Answer needed quickly! Last minute purchase....

Transmission2

Transmission2

Active member
After much research and debate I bought the JVC HD-100 for an upcoming documentary. After three cameras and numerous techincal problems I need to send the camera back and possibly buy the A1. Im editing on a Intel Mac Pro Tower (FCP 5.1.2) and i was just wondering if the camera has full native support. Can I easily digitize footage? Are there solid workflows for this camera in Final Cut? Has anyone come across issues that make editing or digitizing a pain?

I need an answer ASAP because Im leaving friday and need to make this purchase. Your help is much appreciated.

thanks!! :)
 
you can only playback 24f and 30f in canon hdv cameras, so you have no other deck options, but the workflow is seamless as canon is advertising that fact. i use canon h1 and fcp 5.1.2 and its great.
 
mangler is right on but there's an alternative to the madness. If you're recording to disk then the disk to mac/FCP is excellent, seamless and VERY fast. That nips the whole "Canon deck/camera only" playback thing in the butt.

I remember reading your posts about the bad luck run with the dead pixels from the JVC. Are you serously considering the A1 now?

Also, where are you going? Leaving Friday for a shoot or something with the A1?
 
the h1/firestore/fcp combo probably makes my life a million times better. i sleep at night just for those 3 things alone.
 
Transmission2 said:
...and i was just wondering if the camera has full native support. Can I easily digitize footage? Are there solid workflows for this camera in Final Cut? Has anyone come across issues that make editing or digitizing a pain?

I need an answer ASAP because Im leaving friday and need to make this purchase. Your help is much appreciated.

thanks!! :)
Click to expand...


You will love FCP 5.1.2's support for Canon HDV 24F. It's the "HDV 1080p24" Easy Setup in the FCP menu.

It's very easy and works a lot like DV 24pA. Just capture your footage from tape in pure 24p and edit in an HDV-native 24p timeline. With your computer performance won't be an issue and you can also export your 24F timeline back to tape if you want to.

Lots of alternative codec options in FCP if you want to avoid final renders in HDV, btw.
 
manglerBMX said:
you can only playback 24f and 30f in canon hdv cameras, so you have no other deck options, but the workflow is seamless as canon is advertising that fact. i use canon h1 and fcp 5.1.2 and its great.
Click to expand...

The $1K Canon HV10 can playback all frame mode recordings and serve as a feeder deck if you want to avoid using the A1 for this purpose.
 
coffee said:
mangler is right on but there's an alternative to the madness. If you're recording to disk then the disk to mac/FCP is excellent, seamless and VERY fast. That nips the whole "Canon deck/camera only" playback thing in the butt.
Click to expand...

Got my new 13" macbook setup today, did a quick test and works nicely. Its not a macbook Pro I know, but I never intend to do any rendering from it unless its a network render when I am working on the desktop.

The only small issue I have is its a few scond delay down the FW. So will still be looking for that realtime app, but now I have some time to make the best choice. Canon would be my preference, but running windows via bootcamp, setup and working btw, isnt the option that I really want to continue with. Thus Ill let the trials expire and wait for a native mac app.
 
Canon Console software had nearly the same delay on a P4 2.8 Ghz laptop that I tested it with. I'm not sure if a much faster Intel laptop would make that big of a difference as there seems to be some processing overhead when monitoring HDV via firewire, which causes that noticeable latency.

I've heard DVRack gets around this, but I've yet to try it.

The most important thing for me was that I could simultaneously record, with functional timecode, to tape and FCP.

It's certainly not an elegant solution, but it does get you "DTE". :)
 
ohh just ordered my A1 with a firestore fs-4proHD 40gb, hoya uv filter and a petrol bag! and i bought 2gb dual channel ram and 22" wide monitor for my computer so im prepared for the hdv editing..
 
t-unit said:
ohh just ordered my A1 with a firestore fs-4proHD 40gb, hoya uv filter and a petrol bag! and i bought 2gb dual channel ram and 22" wide monitor for my computer so im prepared for the hdv editing..
Click to expand...


You might want to send that fs-4proHD back and order the FS-C. It's going to support 1080i/24F - 30F in QT format but the FS-4PRO HD will not.
 
Hey Coffee...

The short answer is yes. I am considering the Canon A1 and the Sony V1 or Z1. I love the HVX but I can't handle the workflow. It's no good for documentary, IMHO.

Switching from the JVC so late in the game is totally crazy but this situation was unavoidable. The christmas holidays didn't help either. And so it goes, I am unfortuntely buying a camera today and leaving tomorrow for Portland to shoot this documentary.

Crazy stuff....I hope I get a camera I like.

Are many people using the A1 for documentary style productions?

I tested the Sony Z1 yesterday and it was way to "video-like". Nice and sharp but I didn't like the image.
 
I whole heartedly beleive that the A1 will be great for any documentary.

Go HERE and take a quick look at some of the custom presets that some users have developed. If you like any of the looks for what you're doing that go HERE to get the specifics.
 
Thanks coffee. Those links were great.

Im leaving right now to check out the camera and do some tests. Wish me luck!!
 
Hmm, that's a good question. The only shock mount that I have is meant for a boom pole so I'm not sure. I think I saw one one a DVX before.
 
coffee; i only edit 1080 25f m2t files and the fs-4proHD supports that format ithink? so i dont need the qt? or am i wrong?
 
Yes it supports 1080i 24f in m2t but not in QT format. From what I see it would be a huge benefit to have it record in QT format so that we wouldn't have to convert the m2t file into something that FCP would recognize like a .mov file.
 
ok, im editing on a pc running vegas so it wont be a problem, but thanx for the warning coffee! by the way how have you attached your fs to the cam?
 
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