FCP and Panasonic HVX200

11/22/05 10:48 AM

OK. I've ordered my HVX200 with two 8 gig cards, and I'm apparently number 14 on the waiting list at Birns and Sawyer in LA. I've also ordered a Dell 24" monitor and a Decklink HD card. I already have the latest Final Cut.

My first question is: do I need anything else to get up and running shooting 1080p and transferring files into FCP and playing them back on the Dell? This HD stuff is all new to me.

Further, about storage: I'm somewhat torn between buying two G Raids which would give me 2 TB and cost $2159 after discounts, and buying a Maxupgrade Internal Maxconnext 2TB SATA Raid at $1,779. Although the SATA array is a little cheaper, it will mean monkeying around installing a bunch of junk inside my Mac, and that makes me a little nervous.

Please take pity and unload your opinions on a mere mortal.

Harry

Harry Bromley-Davenport

Check out www.LFHD.net. I am working with DVCPRO HD footage, two DELL 2405 monitors, and two G-Raids. I am able to edit native DVCPRO HD with this setup.

The HVX-200 shoots 720P, and 1080p, but really the 720P footage is the best to work with. And getting the footage off the cards is a snap.

Consider getting an External SATA Raid. Either G-SATA or other well known SATA. You'll have less issues with dropped frames when working with 1080P.

>My first question is: do I need anything else to get up and running shooting 1080p and transferring files into FCP and playing them back on the Dell?

Yes! You will need a different camera as the HVX200 doesn't shoot 1080p, it will do 1080i.
You will also need some storage device for your media while in the field unless you plan on shooting only limited amounts of footage as the P2 cards will fill up very quickly. I could be wrong, but I believe the P2 cards at present are not mac compatible so you would need a card reader.
>about storage.
I would go for the sata raid. installing a "bunch of junk" inside the computer is no big deal. If you dont feel comfortable doing that there are plenty of places that will do it for you or have someone come to your place to do it for you.
I would suggest before you outlay $10k+ on your new gear that you spend a few hundred dollars and rent the camera for a day or two and see if it meets your expectations. That will also give you an idea of the workflow and what gear you will need to buy.

Frank, according to this site (http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/HVX200/) it does shoot 1080p24.

But then again, this site (http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000913040488/) says 1080i.

Anyway...that is neither here nor there.

As for getting footage from the camera in the field....bring a laptop and a firewire drive and either capture directly from the camera's USB 2.0 port to the hard drive (which means downtime for the camera) or get the card reading HD storage device for $1800

Shane, I got the 1080i info from panasonic's own specs on their website. As for the storage in the field, yes it can be transferred to a laptop or HD storage device but I was just letting Harry know, to be aware of the fact that it is an added and necessary expense.

Well then, good thing you are here to cover my back and give correct information then, huh?

Thanks for the advice. Jan at Panasonic confirms that the camera shoots 1080p. I will also be buying one of the Firestore 100gig recorders for the camera when they come out in March. Until then I will have to offload the P2 cards to a laptop or record directly into FCP via firewire which should be freaky.

I feel heartened that you feel I should take a shot at installing the internal SATA RAID stuff. I'm a reasonably capable person -- it's just something I've not done before, so, as suggested, I might take it to my computer guru Les Mannos to have the work done.

Many thanks again.

Any further suggestions welcome

Harry

Harry,

Keep us informed of your venture in the DVCPROHD arena (quagmire?). I am considering just such a setup to avoid the whole HDV thingy. I think the Firestore drives will be a necessary evil until some bright manufacturer slaps a fast hard drive on the back of a 3-chip front end (besides Ikegami and Hitachi) and sells it for under $6k.

JVC could do this one-piece affordable design, but they don't want to cannibalize their tape transports.