Living in the past & looking for some feedback

That Todd Guy

That Todd Guy

Active member
I videotape a lot of local events & Dance shows, and believe it or not,
I am still shooting all of my stuff on tape.
I have a couple of DVX's and edit in FCP-6.
Beside the fact that I am not getting HD video,
the process of importing all of my footage (from DV tapes)
has been time consuming to say the least.

I know that I need to update my equipment,
but I can't afford to do it, especially all at once.
I was wondering, if you think it would be possible for me to add an HD
camera that I could use along with my DVX's on my multi-camera shoots?
The HMC40 seems to be a good inexpensive option,
but would the footage from it be too different than what I got form my DVX's?
And would I be opening up a major editing nightmare trying to intermix
AVCHD footage with footage that was shot with my DVX's in the same FCP timeline?

Any & All feedback is appreciated!!

Thanks.
 
Hey Richard,

Thanks for the link to the Apple support page.
I think I may also have another problem..more old equipment!
My G5 tower is running OS 10.5.11 and is PowerPC not intel based.
Although I do have a Macbook Pro that is running Leopard and is intel based,
but I do most, if not all of my editing on my tower,
and it doesn't look like I can import AVCHD footage into a PowerPC based MAC.
 
if you can wait Id get the hmc 80 ...the newer
Wish my hmc 150 had's it bells and wistles !
 
Last edited:
What about getting a used HVX-200? You can shoot DV or DVCPRO on P2 cards and you'll do away with the hassle of having to capture. And if you're shooting SD to P2 cards, you won't have to have large sizes in order to store a lot of footage.
 
thanks for the replies...
I'd like to get something b4 the spring/summer events are over,
so I don't know if I should wait for the HMC80.
And while I'm still talking about the HMC cameras,
Are they really that bad in low light?
Cause some of the shows that I do aren't lit the best.

And..

subtleinspiration said:
What about getting a used HVX-200? You can shoot DV or DVCPRO on P2 cards
Click to expand...

How easy is it to find a used HVX?
Where do you look? And aren't P2 cards a lot more costly?
(some shows I need to record up to 6 hours of footage throughout the day)
 
It should be relatively easy to find a used HVX-200. P2 is going to be more costly than tape upfront, but it should pay for itself since its reusable. 2 16gig cards should keep you running all day as you can get an hour of DV footage per card.

That's really your only option. Other solid state cameras only shoot to AVCHD with no SD support (something that would require you to upgrade you editing station) or the cameras themselves are way more expensive than the HVX (such as the Sony Z7U or EX1R).
 
I really would like the HMC40 to be the best answer for my situation,
because of it low sticker price,
but if it is really gonna produce a drastically different low light result than my DVX,
and I won't even be able to edit with my current (PowerPC) system,
then it probably isn't the best solution...no matter how inexpensive it might be.
And, you're right, a used HVX & some P2 cards may be the best solution.

Hey I just thought of something...you said:

subtleinspiration said:
solid state cameras only shoot to AVCHD with no SD support (something that would require you to upgrade you editing station)
Click to expand...

Do you know if it would be possible for me to log my AVCHD footage onto my external HD in a pro-res setting using my Macbook Pro (Intel)
and then edit the project using my G5 tower (PowerPC)?

Then I wouldn't have to upgrade my entire editing system.
Although even if I can import the footage from the HMC40,
will I be kicking myself because I wasted money on a cheap camera?
As you can see..
I'm just not sure what to do,
and I don't have enough money to do too much!!
 
Are you running the same version of Final Cut Pro 6 on both of your platforms? Are they updated all the way? If so, then it should work.

However, you should know that HD cameras will be worse in low-light than your DVXs. In fact,m the HMC40 will perform a lot worse than the DVX, given its 1/4" chip size.
 
Yes both are FCP-6, (the same version/updates)
so now, as you just said,
the main problem with the HMC40 would be it's low light compatibility.

I do need to open the iris to up quite a bit (2.0, but no gain) on my DVX's
for some of the live events that I tape,
so the light issue may be a problem.

But as far as you know...
editing AVCHD footage & footage shot on DV tape can be combined in the same timeline
with out too much trouble?
Do you happen to know what sequence settings would work the best for a situation like that?
 
I'm mostly a Premiere/Vegas editor, so I'm not sure about combining the two different codecs on one timeline in FCP.

I'd wager that it'd probably be best to transcode into a SD ProRes spec upon ingest maybe? I worked on a video that had footage from AVCHD 60i, DVCPRO HD 720 24pn, and DV 60i. I just threw it all at Cineform and didn't have any problems editing it together.
 
Thanks for the replies and the advise,
I'll have to play around with the workflow a bit if I do decide to go with the HMC40.

Still not sure what I'm going to do,
but it is good to know that there still may be a relatively inexpensive way (the HMC40)
to add HD to my present equipment inventory.
Like I said I don't want to throw money away,
and don't want to buy something that I'm not gonna use.
 
Is there a rental house near where you live that you might be able to rent it from? It's always a good idea to play with it for a day or two just to see how well it will fit into your workflow.
 
Not real close (about an hour and half away),
but it could help me decide if the HMC40 would be a good fit or not.
Maybe I'll see how much they want for a day or two.
thanx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top