FCP Settings for Mixed Formats (HPX170 and 5D Mark ii)

R

rgtaylor

Member
Hello,

I'm working in Final Cut Pro 7 and have footage from a Panasonic HPX170 (shot in 1080p/24) and footage from a Canon 5D Mark ii (also shot in 1080p/24). My understanding is that Canon clips are 1920x1080 with square pixels whereas the Panasonic is 1280x1080 with rectangular pixels. I'm converting both to ProRes 422 on ingest. My questions: (1) Is ProRes the best way to go given the mixed formats and (2) would it be best for me to set the timeline to 1280x1080 with rectangular pixels (HPX settings) or use 1920x1080 with square pixels (5D settings)? I'm wondering if it's better to down-size the 5D material as opposed to up-rezing the HPX material? Has anyone done this already? Thanks for your help!

Rob
 
I'm working on a project with HPX footage, 5D footage, and GH2 footage. I converted the 5D and the GH2 down to 1280x720 Apple ProRes files. Then I set my sequence settings to mirror the 720 Pro Res files, and bring in the DVCPro files from there. A green preview bar will appear over your HPX footage, but a quick render will take care of that and bring back the detail.

If you want to stay in 1080, I'd convert the 5D to 1920x1080 pro res files, and set your sequence the same way and uprez the HPX. Since the DSLR's record true 1080 and the HPX is smaller, I always set the project sequence to mirror the DSLR's and render the HPX to match. The codec is much more versatile on the HPX, so I let it take the beating.
 
Thanks very much for the info. I'm thinking I'd like to stay in 1080 and if I do, I'll follow your suggestion. But question: This will be output to DVD. Do you think there's an advantage to down-converting to 720? If so, would that be done by converting all footage to ProRes on ingest and then in the timeline settings change them to 1280x720?

Again, thanks for the help.
 
I use a PC, and master every thing to 1080 24p.
All footage is made that size in Cineform ,and then edited, then the resulting file is converted directly to dvd in TMPGENC.
I only have one file size = 1080 (althought sometimes i make it 2k) and when ever i need it smaller (going to vimeo or dvd),
i make the smaller video from the master file.
 
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