Mixing HDV formats...

I have a shoot coming up that is going to be shot on multiple HDV formats and want to find out the best way to make everything work properly.

All of my limited HDV projects have been from Sony cameras at 1080i and those will be used again. However, they are mixing those cameras(A1-U's for in-crowd shots) with JVC HD-100s for the main stage cams which shoot at 720p. What's the best way to get these two formats on one managable timeline? and through firewire only, i might add. No decklink or anything like that.

Nothing's going to be shot in 24 so my framerates will be the same. Im hoping i can just capture the 1080i footage as 720p and thats it or do i have to take the 1080i footage and export through compressor down to 720p?

The final format delivery is DVD so im half considering just downconverting everything to anamorphic DV but they wanted to have relatively high quality HD downloads for their website. Also, im thinking the HDV footage will look better on DVD than the anamorphic. Anyway, like i said, my HDV experience is minimal so any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Hi Scott...

I'm not a "video" expert, but I work for a lot of people who are - here's what I've heard:

1) Editing HD on any standard system; is s l o www - There's a great deal more data to process, so everything takes from two to ten times longer.

2) FCP is seldom happy when mixing formats - it's best to match your project's properties to your source material.

3) HD files on the web are huge - If you have much of an audience for an HD project more than a couple of minutes in length, it would be wise to plan a budget for extra bandwidth, or figure on SD for the web.

-Therefore, it would appear wise convert everything to SD first, then edit that way. There are methods available to edit and output in SD, then replace the SD input footage with HD after you've completed your edit, thereby giving you the advantages of both - the speed of SD editing and the quality of HD.

Good luck on this one.



Travis
VoiceOver Guy and Entertainment Technology Enthusiast
[www.VOTalent.com]

Well, i know my computer can handle it, i edit 1080i HDV frequently and have had no problem.


I want to consolidate my source material to one format, hence my posting. Im just not sure on the best process...im sure i can figure it out on my own but i'd like to have a quick turnaround on this...


And its for a band and the songs will be short so web size isn't an issue. Its more that they want the 16x9 aspect ratio than anything...that and having actual quality instead of everyone elses YouTube clips

thanks tho, i'll prob just downconvert but maybe there's some technical answers out there???