How to get the most out of DVX100A footage in FCP

K

Kandinsky

Active member
I am looking to get the most out of the DVX100A footage I am going to work with in my next project (in terms of color and resolution). I will be color-correcting ALOT, which also means adding colors on the original footage, and will be displaying the final work on a DigiBeta tape.

Barry Green advised me the following procedure, but also said that I would be better off asking the FCP experts to make sure, since he is mostly working on a PC:

1. Capture all material in regular 23.98 NTSC DV anamorphic, removing the advanced pulldown
2. Import those DV encoded files on an Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 anamorphic timeline in FCP
3. Do all the color correction work with color corrector 3 way and magic bullet colorista
4. Export the final edit in an Apple uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 quicktime file and, only for this final file, it will require a huge amount of space.
5. Transfer the huge file to DigiBeta

Sounds right?
 
1. yep
2. this is the only thing i didnt know, but comming from Mr. Green i would probally believe it,
3. ya CC 3 way is easieset and simplest , set whites , set blacks and it will do most of the work, you can fine tune from there.
4. once again this 4:2:2 setting, but i would presume again that thats correct,



ive never used that sequence setting before, i uasually just use the ntsc / dv aspect ratio, ntsc-ccir 601/ dv pixel aspectg ratio, check the anamorpic box, dv /dvcpro -ntsc quick time compressor settings, but i do know that this compresses the image, thats why i would suspect that the 10 bit uncompresses 4:2:2: would be higher quality. if you use the dv/ dvcpro quick time compressor you have to hit the advanced settings and be sure its set to progressive and the correct frame rate and aspect ratio again.



but be sure you record on the 24p adv setting, it seems to flag the correct frames for final cut to pull down correctly.
 
Kandinsky said:
I am looking to get the most out of the DVX100A footage I am going to work with in my next project (in terms of color and resolution). I will be color-correcting ALOT, which also means adding colors on the original footage, and will be displaying the final work on a DigiBeta tape.

Barry Green advised me the following procedure, but also said that I would be better off asking the FCP experts to make sure, since he is mostly working on a PC:

1. Capture all material in regular 23.98 NTSC DV anamorphic, removing the advanced pulldown
2. Import those DV encoded files on an Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 anamorphic timeline in FCP
3. Do all the color correction work with color corrector 3 way and magic bullet colorista
4. Export the final edit in an Apple uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 quicktime file and, only for this final file, it will require a huge amount of space.
5. Transfer the huge file to DigiBeta

Sounds right?
Click to expand...

For number 2, you don't need to do that until you are done with your edit. It will slow down your cutting with constant rendering, so cut in a native DV sequence, and when you are ready for color correction, copy and paste your sequence into an Uncompressed 10-bit timeline. Also, it's always a good idea, on top of color correction, to add a broadcast safe filter to your sequence so you know everything is legal. What I usually do is, once I'm done color correcting each shot, I make another timeline with the same compression settings and drag the sequence icon from the project bin into the empty timeline. It will look like one long clip. Then I throw the broadcast safe filter onto and it applies it to the entire sequence. Then render out.
 
Thanks guys.

@Batutta: thing is, I often color correct as the editing evolves. It is hard for me to separate the two processes. But do you think that it would give the same result if I edited the whole thing in a native DV sequence and then output it with all the color correction in Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2? Would it retain the nuances of color corrections that should be retained by the Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 codec?
 
Kandinsky said:
Thanks guys.

@Batutta: thing is, I often color correct as the editing evolves. It is hard for me to separate the two processes. But do you think that it would give the same result if I edited the whole thing in a native DV sequence and then output it with all the color correction in Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2? Would it retain the nuances of color corrections that should be retained by the Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 codec?
Click to expand...

Yes, it should, but I'd do a little test to be sure.
 
The workflow I advocate is a DV workflow in Final Cut. There's really no reason to convert all of your footage to uncompressed while you're still editing, color correcting, etc. If you export from FCP to uncompressed all of your filters/transitions/etc will be reprocessed into uncompressed, dumping the DV compression as it does this.

-Noah
 
@NoahK: Thank you! That's what I wanted to hear :) It will make the whole process alot less complicated and more efficient.

@Ming: Of course. In squeeze mode though (without the anamorphic lens).
 
Also, what do you guys advise concerning the video processing options? If I understood Noah correctly, the best thing would be to work in "Render in 8-bit YUV" for the whole color correcting process, then, when it is time to export in Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2, select "Render 10-bit material in high precision YUV"? Right?
 
Kandinsky said:
Also, what do you guys advise concerning the video processing options? If I understood Noah correctly, the best thing would be to work in "Render in 8-bit YUV" for the whole color correcting process, then, when it is time to export in Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2, select "Render 10-bit material in high precision YUV"? Right?
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Noah
 
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