7d footage to DV timeline in FCP?
 

I am currently working in a DV (NTSC 16x9 Anamorphic 29.97) timeline in FCP 6 and I am wanting to use some 7d footage as b-roll. My questions are:

A. What resolution and frame rate should I shoot the 7d footage in? (I'm thinking 1024@30P?)
B. What transcode export setting should I use? (export to dv?)
C. If so, what compression should I use? (dv(25), dvcpro25, or dvcpro50?)

I will ultimately be burning to a standard def DVD in DVDSP.

Thanks for your help.

When I'm cutting 7d footage in to a DV timeline, I shoot in 1080. Instead of using the fcp transcoders, i use mpeg streamclip and have it convert it to dv with high quality downsampling enabled. I think the downsample looks good, its fast and easy and its fits my thought process.

No reason why you couldn't do the same in the fcp import though.

As to which dv format? I use whichever is the native format of the timeline i'm putting it in. That prevents any rendering, recompression and playback issues. The newer fcp is supposed to handle multiple formats better, but if you export down to a dv file later, my thought is you'll end up recompressing the clip anyways... which seems worse than just going straight from HD to the timeline format.

I haven't done extensive pixel analysis on my method, but it works for me. I don't personally see enough of a difference in the various dv formats to make a fuss. If I need to do heavy grading work on a clip beyond what the dv file can do, i'll go back to the HD source.

I'm sure other people have far more testing and analysis behind their workflow, but until somebody else chimes in... thats what I do and why - in case thats any help to you.

Cheers!
-Andrew

Jon,
Are you wanting to export in PAL or NTSC format(s)? It seems to me although you may be editing in one and recording in another.

Please let me know, Nicholas Barclay

Thanks for your responses. Sorry but I made a mistake in my post. I stated that I was thinking I should shoot in 1024@30p but what I meant was 1080@30p. Everything will be in NTSC format.

After shooting some footage in 1920x1080@30p (29.97) tonight I tried the following and it seemed to work:
1. In MPEG Streamclip I chose convert to Quicktime
2. I chose the DV/DVCPRO option (since my NTSC Anamorphic timeline in FCP has this as its default setting)
3. Transcoded and imported to FCP
4. Under Edit>Item Properties, I chose anamorphic

Placed the footage in my timeline and everthing seemed to match with no rendering required