HMC-150 + XDCAM (SD) = Fun Problems

I

indieanajonze

Member
Long story short. I've started a documentary shooting with an XDCAM (SD not HD) in 16:9 using the PsF (progressive) mode. The XDCAM now out of commission and the only camera I have available to finish the doc is an HMC-150. A majority of my footage will end up being shot on the HMC-150. I'm editing in FCP and the final show will be broadcast in SD. My options appear to be the following:

Option #1: I edit the project in HD, and transcode the XDCAM footage to ProRes 422. I did a test and the XDCAM footage comes in way small, but this would save me from having to render a majority of my show if I were to go the route of Option #2.

Option #2: I edit the project in SD. The footage matches pretty good, and I'm able to view everything in real-time, but I would have to render the entire project prior to output.

Additionally, I get a lot of 'fluttering' in diagonal lines from the HMC-150 footage, but I'm guessing that's due to my watching playback on an SD monitor. This is an added frustration as I don't want this to end up in the final output.

The option to re-shoot my XDCAM footage with the HMC-150 is a no go as I'm not able to recreate the scenes we've already shot.

Oh what fun :)
 
What about transcoding your HMC150 video down to SD res ?
( yes you will lose a lot of detail, but it would be a better match to your XDCAM clips )
 
Did you shoot 1080i or 720 on the HMC150? I'd vote for progressive (whether 720/24, 720/60, or 1080/24), as it would downconvert to SD much better than 1080i would. If you're getting "fluttering" in diagonal lines from progressive footage, you need to examine your downconversion procedure to get better quality, because 1080p or 720p should downconvert wonderfully to 480i or 480p.
 
Barry_Green said:
Did you shoot 1080i or 720 on the HMC150? I'd vote for progressive (whether 720/24, 720/60, or 1080/24), as it would downconvert to SD much better than 1080i would. If you're getting "fluttering" in diagonal lines from progressive footage, you need to examine your downconversion procedure to get better quality, because 1080p or 720p should downconvert wonderfully to 480i or 480p.
Click to expand...


Thanks Barry. The footage I tested was shot in 720/30p. I will shoot some clips using the three settings you suggested and test those out. Is there a link to any thread that describes the correct way to downconvert HD to SD in FCP or Compressor? It's possible I'm not downconverting properly.
 
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