monitoring HDV

Hello all

I begin posting a project shot with Sony's Z1U HDV camera this week. I have the matching Sony deck, the M10, available for capture but I may not have it for monitoring the length of the edit. What is the best way to monitor the video? I'm guessing I could use the cinema desktop disply.


I have a DSR20 and a 20" CRT. FCP5 studio, dual 2.0g G5, 2.5gb ram, and SATA raid

thanks for any ideas.

rockin ron

Ah...this topic again.

Well, you could use the Digital Cinema Desktop, but you won't get proper colors. Really the only way to monitor HDV is with the use of a capture card and converter box:

#25 HDV external Monitor Viewing

Shane's Stock Answer #25 - HDV external Monitor Viewing

To view HDV on an external monitor you are going to need to purchase a capture card, like the ones Decklink or AJA offer. They will both play out HDV in real time. The catch is that you cannot view this on a regular TV or NTSC monitor. Since this is HD, an HD monitor will be needed.

HDV cannot be played out of FCP via Firewire because it's Long GOP structure is too taxing on your processors to spare the system resources needed to drive an external monitor.

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ok shane: if your were going to reccomend a specific (make, model) item list to achieve this what would you suggest

I don't deal with HDV so I am not entirely sure what I'd go with. I know what to do if you want to monitor it on another computer monitor like the Apple 23" or the Dell 2405 (Decklink HD - $595, and Decklink HD Link - $695) but as for how to convert the HD signal into an SD signal for monitoring...I know high end cards like the Kona 2 and Kona LH do this, but not sure about what others.

and would a setup like this allow you to monitor the timeline in realtime?

Since I don't work in HDV I cannot say with certainty. But Decklink claims that it will. I'd HIGHLY SUGGEST contacting them for that answer.

Using a 23" cinema display gives you a resolution of 1920x1200. You can play back your HDV at a 1:1 pixel perfect aspect ratio on this display using Digital Cinema Desktop.

This is the simplest, and probably most economical way to do it. For offline/preview work, it's the best way to work and see your real-time cuts and effects when working with HDV.

Adding a BlackMagic or AJA Kona 2 card will give you HD-SDI output, but you also need to add a real HD broadcast monitor which is an additional considerable expense.

BM and AJA also sell HD-SDI > DVI converters so you could come out of your DeckLink or Kona 2 card, through their converter and then back into the 23" cinema display. Sounds a lot like Digital Cinema Desktop, but it provides more color accurate and smoother playback.

On a budget, for an offline HDV shoot, I'd stick with an extra 23" and use Digital Cinema Desktop. If you're system will be used for both offline and online, then I'd definitely add the card. You can always start the first way, then add the other stuff later if it doesn't meet your needs.

-Paul



Paul from Apple