JVC HD 720p24 in a 1080i50 timeline

MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz
FCP 5.1.4

I am working on a 47 minute documentary that includes 30 hours of Sony HDV 1080i50( primary footage) and 15 hours of JVC HDV 720p24( secondary footage)

We have decided to edit in HDV 1080i50, because we have already captured 33 tapes from the Sony F1 in Final Cut Pro( Quicktime files).

The JVC footage when captured in FCP is broken into many clips.

I have been capturing these JVC tapes and rendering them in FCP to 1080i50 and up-scaling them. I then output them to a self-contained Quicktime file which becomes the ?Master? clip.

Precise Method

I take these broken clips and lay them on a time line that reflects the original tape. I use the first frame from the first clip and set the first frame of the sequence to the same timecode, and then I overwrite the first clip onto the first frame of the sequence. I then take the next clip and cue up the playhead to the timecode of the first frame of the next clip and overwrite it at this position. And so on until I have every clip from the captured tape layed out on the sequence. Then I upscale and render the whole thing, and finally I export the sequence to a self-contained Quicktime file.

The reason I have gone to all this trouble is to have timecode accurate 1080i ?Masters' of the JVC Footage.

Is there an easier way of doing this? Is this worth the trouble? Are there any problems with this method?

The other way I have tried is to capture the entire tape as an m2t with Virtual DVHS and then transcode them to 1080i50 with Mpeg Streamclip, however when I set the first frame of the transcoded Quicktime file to the corresponding timecode on the source tape the timecode at the end of the tape is not accurate.

Thanks for taking the time to read this message, and thanks for all of the good information and help coming from this users group.

You guys rock-

Clay

We are looking at buying a couple of JVC camcorders to add to our collection of Z1s, and this would give me the same problem of needing to get the two sets of rushes onto the same timeline.
I have contacted our JVC rep in the UK and he assures me that (as per the marketing blurb, which is why I asked the question),
"The HD output, whilst natively recorded to tape at 720p, can, on playback, be converted to 1080i. This is true for the component output (on the cameras and BR-HD50 VTR) and also the HD-SDI output on the GY-HD251. The firewire output (of camera or VTR) remains the native 720p. Therefore to ingest into your edit system at 1080i, you would require either an HD-SDI input or HD-SDI or component input on your NLE. One useful item to have would be the HD-Connect MI interface which is I believe about £500, which converts HDMI, which the BR-HD50 outputs, to HD-SDI. Thus if you are using the deck in the studio to transfer, you would use this with an HD-SDI input card and you can capture in any chosen format."
Is this of any help to you?

BCA,

Thanks, of course this would be ideal to go 1080i component output to HD-SDI input card. I might do that in a later stage and online the orginal tapes that way if it makes a qualitative difference. At this point I find that capturing in 720p24 and rendering to 1080i50 and upscaling to look adequate. Its just a new situation to me so I wanted to check my logic.

Would there be any time code discrepancies from a component out captured file as compared to the original tape? That is once you have established time code for the captured file, as I believe component out doesn't send a timecode signal.

BTW the JVC HD100 footage looks great. My only problem has been trying to capture large files with FCP 5.1.4( the files get broken for some reason, seems to be a common problem)

-Clay

Don't know about the timecode, that's a good point. You're right, component doesn't send out timecode - maybe that's another good reason for getting the deck... by the rep's comments, he seems to be pointing us towards the GY-HD251E as the HD-SDI output offers embedded audio and timecode. But that doesn't help you, I know. I'll ask the question and let you know his reply.

Yeah, we borrowed one of the JVCs (don't remember which one), and the output looked good.

Don't you get broken clips when you capture from the Z1? We do, and as I understand it from reading this forum, it's the norm with HDV. Doesn't bother me too much, makes it easier usually, to find the clips I want!

ah yes, I did get a few broken clips with the sony F1(probably the same as the Z1), but not nearly as many as the JVC HD100. Before the A update there were sometimes 80 broken files, now it doesn't seem to be anymore than 20.

Ok, the reply from the JVC guy is as follows:

"All the cameras have TC out on the firewire output, along with video & audio (if this helps you at all), only the 251 has separate TC in and out, but as you may have spotted, the terminals for this double up as the component out also, so therefore you can't have component and TC out at the same time."

Sounds a bit silly to me, how are you supposed to reconnect/online your footage?!

Oh well, I'll leave you to carry on the way you were doing it.

Regards,
Laura