working with Canon HV20 footage

I'm trying to help a friend. She has a Canon HV20. Specs say that it shoots HD on miniDV. Is this HDV?

Also, if working with 19 hours of raw footage, would you recommend capturing at a lower quality for editing and recapturing high quality once the edit is finished?

Ton of good information on using the HV20 and FCP in this forum

[www.hv20.com]

Yes, despite the confusion of shooting to mini DV tape it is HDV and all you need do is pick the correct pre set. No need to capture to Pro Res. HDV is very small file sizes where Pro Res is quite large. Easier to edit in Pro Res but if this is home movie type stuff, stay in HDV.

Michael Horton
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Thank you!

The hv20.com forum will be a big help.

She is using Final Cut Express and would like the best quality possible - she may want to submit the film to indie festivals. I don't know much about Pro Res. Is it related to Apple Intermediate Codec?

BTW, where I work, we shoot DV and HDV. If its HDV, I use HDV settings in FCP. Most of our stuff is for the web. But if something is going to be broadcast on TV, should I be using Pro Res instead?

As you probably know by now HDV can be a bit of a pain to edit with. Which is why one often captures to Pro Res. No need to use the Apple Int codec now that Pro Res is in the mix. Read this one mans opinion of HDV and you will get a better idea of what you are dealing with.

[lfhd.blogspot.com]

scroll down to "IMHO - WHY I DON'T LIKE HDV"

Michael Horton
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It's good to read opinions and issues about the subject in question, but there wasn't much help about the best workflow for my friend to edit her footage. It does sound like Pro Res alleviates some problems, while perhaps making things more complicated for her.

Again, I don't know much about Pro Res and I'll have to try to learn fast.

ProRes isn't an option for your friend. Final Cut Express is a pair of handcuffs with an Apple logo on them.

The debate over HDV workflows has, in the past year or so, started to remind me of the ongoing conversation about Red workflows. There are a ton of different ways of working with HDV, and all of them involve trade-offs, and none of them can really be summarized succinctly.

I personally have an HDV workflow that I like quite a bit, and others have said it works for them too. I've written at length about it here before, on this forum. I wish I had the time right now to give you a specific pointer, but it's the middle of my work day, and I'm totally goofing off between sessions as it is. So for the moment, try searching the forum for posts by me with "HDV" in them, and I wouldn't be surprised if you find one of my long-winded, rambling rants, probably surrounded by equally good advice from others.

Except Shane. He's an HDV bigot.

(Confidential to Shane: I don't like HDV either, man, believe me. But I do like having an $800 HD camera I can carry around to shoot stuff for fun. Life's all about compromises.)

Thanks.

Yeah this forum probably isn't a good place for my questions. It is FCPUG, not FCEUG. I have already started learning a lot of stuff I need to know though.

She will probably just use HDV in FCE - some people have reported that working fine for them.

Thanks again!