workflow options FCP S2 and Canon HV30 (on-location vs. studio)

Please excuse this long post, but I have searched here and DVXUser's forums (and posted same on DVInfo.net), and cannot see a clear solution to what I want to do. I am new to HDV.

First, the gear: I use a Canon HV30 and BeachTek to get decent radio mic sound into the camera. I have a MacBook with FireWire 400 connector, and a LaCie Rugged 7,200rpm drive for on-the-road use; and a MacPro in the studio, with lots of RAM and fast internal drives, and a DSR-11 for SD tapes. I am trying to get the best-possible quality sound and vision in a truly portable package---the entire kit (minus tripod, which goes into checked luggage) fits easily into a carry-on bag; essential as most of what I shoot is overseas. I have the PAL version of the camera.

I am trying to work out the best workflows for when I am on-location, as well as when I am at home, shooting in my studio, for both YouTube and DVD output. Two different work flows is no problem---I would like to be able to upload YT clips when I am on location, and bring back the files (whether on mini-DV or HDD) for editing into programs for DVD output.

So, I am considering two workflows: one with the portable kit and the MacBook (with fast output of YouTube clips while on-locartion the objective); the other studio-based, with best-possible DVD5 or DVD9 output when I get back home.

To this point, I have been downconverting the HD to SD in-camera, and recording wide-screen standard def. (SD). I assume that this footage will be simple to ingest in FCP, via the DSR-11, as with ordinary SD tapes. This workflow presents no problems, as far as I can see.

But I would like to take advantage of the HDV quality in future shoots---so am considering these options:

1. Shoot HDV, and record onto tape.

When on-location, play out HDV clips, but downconvert to SD in camera and use Capture Now in FCP to capture SD wide-screen clips onto the FW drive and MacBook; select sequences; top and tail with the necessary graphics, and upload at whatever the best resolution YouTube can handle that week.

2. It's when I get back to the studio that I am not sure the best way to go. I have read that FCP Studio 2 can handle HDV natively, but am wondering if there is another, better, way to go (like a BlackMagic card, connecting the HV30 to this and ingesting via HDMI interface). Or does anyone have any other suggestions? TIA, kl

Pardon me for being terse, but it's six in the morning on a Monday, and ? well, you know how it is.

The data rate for DV and HDV is exactly the same, so you're no worse off capturing HDV on your laptop than you are capturing DV. Editing HDV is more processor-intensive, for various technical reasons, so my personal preference is to capture everything in its native format and cut it into a ProRes 422 timeline. It takes less time on my system to render out a ProRes of the finished piece than it does to conform back to HDV, and the results are better.

The only way to know how that workflow handles on your system, though, is to test it. I doubt a single Firewire 400 drive will have the bandwidth necessary to play back ProRes at HD resolutions reliably, but you can give it a try. The other alternative is to cut your HDV material into a widescreen SD ProRes timeline; this will be easier on your drive, and will look a whole lot better than stepping all the way down to DV, but again, you should try it to see what the render times are like.

Contrary to what a lot of people say, HDV isn't an inherently bad format; a lot of great work is being done with HDV cameras, and the HV20 and HV30 in particular. It is a more fiddly format than DVCPRO HD, but it's a lot cheaper to get into, and life's just full of trade-offs.

Jeff: I didn't hear your reply as terse, at all: just to the point.

A few clarification Q.s:

Understand completely re. HDV vs. SD data rates, in terms of capturing, but not sure what you mean by "cut it into a ProRes 422 timeline"---does this mean converting/conforming the HDV to ProRes 422 *as* I capture, or after (I have not used FCP S2 yet; my copy has been waiting all the while I have been OS shooting, so not sure of the steps in the process here).

Second Q. is re. your suggested alternative to cut my material into a SD ProRes timeline; I have not heard of this, but sounds interesting. Does this mean dropping my HDV footage onto a SD ProRes timeline, cutting and then rendering for final output? Can you point me to some resources that can bring me up to speed here? I have cut plenty of SD footage from pro SD cameras, but I took two years off editing to write a book, and a lot has changed in this time. Thanks for your responses so far.

1. Neither. It means cutting your HDV media into a timeline that's set to ProRes 422. Depending on your system, you'll get various degrees of real-time performance with unlimited RT on, and ProRes renders are much faster than HDV renders, at least on my system.

2. I'm not really sure what you mean by "resources to get you up to speed," but yes, I was talking about cutting HDV material into a standard-def timeline. Final Cut 6 is is multi-resolution, which means you can edit practically any material you want into practically any timeline you want, and Final Cut will do its very best to play it all back in real time. How good that is depends on your system and your media and timeline formats, and the only real way to know what works best in your situation is to try it. There are too many possible combinations for anybody to say that such-and-such is the right way. I can tell you what works on my system, but I've got an eight-proc Mac Pro, not a Macbook or G5. So my results won't match yours exactly. Also, my tolerance for low-resolution playback on my timeline might be higher than yours.

Thank you, Jeff: very helpful. All of that info is new, and is exactly what I needed.

I have not yet worked with FCP 6 (extensively with FCP 2-4.5); hence the newbie questions. My studio machine should be able to handle it just fine; laptop on location is only for YT clips, so that will be a different workflow, commensurate with YT's quality.

Again thanks, kl