Mixing HD and BetaCam SP

GusG

Member
I am working on a project that is mixing media and need some advice how to arrange, sequence, compress, and output so they are all the best quality. I am shooting HD on the Sony EX1, capturing stock footage off BetaCam SP, and including archival stills. I obviously want to take advantage of the HD footage so how do i include the BetaCam SP do i just drop it into the sequence in Final Cut 6 with the EX1 or is it common practice to have different aspects in one video since I don't know if i want to stretch the BetaCam SP footage or keep it in 4:3. Anyone else worked with mixed media and have some suggestions?
 
Really depends on what the director wants. It will preserve more but not a lot of quality by having it stay 4:3 but of course it will be a jarring different in image. So it really comes down to what they want. FCP can handle it either way.

Noah
 
To put SD stuff in an HD timeline you can get creative w/backgrounds or gfx to fill in the gaps surrounding the SD image. Or you can just leave it black. I've seen movies and docs where SD or Super8 images were just placed in the center of the frame surrounded by black. As Noah said, it's really up to the director/producer/client. I'd try out a few different things, show it to who you need to show it to and let them decide what they like best.


-A
 
FCP can uprez footage OK, but it isn't the best. Here are some options in order of cost...expensive to cheapest:

Dub to HD using a Terranex. HDCAM would be best...but then you need a capture card to capture this footage.

Capture using a Kona 3...this is a hardware upconversion, as the card is, in essence, a mini Terranex. Since the Kona doesn't input analog, you will need the HD10AVA converter box, or to rent a digibeta deck, or J-3 player that has SDI out.

INSTANT HD...www.redgiantsoftware.com. This upconverts pretty well.

COMPRESSOR. As long as you switch all of the FRAME settings to BEST, this will take a while, but does a good job.

Now, whether or not you want the footage to fill the screen (cropping the top and bottom) or to have black bars on the sides (pillarbox) is up to you.
 
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