Editing HVX200/P2 footage???

T

TravisPetty

Member
So, I have the camera (although I believe I'm going to be holding out for the Cineporter for HD recording) . . . and I have some big question marks in my book.

Editing!?!?!

Ok, so I'd LOVE to be able to just tranfer the contents of the CinePorter (or whatever device) . . . to a Raid array on my editing system, and start editing.

I don't want to do any "capture" through firewire (or component either).

What options are available (or soon available)?

I was about to put out an order on a Boxx Technologies systems built around Adobe (Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop), with the Decklink Blackmagic Decklink HD Pro card . . . but I'm getting a sense that Premiere doesn't do P2/HVX200 footage.

I used to be using Avid Xpress, and I would return to that product, but how do you view your footage in HD as your work??

I'm pretty sold on the Boxx system, with a Decklink Pro HD card, but I'm quite bummed that Premiere isn't (seemingly) supporting the camera.

I have Sony Vegas right now (which will work with the Decklink cards) . . . but will they (being a Sony product) . . . support HVX200/P2???

What do you guys/gals recommend? Who has actually edited HVX200 footage so far? Please describe your workflow/system.

Thanks!~
Travis
 
Premiere doesn't. Avid does. Avid Express Pro HD will let you edit straight from the cards.

Vegas doesn't currently support it either.

I've got FCP and Avid and they both work fine. With Avid you edit right from the MXF files on the card, or copy the files to the avid media files directory and edit from there. With FCP you have to take an extra step to "import" the footage, which copies it to your hard disk and unwraps/rewraps the footage as a quicktime file. However, once done, the FCP system slays anything else. I've got the cheapest G5 computer (the $2,000 dual-core 2.0GHz) and I'm running it off of the internal hard disk (no RAID or anything) and I can get multiple streams of realtime 1080 footage, with realtime transitions between 'em, all running from the internal hard disk. My Avid system isn't even close to that (but Avid's running on the PC laptop, which is a 2.0ghz Pentium M 760). The laptop cost almost as much as the desktop Mac did. If enough people nag Apple to implement native MXF editing they may actually do it.

For the PC perhaps the most integrated, most realtime solution is Canopus Edius Broadcast, which supports native MXF editing. Edius looks like a great program, but it does require some hardware horsepower to get the realtime performance.

If you like Avid XPress, look at version 5.2.1 of Express Pro HD, it supports P2/HVX/HD/MXF all natively and may be the solution you're looking for.
 
Been checking on the specs for Avid Xpress Pro HD . . . think I might go with that . . . but what about viewing the footage in HD as I am editing?

I'll be getting the Nvidia 1400 card in my system, but probably only running a single 24in Dell LCD. I'd be TOTALLY happy to get a second LCD (same one), if it could play out to that second monitor as full-screen HD video. Or in that case, I'd get a HDTV (tube based probably) with a DVI input.

And for getting it out of the computer???
I'd like to have a workflow that does NOT require the camera being attached to the computer (for everyday editing, OR for laying back out of the system). I don't plan on being in the editing bay doing the editing, I'd rather be out shooting!

I understand the WMV-HD potential . . . but when going back out of firewire from a finished project timeline, would I just be recording back to the Cineporter through the camera? I suppose I could rent the 1200 deck and firewire it back to that, but it's not cheap (and I wanna be able to do this stuff day in and day out, turnkey in-house).

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks so much!~
Travis
 
Barry_Green said:
. . . If enough people nag Apple to implement native MXF editing they may actually do it.
Click to expand...

Barry- I think that is an excellent idea, really!

I'm sitting here at a crossroads, waiting for one of the NLE manufacturers to blink. I have been ready to replace this old dual xeon (2 gig) Dell since last fall. It has served me well but it's time for a serious upgrade.

I am probably one of the last people anyone would expect to switch over to Apple, but native MFX editing (with frame rates) would have me placing an order tonight. There may be others like me (in that regard).

Can you direct us to anyone specific at Apple?
 
I know nothing about Apple or the people there, but I did find a menu item in FCP that said something like "feedback" or "comment", so it seems like you could just click there and go.

Hopefully someone here will let us know where we should send our massive letter-writing campaign to!
 
I'm not sure. I know on the Apple it easily handles it. On the PC I haven't found anything that can hold a candle to how easily the Apple handles HDV and DVCPRO-HD. My Avid laptop system delivers a frame or two per second; the Mac runs multiple streams of high-def with a transition inbetween in realtime off the internal drive.

So far I am none too pleased with the limitations I'm encountering in FCP; coming from Vegas to FCP feels like moving from a 5,000 square-foot mansion into a houseboat. But, I don't really know how to use FCP yet, I'm still way very early into it; it's just that things that I just take for granted in Vegas aren't even possible in FCP. Not happy about that.

But as far as DVCPRO-HD or HDV footage, the Mac just flies. Literally. It's like a houseboat that can fly. I can play back full-res HDV streams in realtime on the Mac (and I got the bottom-of-the-line Mac). No transcoding, no Cineform or AIC or any of that stuff, just playing the raw captured .m2t. I don't know how they're doing it, because they're saying that the new Intel-based Macs should be twice as fast. Yet I haven't seen a sub-$6,000 PC that can hold a burnt-out birthday candle in comparison to what this Mac is doing. There has to be some sort of hardware processor thing going on to uncompress these HD streams, because the difference between a $2,000 Mac and my $1600 laptop is so extreme that based on this playback performance alone I'd expect the Mac to cost at least 10x as much as the PC, instead of 25% more.
 
I am using FCP 5 and editing DVCPRO HD from Varicam and the HVX-200 via P2 import. Thus far I have only been doing the capture and import process...but thus far it has gone very smoothly. And the footage from the HVX-200 looks VERY similiar to the Varicam. Helps that the DP spent 10 hours setting up both HVX-200 cameras to match the settings of his Varicam.

I am tracking my progress at www.lfhd.net. I will finally be posting P2 import workflows.

-shane
 
I used to work fairly closely with the Apple FCP folks, I wrote a book on FCP, and I taught FCP to apple engineers. The best place to put requests is 2-pop.com. They really do (or at least did) do changes that people requested over there.
 
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