Exporting to MiniDV

Chris Messineo

Chris Messineo

Veteran
I have finished my film and my composer has requested a copy on MiniDV tape.

I don't have a tape deck only my Panasonic DVX 100A.

Is there a proper way to export my finished film in FCP to a DV Tape in my DVX?

Thanks,

Chris

p.s. Do I have to worry about compression, he said he wants the file as clean as possible, does that make sense?
 
Re: Exporting to MiniDV

Okay, first of all, you need something other than the DVX for a deck. A $300 camera will save you way more than $300 in the long run if you do much capture or printing to tape.

Then, to answer your question:

1. Firewire up the DVX to the computer.
2. Select the Sequence that is your final project.
3. Select File: Print to Video.
4. Select Color Bars, Black options, Slate options, etc., and click OK
5. Wait for the video to be prepared for playback.
6. Click OK and simultaneously start the DVX recording (it should be in VCR mode for this operation).
7. When you come to the end, stop.

Finally, don't worry about compression. Digital Video makes straight lossless copies when capturing or re-recording. Compression is not an issue.

Good luck, and congratulations on finishing your project.

Ryan
 
Re: Exporting to MiniDV

Ryan,

Thanks for the great response. Very easy to follow.

However, I have one more question.

I shot in 24PA and edited at 23.97. In one of the other forums, someone made it sound like when I exported back to tape that would get messed up somehow? Is that correct? Do I need to do some other trick to keep it in 24FPS?

Chris
 
Re: Exporting to MiniDV

Ooh, now you're beyond me. I've yet to update FCP from 3 to HD, so I haven't been able to use any 24P or 24Pa footage yet. However, from what I've gathered, what you have heard is correct. If you're intending a project to go back to miniDV, you should shoot 24P, not 24Pa, because it does 60i translation better.

Hopefully someone else knows more about this.
 
Re: Exporting to MiniDV

You can take 23.98 back to MiniDV. Just go to your playback prefs and set it to add 2:3:2:3 pulldown on playback. Set quality to be best. Note that if your machine is slow this may not work.
 
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