo.... 720x1280 on the HVX is a lie...? :huh:

The page you linked to rcommends the Sheer video codec. I'm at work and can't try it right now, but is the "demo" functional enough to work with? I'm getting annoyed with how I spent 6k on a camera whose files I can't work with on my own PC. Am I an unusual example here...?
 
Looks like the main point in that article is that you should use the Sheer Codec to encode the video, and get the free decoder for the PC.

He says something about flattening with Cleaner because of branching, but as far as I've ever experienced, there's no problem using Quicktime cross-platform.

But the 960x720 thing...so if I'm understanding you right, the image is NOT captured as square pixels? But is in fact pixels with a 1.3 aspect ratio? Isn't the point of the HVX that it's native 16:9?

Ryan_W said:
I'm getting annoyed with how I spent 6k on a camera whose files I can't work with on my own PC. Am I an unusual example here...?
Click to expand...
Now that you've said that, I realize we should keep in mind that we could spend 100k on a camera (like the F950) and still not be able to work with those files natively. You wanna go HD, you're gonna have to invest in codecs and breakout boxes and other accessories. Just be glad the codecs are cheap and we can transfer through Firewire. Imagine an HD-Link setup.
 
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The HVX uses Pixel Shifting technology. On the 1280x720P note, even the Varicam which has a Native 1280x720 Chip (I think), gets encoded to the DVCProHD Coded which is 960x720 Anamorphic.
 
So, DVCproHD is actually inherently 960x720...?

I think I have a fair understanding of pixel aspect ratios... Those pixels can think they're whatever shape they want to be, but at the end of the day you have 960 pixels of horizontal information. You can't have more because that's the literal size of the image. You can force them square and they'll "appear" to be 1280, but you haven't gained resolution, just stretched it out to make the image look correct. ...am I wrong on that part...? I'm just going by anamporphic 16:9 in DV land.
 
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I am not a Pixel Wiz, but I do know the specs for DVCProHD and they are correct. 1080i is 1280x1080 for DVCProHD. This is one of the reasons people like to capture 1080/24P with the HVX and then downconvert to 720P because of the 1280.
 
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