Can I edit HDV?

Z

-zach-

Veteran
First off, I'm sorry because I didn't really know which was the correct forum to post this in, and secondly, sorry there's so many questions.

I HOPE I'll be shooting a short soon in HDV. I'm using a Powerbook G4, I'll only have access to Final Cut Express (which I have the discs to), not Final Cut Pro (which I DON'T have the discs to, and my HDD was erased). It occurred to me that whenever I try to play HD footage in .wmv or QT it is choppy, jumpy, and freezes up my computer. I've had the experience before where I can't play video on my computer because it was too full - not enough space (I had 5 GB left), but here, on a 100GB disc, I have 90.70GB free, which is barely anything, because of the 6 or 7 GB taken up by formatting.

Will I be able to edit this footage? It seems like I don't have the capabilities for HD playback, even though I ramped up this Mac. Here are the specifications:

Powerbook G4
Mac OS X
Version 10.4.9
Processor 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4
Memory 2GB DD SDRAM (which confuses me, because this was the best at the time of purchase)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

Ask if you need any more information.
 
First of all HDV requires a ton of CPU power in any NLE. All NLE's lose RT playback with HDV with very little effort (adding a filter or two, more than one video track). I've personally interviewed product managers from all the major NLE's for an article a few months ago. They all pseudo-secretly admited that editing native HDV is just a royal PITA for any NLE.

Capture and edit using the Apple HDV Intermediate Codec. You won't lose any image quality at all, and you free up the CPU from having to work so hard. You'll be MUCH happier. Only drawback is larger file sizes for your captures. But drives are so cheap now, and it's not any sort of majorly huge file size. You should be able to do a 2 hour producting with AIC on a 250GB FW drive.
 
Thanks for replying!

External Harddrive is not a problem. I have a 250GB LaCie FW800

BenB said:
Capture and edit using the Apple HDV Intermediate Codec.
Click to expand...

Right. This is included in the materials that I have? I could eventually purchase it, but I can't spend any money this short term, and if it doesn't work out I can always shoot regular DV.
 
Why does my computer DO that?!

I tried to watch 1080p 24p HV20 footy, and it goes all - jerky, stop, jerk, stop, rewind two frames, stop, play, stop.

There's gotta be something wrong.... right?

Also, because of the Harddrive issue, I now only have regular Quicktime, instead of Pro.
 
Just based on the spec, I would guess that your computer doesn't have the horsepower to watch 1080p. This is one area where graphic card really plays a role; the Radeon 9700 is just too old now to handle it.
 
Jade is right, because HDV is Long GOP format, it can't just play one frame, it has to analyse 12-15 frames at a time. This is why every major NLE has an intermediate codec available. The IC's transform the Long GOP format to an all I-Frame based format, without any image quality loss.

You say, because of hard drive issue, you now only have regular QT and not Pro? FCP, FCE, DVDSP, none of those apps will work without QT Pro.
 
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