Please, can anyone help me.I'm planning on buying the xl-h1 within two weeks.What will I have to purchase along with this hdv camera?I will not be getting a deck as I cant afford that. What type of computer hardware and software will I require?Whats the best editing software? If I film in hdv mode, and compress the data lets say a mixture of 60i and 24f onto a normal dvd, will there be a massive drop in quality. Would a documentary of lets say 2 hours fit onto a normal dvd. Would the quality of hdv still be better compressed rather than making a documentary on sd mode.Are there computers available yet that have hd hardware that would allow me to burn hd dvds? Please someone help as I'm planning on buying this camera soon.Thanks
Advice please.I need help.
- Thread starter Celticman
- Start date
starway2001@mac.com
Carbonite Member
1. There is no Final Cut Pro support for 24F or 30F yet. But 60i works fine. Expect Apple to announce support at NAB in April. Best choice of editing software is in the eye of the beholder. I have many colleagues who adore Sony Vegas. And there are many like me who swears by FCP. Some love Avid XPress.
2. Shooting in HD will always yield better results on SD-DVD than shooting SD. Flaws and artifacts virtually disappear when down-rezzing. Yes, you can always mix frame rates in your project but it's usually desireable to stick with one or the other from an aesthetic point of view.
3. You can fit a 2-hour documentary onto a dual-layer DVD (DVD-9). You can also fit it onto a single-layer DVD (DVD-4), but you'd have to compress the heck out of it. But it's doable.
4. The manufacturer's are still at war with each other over the next HD-DVD standards. We're still going to have to wait a little bit longer before we can start burning our own HD-DVD's. And the burners and media will hella-expensive to start.
2. Shooting in HD will always yield better results on SD-DVD than shooting SD. Flaws and artifacts virtually disappear when down-rezzing. Yes, you can always mix frame rates in your project but it's usually desireable to stick with one or the other from an aesthetic point of view.
3. You can fit a 2-hour documentary onto a dual-layer DVD (DVD-9). You can also fit it onto a single-layer DVD (DVD-4), but you'd have to compress the heck out of it. But it's doable.
4. The manufacturer's are still at war with each other over the next HD-DVD standards. We're still going to have to wait a little bit longer before we can start burning our own HD-DVD's. And the burners and media will hella-expensive to start.
Elton
Veteran
Celticman said:
What computer environment are you most familiar and comfortable in? Do you have much NLE experience? Avid-- FCP--Vegas--Premiere--Liquid...etc?
I use Mac Dual 2.7G5/FCP Studio and a Kona LH SDI card, but I am by no means a platform zealot. If you would be brand new to the Mac, there might be a slight adjustment period to the quirks of OS X, but it's a nice system once you get your head around the differences and quirks. FCP works well with a number of intermediate codecs, and HDV native too, but there is no actual 24F (24p extraction and editing) support in FCP at this time. To give credit where it's due, on the PC 24F is supported by the Premiere/Cineform combo, which is quite nice from what I can tell. There's also HDV native editing in Vegas too. Avid, there's HDV but I don't know much about 24F support, if any, that exists. Maybe someone with experience on this platform can chime in.
All that said, If you're in PAL land, I don't think 24F is much of an issue at all. You would most likely be shooting 25F and 50i, so there are no "pulldown" issues for you. You will work with either a film look (25F) or with the more live, smooth video look of 50i. You can combine both in the same timeline if desired. Either way, you will work in a 25fps timeline, and that simplifies things a lot.
On the Mac, I recommend a G5 quad (if you can afford it) and the FCP Studio software, with a minimum of a Blackmagic Decklink HD ($595 U.S) and an extra SATA 500 GB drive internally. If you want actual analog monitoring of the HD signal throughout the edit, I recommend the Kona LHe card, although there may be a good alternative from Blackmagic too.
I also recommend capturing footage through the SDI out of the H1, with audio routed from the analog outs of the camera too. You can control the camera through the LANC port and capture timecode with a LANC to RS422 adapter. Via SDI, capture in DVCproHD or PhotoJPEG format. I say this because HDV is very render intensive, and unless you really want to master and deliver on cheap HDV/miniDV tape, the intermediate HD codecs are a good alternative. You can encode and deliver an SD DVD with spectacular results working in one of these formats. You can also encode an HD DVD with DVDStudioPro for a future deliverable. You'll be ready to transfer your work to higher capacity HD DVD media as it becomes available, but for now you can burn dual layer DVD's in either SD DVD or HD DVD formats.
On the PC side, I would be inclined to go the Premiere Pro/Cineform route with an AJA Xena SDI card. I know this works well and the quality is almost lossless from the HDV originals. You will again need the Adobe/Cineform software and a fast SATA drive too.
Just like on the Mac, this solution does require a beefy PC. Check the Cineform website for computer spec recommendations.
Best editing software? They're all so good, but I will say that I have had a very consistent experience with FCP on G5's so I am a little biased. It just works. On the PC side, I think you have to be more selective and careful about hardware/software combos. That's not to FUD it at all, I just know for the uninitiated the PC route can be a bit more complex. Again, it all depends on what computer environment you think you'd be most comfortable in.
Not at all. They'll both look great.
Possibly with a dual layer DVD. With the Mac combo, you would compress HD in h.264 format. Even at 2 hrs. I think you could get pretty good HD h.264 without a problem.
I think so. HDV usually looks better downsampled to SD than SD original footage.
Honestly, if you have the right hardware in conjunction with your H1 I don't think you should ever originate anything in SD again, unless you have to turn it around in SD extremley quickly.
Yes, on the Mac you can burn a dual layer DVD in h.264 format and conform it to the HD DVD spec. It works a lot like doing a standard DVD.
Hope that helps.
Elton
starway2001@mac.com
Carbonite Member
I think you'll be very happy with both the frame modes and interlace modes. Also, don't forget that Discovery will only accept 1080 originated material and NOT upconverted 720p. So you're in good hands there.