HELP! HDV 1440 X 1080 (BEST CODEC TO EDIT IN FCP)

What is the best codec quality wise so I can render faster and actually view in the canvas without dropping frames.

I am on a G5 Mac, 4 Gigs or RAM, Quad 2.5 (NON-Intel)

There's no reason you can't view HDV in the canvas without dropping frames as long as you are in the correct HDV "Easy Setup". You didn't mention what version FCP you are using, btw...which could be the problem.

Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

as noted, if you set your sequence format to match your clip format then you should be fine for placback of HDV. if you set the render codec to Pro Res then you should be fine for render speed.

only if you intend to master back to HDV will you have the long "conforming" wait, and you will face that regardless of the edit codec you choose

yes, I had to change it to Pro Res. Before it was standard in native HDV so thats what the hold up was. Now that is done. How to I export to a DVD without using dvd studios crappy codec. Do I have to do it in compressor first?

DVD Studio Pro uses the same Compressor based engine to encode. I wasn't aware that it was "crappy", but if you want more control then yes, you will probably be able to tweak many more aspects of the encoding properties from within the Compressor interface

Um...DVDSPro does not have a "crappy codec"...you just have to know how to use it correctly. I would export a reference file from FCP & drag it into DVDSPro and let it encode in the background while I build the DVD.

...but that's just me.

Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

i was gonna say the same thing too. export a qt file not the qt conversion. i use sd 95% of the time and i often tweak the bit rate depending on project legnth. other than that dvdsp will do ya fine.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

I'm trying to bring into fcp a play I shot using a jvc 251 cam. hdv 25p. I'm using the camera's sdi output into aja's breakout box. I'm confused as to what easy set to use.
I was wanting to down convert on the fly to sd pal widescreen, but can't work out what setting I should be using. Any help would be appreciated.

Powermac osx 10.4.9, 2x2.66 ghz fcp 5.4.1, 4 gb ddr2 ram

Change your FCP settings in the easy set up to whatever resolution you want. Any clip you put from the viewer into the timeline automatically will convert to that setting.

or.

make sure the the first clip you put into the timeline is the codec and/or size you want then when FCP asks you something like "The video in the timeline doesn't conform to the standard do you wish to change the setting" then just hit yes.

You can see a significant decreased resolution using DVD Studio Pro. I export the full quality file and then drag and drop it into a drop zone. DVDSP automatically converts it into a new compressed format which isn't very good. Ill try tweaking it and see what I can find. I was disappointed when I played it on my TV (very jittery and a lot of noise). Anyone know anything about that H.??? codec. The word "crappy" may have been a bad adjective.

DVD SP converts it to the MPEG-2 codec...the codec NEEDED for your footage to be burned onto a DVD that will play in DVD players. You can also use Compressor and the DVD BEST QUALITY settings, and again, you'd get an MPEG-2 file.

COmpressing to H.264 BEFORE you burn a DVD will only add FURTHER compression to the file, because AGAIN, if you burn a DVD that is playable on DVD players, it will need to be converted to MPEG-2.


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Quote

COmpressing to H.264 BEFORE you burn a DVD will only add FURTHER compression to the file, because AGAIN, if you burn a DVD that is playable on DVD players, it will need to be converted to MPEG-2.

...exactly. Folks think they need to compress out of FCP for DVD...not the case. What they are doing is RECOMPRESSING the footage in DVDSPro (compressing it TWICE).

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

i use to get the a lot of quality lost in the meg-2 conversion but then i was compressing to mv2 then re-compressing in dvdsp. i will bet a root beer float the compression quality gets better with the fcp qt.

another small tip is to make a dvd then get a pad a write down the problems you see. then before you tweak dvdsp. spend an hour or so trying to correct it in fcp.

i.e.
slightly bleached color - add saturation
blurry - use sharpen filter
noise in bright colors - g-chroma filter
too dark - 3 way color corrector bringing up the blacks

in this work flow you are using fcp as if it were the tweak settings in compressor and then using dvdsp as if it were the output from compressor. BUT DONT USE COMPRESSOR UNLESS YOU CAN REALL UNDERSTAND THE TWEAKS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY.

BTW
did you grade this at all b4 you converted to fcp movie?

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

aahhh,

if you are converting dv sd footage from dv to 720p or 1080i would that also be considered compression? the file is getting bigger that way.

i was thinking it wasn't but i could be wrong.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Going from SD to 720p or 1080i? That's kinda like running the file through a meat grinder and then adding soy filler. It's compressed and uprized and unless using a VERY HIGH QUALITY means to uprez (Tenerex maybe) the results might not be palatable. Maybe Compressor can do a good uprez with some very high setting values (VERY SLOW). I'd say it's probably better to make a 16x9 Standard def file in many cases.

Where is the G chroma filter?

you can get it at nattress.com

he has a bunch of them bundled. the g-chroma smoother is in the package called"big box of tricks". there are a lot of nifty filters and such in that package.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"