Importing and working with P2 files... HELP!!

V

VeryNewMediaGuy

Member
I'm having some trouble importing DVCPRO HD, P2 clips into my nle system. Ok, it's the poor man's NLE -- Final Cut Express HD (which has been more than great for the voluminous DV footage i've produced and edited).

So here's what I know: FCP has a built-in P2 import function, and the program supports DVCPRO HD.

FCExpress, on the other hand, does not import P2 footage, and it supports only DV and HDV.

Clearly, in the near to vaguely near future I'm going to update my department's systems to FCP.

In the meantime, however, I've got some lovely, timely and great footage that I shot in 720p/30p, and I need to find a workaround to get the footage into Final Cut Express. If there's a slight degradation of quality from transcoding, so be it. And here's the caveat: The big boss has been - and will be - out of town for two weeks and he won't be able to sign my expense reports until he returns, which means my corporate amex won't let me purchase the upgrade. And, being the generally fiscally irresponsible, wow-I'm-really-hemorahging-cash roustabout that I am, I can't afford an out-of-pocket purchase of the upgrade. Or, really, much of anything over $100 bucks to make this work...

Are there any programs that can convert P2 footage to a format that's FCE-friendly yet still retains the original frame size and rate?

Now, the details:

Computer: 1.5 GHz Powerbook G4 with lots and lots of ram and a 200 gig LaCie firewire 800 drive attached.

OS: Mac OSX 10.4.9.

For those detectives out there, I am working from home this weekend -- hence the laptop and not the dual-chip, Pratt & Whittney Jet Turbine-powered Mac tower I use as a space heater back in the office.

Is there any recourse? Options? Spells I can cast?

Now, so you all don't think I'm a complete moron (which wouldn't be too far from the truth), a little background on why I'm trying to do too much with too little:

Of course, having used FCP, when I purchased FCE I figured it would be more than enough to handle the run-and-gun, very-quick-turn-around news segments I produce for broadband distribution. How could I have known that, six months later, the company would invest in a couple of HVX200Ps.

Respectfully, patiently and very humbly,

Me.
 
Hi,

the only cheap way is to downconvert on camera your clips from P2 to DV 16:9 (man page 86 Dubbing to tape) and then regularly capture in FCE...waiting to get FCP or HD monitor Pro or Scope Box etc...

Good luck!
 
Interesting -- I could do that for sure, but I'm wondering if there are any plug-in DVCPRO HD codecs I can bolt on to FCE so that I can actually work with DVCPRO footage... or, if there's anyway to transcode to HDV so that I retain something of the original resolution...

But the tape dubbing is a good fix in the meantime -- since this project is for web distribution I'm not TOO worried about downconverting before an edit, and I can always re-capture at a later date, with the proper tools.

But is there no stand-alone DVCPRO HD codec/importer out there???
 
Yes, the one I mentioned.
The problem is Mxf files that P2 Hvx writes, FCP wrap them in a QT DvcPro HD.
So that's the problem you can't see them unless you use a Log&Capture Utility or FCP or PC sw. If you have a Mac Intel you might look for a pc utility, I've not a MacIntel yet.
But if you look through the forum you can find advices.

see you!

rap
 
I guess there is no way to get mxf into free avid and then output them someway?

an extreme idea, if you have the ingredients, use paralells to install xp on your mac, find a bittorent version of dv rack (I have found it, its out there) and if dv rack has capture abilities by playing back the footage from the p2 cards through the firewire (which seems like it would work), maybe dv rack can capture it in a workable dvcpro hd file

or, if you can find the cash, p2 log is 150, which can output to quicktime files

you said you have a 100, maybe you can pull in another 50 bucks into your checking credit card account

good luck though
 
Ah, success. This work-around works around very well -- I've got my footage (I was mainly worried about the overcranked shots, and the camera downconverted them beautifully -- ok, decently -- to 480i, 16x9. Very nice, and very helpful advice.

Clearly, I'm spending way too much time looking for a way to make this work, and I just need to get full FCP. I tried the demo version of P2 Log -- it's a neat little utility, but I still can't view the footage in final cut express (audio, yes -- screen is blank). I'm guessing that's because I don't have the QT DVCPro HD codec. Am I correct in the assumption that there is no way to obtain the QT DVCPro HD codec without buying final cut pro?

In other words, there is not such thing as a stand-alone QT DVCPro HD codec?

Thank you all for your very helpful and insightful advice. BTW, although the camera isn't perfect for my needs (mostly ENG; would be nice to be able to sling it on my shoulder), this is one beautiful machine. The level of sophistication of the manual gamma and chroma controls alone make her worth her weight... Oh, yeah, then there's that whole varicam ability.
 
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