Current Definitive 'best Practice' Hdv Workflow
 

Hi Everyone,

I have a Z1, FCP5, and am currently shooting a doco for festival and competition release. Ultimately we aim to distribute to broadcasters around the world.

Post will begin seriously at the beginning of the new year - hopefully the multi-core processor G5's will start shipping at that time. Right now I use Lacie firewire 800 ata drives.

My understanding is that capturing 1080i into FCP5, editing (with dissolves, filters, graphics,etc - but not colour correction), then rendering and outputting back to HDV will significantly compromise image quality. This is because of the limitations of mpeg-2 with it's long GOP-structure.

What then is the current thinking on post-production workflow to best preserve image quality?

Obviously I want to end up with masters that will be acceptable to broadcasters worldwide - meaning HDCAM, DVCPROHD or other. I understand there is an ongoing debate about broadcast standards - but we all know that broadcasters will screen what they think the viewers want to watch (as long as quality/content ratio is right).

Somehow I have it in my mind that the footage should be captured or converted in an intraframe compression codec (like dvcprohd - that FCP can handle happily). Then be output from harddrive or conformed at a post house in that same format (obviously can't go back to HDV).

I understand that cards like the Kona 2, decklink HD etc, can be used to capture the mpeg2 files at various levels of compression.

It seems the Z1 is a decent budget aquisition tool for now, and that mpeg2 is workable as long as it is used as a transition codec only.

Is there one, standout workflow at this time to make the most of what the Z1 and FCP can offer?

Thanks,

Nigel