Intergrating 7D footage with HVX200

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ericcosh

Well-known member
I shoot all my footage using my HVX200's at 720P 24PN. When I got my 7D, I wanted to find the best way to match the 7D footage to my HVX200's footage. I may have found it.

What I do is shoot everything with the 7D at 1920x1080P 24 with a shutter speed of 50. I then use compressor and drop the HD conversion folder (DVCPRO HD 720P 24) onto the clip. In the encoding section, I choose BEST. I then submit it and it drops onto my desktop and then all I have to do is import it into my browser and onto my timeline. It works perfectly! It matches the frame rate and size of my HVX footage.

I then went back into Compressor and selected the setting under settings and made a droplet. Now all I have to do in the future is drop my clips onto the droplet on my desktop and it automatically fixes all the clips.

I know some of you prefer using Pro res, but I've been using DVCPRO HD for years and it's rock solid.
 
Sounds very cool. Yes DVCPRO is nice, especially on older and slower boxes. So, can I ask you... how are you utilizing the distinct looks of both cams? I was thinking of using my 150 for the wide shots and using a DSLR for the tight shots where a soft focus looks appropriate...

cheers for the info and update. I'd be really interested to see some of your footage and how it all cuts together. I think it's a cool combo for sure, espeically when the HVX can handle your audio...
 
I would be curious as to how the final product compares if you would have converted both cameras to prores 1080P or even DVCpro HD 1080p. Seems like you end up wasting some possible resolution by downconverting the 7d. How does the HVX footage look when blown up?
 
Hi Justyn: I haven't had an opportunity to take both into color yet. At this point, I just wanted to make sure that the 7D video would at least not clash with my 720P footage from my HVX. This is going to be a work in progress. As soon as I get some good samples, I'll post them.

Joe: Their are 2 main reasons why I shoot my HVX's at 720P 24PN. When the HVX first came out, a 4gb card cost $700 and only gave you 10 minutes at 720 and 4 minutes at 1080. I remember doing my first full length documentary on the Teets French Clock Collection just using the one 4gb card.

The other reason I really like shooting in 720P 24PN is that I can over and under crank, which you can't do at 1080. With that said, the only real option I have is to shoot the 7D at 1920x1080 and 24 so at least the frame rate matches.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "How does the HVX footage look when blown up"? Blown up how big? It looks great in Blu ray on my Panasonic Plasma at 42 inches.

eric
 
I meant how does the hvx footage look when blown up to 1920x1080 res (1080p) from the original 1280x720 resolution (720P). I've never owned one, but does the hvx even do 1080p? I thought it was 1080i, which in terms of resolution, is not much better than 720p.

I was just thinking in terms of getting the overall best resolution. If the HVX looks like crap when you blow it up to 1920x1080, then your current method is logical. If, however, there is little or no quality loss in the HVX footage when blown up - then it would seem that you would be better off keeping the 7d footage in its native 1920x1080 res rather than scaling it down to 1280x720. Your final product would be full HD rather than half HD.
 
For what its worth, I recently shot this spot with an HVX200A and supplemented with a 5D. I converted the 5D's 30p footage to 24p in Cinema Tools.

The shots of the jet ski and kids jumping in the pool at :14 sec and the couple on the boat at :19 seconds are all shot with the 5D the rest is HVX.

http://www.vimeo.com/6692133 Password: maagical (yes with the double "a")
 
Joe, with regard to the HVX200 shooting in 1080P, according to Barry Green who is an absolute authority on the HVX, it can be done. It's kind of tricky, because you have to shoot 1080i and then you have to remove one of the fields. Something like that!

In any case, as I mentioned, I don't shoot 1080i or p because it uses 1 gb per minute. P2 cards, even the E cards are pricey.

BTW, where do you come up with 720P being 1/2 1080P. Also, as far as I know Joe, there's such thing as 1/2 HD. It's either HD or it isn't. That isn't to say that there are all sorts of quality issues with HD, but HD is HD.
 
JoeC said:
I meant how does the hvx footage look when blown up to 1920x1080 res (1080p) from the original 1280x720 resolution (720P).
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Not as good as it does when recorded at 1080p in the first place, but it's fine.

I've never owned one, but does the hvx even do 1080p? I thought it was 1080i, which in terms of resolution, is not much better than 720p.
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Yes the HVX does 1080p, at 24 and 30 fps.
 
Yes the HVX does 1080p, at 24 and 30 fps.
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Barry, was that a later version of the HVX200 or a firmware update? I remember researching the original HVX200 and being disappointed that it only had 1080i. Maybe my research was faulty... I haven't really been following the camera upgrades though.

Thanks
Joe

edit: I just read Eric's description of some trick to get it to be 1080P... Is that what you meant?
 
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ericcosh said:
BTW, where do you come up with 720P being 1/2 1080P. Also, as far as I know Joe, there's such thing as 1/2 HD. It's either HD or it isn't. That isn't to say that there are all sorts of quality issues with HD, but HD is HD.
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I believe half-def was a term coined by the tv manufacturers- when 1080P came out, they called it full HD. Probably in an attempt to make all the people who bought 720p TV's feel inferior, they resorted to calling it half-def. HD is not HD though - you are talking in terms of pixel count and an image with 1920 horizontal pixels and 1080 vertical pixels is going to be sharper than an image with 1280x720 pixels. So, technically, 1280x720 is not exactly half of 1920x1080 but you also can't say that they are equal.
 
JoeC said:
Barry, was that a later version of the HVX200 or a firmware update? I remember researching the original HVX200 and being disappointed that it only had 1080i. Maybe my research was faulty...
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Every version of the HVX has always supported 1080/24p, 1080/30p, and 1080/60i. Always has.

(except PAL models, which instead have 1080/25p).
 
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