HDV capture to PC dumb and dumber
 

Hi all, I am trying to transfer footage from my Sony hvr a1u to my PC . So far It allows me to capture in DV but not in HDV, my system is big enough and fast enough and I am running premiere Pro 1.5.1 and trying to capture into Premiere thru fire wire, anybody have any solutions as I feel like pitching the screen thru the window Is there any advantage in editing in HDV or should I work in dv as offline what is the smart solution here.....help

Hi Chris,

Can you describe in detail what settings you are using in the capture dialog and exactly what happens, or doesn't happen, when you try to capture HDV?

As far as offline editing in DV, if you have a fast machine you probably don't need to do that but since PPro v1.5.1 doesn't use the Cineform acceleration technology (only the codec), editing offline might be worthwhile if you have a slower machine. First, fix the HDV capture problem and then see how your editing performance is.

dumb and dumber
 

hi Peter, thanks for the reply,
to try to respond I go into premiere 1.5.1 and open a new project
enter format 1080i 29.97
in trying in both cineform ( I downloaded the tryout version) and straight into Premiere I try all hdv settings and the controls stay inactive and they only activate when in DV format which enables me to activate the camera and record onto the hard drive in dv. I would much prefer capturing hdv and working with it as It seems like double the work to have to edit it twice
thanks Peter any advice and or suggestions
thanks
Chris

I'm sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but do you have all the latest updates and drivers? Check the Adobe site, and see if there is a plug in or something for that camera. You may not be getting the full functions because of it.

Well as long as we're asking the obvious, are you certain that your A1 is properly configured to output HDV via firewire as opposed to downconverted DV? I have a Z1, but suspect the settings are similar. In camera mode go to the IN/OUT REC menu make sure REC FORMAT is HDV1080i. Then under i.LINK CONV set HDV->DV OFF. Now switch to VCR mode and on the IN/OUT REC menu set VCR HDV/DV to either HDV or AUTO.

thanks Keith ,Boyd...now answer this if possible
 

Thanks to Keith Forman and Boyd ostroff for their help. To let you know The I link converter was configured wrong I followed Boyds suggestion and eventually got it right. I had to download a trial version (30days) of Cineform plug in. Have deceided to offline in wide format DV ( will come back to Hdv in the online process) The reason is I dont feel to buy cineform at this point and it pops up a lot "buy this now" making me think that half way through my edit it will not function and will be unreadable. I am running Premiere Pro 1.5.1
1)Does anyone know if the latest version of Premiere will read HDV without any added plugins.
2) if I have hard drives with my footage from premiere(PC) can I send them to someone operating in mac and they will be readable
Thanks everybody,
4)anyone else editing in HDV
I have a question in the camera section about the HVR A1U
Thanks .

1. Premiere Pro 2.0 captures and edits in native HDV. The pros still recommend for Cineform editing for various technically superior reasons.

2. I don't know. Unknown, for sure, but I assume they are reading and saving same file type. The camera doesn't output a different file type, and capture in hdv is just supposed to be of the 1's and zero's. But there may be some header or flagging that creates issues.

4. (no 3 in my version of the post) I edit in HDV using Premiere Pro 2.0, on a regular basis, for my personal consumption. I don't have a problem with it. Pros will tell you that advantages of editing with Cineform include better color handling, as well as less stress on your processing system, since it isdealing with full frame editing with the resulting .avi. With HDV, each frame is interdependent on other frames withing a group of frames, so it requires more computing power. If you want to stay with 1.51, it does capture in with the Cineform intermediate codec as it comes with 1.51 and you don't need HD Connect. or a separate Cineform program. You can edit with that, so there is no need to go to 2.0 if you are under powered on you system. Cineform intermediates will take up about 3x the drive space, so plan for that too.

(Note: If you have installed HD Connect, or other Cineform trial, when you unistall, it may uninstall the codec that comes with 1.51. I had that happen, and ultimately I had to reinstall 1.51. The uninstall process is suppose to prevent that, but I had a problem and to go the reinstall route eventually to resolve it.)

The PC is the problem. Get on the Mac platform. There are just too many variations of PC's out there by soo many different manufacturers with different Processors, Video cards, ports ect.

Software manufacturers only test their product out on a few different machines. If you insist on PC and/or hate the Mac, at least get a "Turn Key" system that's approved for the software.

Yes, by all means join the Mac crowd so you can pay inflated prices for software, limit your access to software, limit yourself on the mods and changes you can make to your system, and pay through the nose for hardware.