HDV60i to SD DVD workflow question...

[Robbie Brandon]

Hello fellow DVer's!,

This is my first post, but i've been trolling for over a year. Feel like I know many of you already:) I apologize that my first post is a question, but I'm confused and the clock is ticking. Here is the scenario...

I have a huge project (a wedding I shot) with a total of about 15 hours of HDV 1080 60i footage from two Canon XH-A1's.(Cambodian weddings never end!) I use FCP 2.0 and the final output will be to a sd dvd. I would like to edit in HDV, just in case I needed to give them a Blu-ray in the future, but im afraid editing that much HDV will strain my iMac, not to mention my harddrive space. Im willing to forgo the Blu-ray option and downconvert in the beginning if it will streamline the editing process considerably. Otherwise, Id rather just stick with an HDV timeline for the future's sake. What sort of workflow would you recommend?

Assuming I do go the SD route, would you downconvert in camera, or capture it at SD resolution? If in capture, would you use regular DV NTSC or maybe the ProRes SD codec(Im not at all familiar with Prores, but have heard mention of it.) Again, the main goal hear is quick editing and easy export to DVD via compressor or QT file.

If the HDV route IS feasible, would you capture it as HDV1080i, or is it possible to capture 1080 60i footage at 720 30p?(Wish now that I shot at 720:( ) Or Capture at 720 60i and output at SD 30p? Am i correct in saying that outputing to dvd in progressive is the best way to go? I am assuming editing 720 would be less strain on the cpu, but Im a newb and, to be honest, im a little confused on the whole matter. It seems the more I read, the more workflows I encounter and the more confused i get.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. Im open to any suggested workflow. This site and it's members ROCK!!!

[William Hohauser]

FCP 2 or FCS 2? That's a big question. FCS2 is the full package which contains FCP6 which is the most recent version of FCP.

If you indeed are still using FCP2 then you can only edit in SD which requires that you have the camera down-convert the footage as you load it. Edit in a 16:9 sequence (did they have that option back then, I don't remember) and make your DVD in 16:9.

If you have Final Cut Pro 6 then HDV is not a problem unless you have an older iMac that can't handle HDV. I'm not sure if FCP6 would run on such an iMac in the first place. And by older I mean a number of years older.

Your fears about HDV requiring a lot of disc space can be relieved as HDV takes up the same amount of disc space as regular DV does (sometimes less).

Edit in whatever HDV format your camera shot in, don't worry about 1080i or 720p, finish the project and make a standard DVD. You can make a QuickTime movie in HD of the finished project for future BluRay discs if those ever become needed.

[Robert Lane]

Welcome to the Forum, Robbie,

Williams' points are correct; identify the version of FCP you have first then you'll know your capabilities.

If you use the search feature on the forum you'll find literally dozens of posts about exactly what you're asking; it's a lot of reading but you'll be well-versed in your planned task in short time.

With respect to final output, don't rely on the built-in settings in Compressor to give you a great-looking DVD; you'll need to tweak those settings to get superior results. And because you're on an iMac be prepared for long render and encoding times; the iMac can *run* Final Cut Studio but it's not optimized for such heavy-duty applications.