720 30PN viewing through Handicam (Noah?)

[Jeff B]

I have a Sony Handicam connected to my MacPro via firewire for capturing MiniDV from my HVX. I connected the composite video out of the Handicam to a 32" Toshiba LCD TV for clients to view as I edit. It's not a reference monitor... it's a way for them to be able to watch from the back of the room and not crowd me.

It works great with a SD (480 30p DV) timeline.

Recently, I shot in HD (720 30PN) with a P2 card. Everything looked great on the 720/30P timeline on my two 24" monitors but image the 32" LCD TV was about half the size with a black border around all four sides. When I click on a SD timeline it goes back to a full size image and then back to half size when I click on the HD. Any ideas.

I am ready to purchase the Intensity card by BlackMagic Design to go HDMI between the Mac and 3rd monitor. Before I do, can anyone think of a way to send this HD video through the SD firewire/composite camera at full size?

 

[NoahK]

That's about as good as it gets- incompatible format/aspect ratios on the DV camera. Go with the intensity or one of the higher end AJA or BMD cards if you can.

Noah

 

[Jeff B]

Thanks for the quick reply!

The difference I see between the Blackmagic Intensity and KONA LHE is the Intensity has HDMI out and the KONA has component. If I don't need the I/O, is there a difference in what I will get out of the cards? If I need the I/O... would the Intensity Pro be the same? I am trying to understand what I am getting for 4x the cost of the Blackmagic card.

Funny, I picture you answering me in front of the edit station on your new P2 workflow video. I just watched it twice

Speaking of the video.. I had 2 questions.

1. If I am the cameraman, capture person and editor for my own project and don't think I need Metadata, could I just rename the clips what ever I want in FCP as I log and capture directly from the HVX (p2 cards locked) and then drag a copy of all the new quicktime files from the capture scratch folder into an external drive as a backup before I start to edit. This would give me a safe second copy of the video and my files and clips would have some sort of naming that makes sense to me absent the metadata.

2. Is there a single or double P2 adapter that works with the MacPro like the AJ-PCD20P? I guess a double would come in handy with those clips that span two cards. I am trying to find a way to not have to bring my camera into my edit suite and have to worry about remaining battery time.