XDcam HD Workflow Question
 

I have a question about Xdcam workflow..... my question is can you successfully go from start to finish on a project using Xdcam & Final Cut Pro without the PDW70/30 Deck? I mean can I film in HD 35MB, edit in FCPro and export to DVD and/or HD DVD for playback on a standard DVD Player or a HD DVD Player? Or would i need the Deck to do this? and what benefits would the Deck give?

Hey Brian,

I don't own a deck, so I can't speak to what advantages it offers, but I have shot, edited and mastered all without one. I use an F350 and have filmed a 30 minutes television show @ 35Mbps, cut it in Final Cut Pro (which is an absolute joy.. the workflow is awesome) and then mastered back to XDCAM disc.

I have also used Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro to make DVD versions of my edits. I know that DVD Studio Pro has HD-DVD capabilities, though you would need an HD-DVD burner to output that way.

Hope that helps in some way.

Jeremy Spruston

Thanks Jeremy, very helpful.... i presume that your DVD versions were downcoverted to SD? what was the quality of the DVD versions? I'd imagine they were very good.

Master back with firewire or SDI?
 

When you master back to the camera do you have to use SDI? I read on this forum that the firewire is for output only.

Tip

DVDSP can also create an HD-DVD on standard red laser DVD media. The running times won't be that long and the end user would either need a set top HD-DVD unit, or a Mac. One caveat is that you must render your HD-DVD in MPEG2 for compatibility with set-top boxes. They don't understand MPEG4, or at least they didn't when they first came out.

So you don't need a special burner unless you need the longer running time that a true HD-DVD would give you.

regards,

-gb-

Thanks Greg, I guess you really do learn something new everyday!

Tip: Sony supplies an XDCAM Exporter (along with the Importer) that will write back to the disc using File Access Mode through FCP.

Brian: For my DVD versions, yes they are downconverted into an Anamorphic DV file. They do look pretty nice, but nothing compares to the original HD signal.

Jeremy Spruston

Hi Jeremy

Did you export an anamorphic DV version directly from FCP for your DVD, or did you roundtrip from the camera (ie re-import the finshed and exported piece via firewire, from the camera, using the camera's hardware downconversion)

Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy,

I exported an anamorphic version through FCP. It turned out pretty nice, though I still find the FCP downconversion a little shoddy. That could be because I am so used to looking at an HD source though.

Jeremy, there is an interesting workflow posted at http://www3.telus.net/bonsai detailing one HDV users method for producing good quality downcoversions for DVD ... it may worth a look to see whether it can be any use to your own DVD workflow

Hey thanks Andy! That makes a huge difference in the downconversion quality. I've been trying a ton of different methods to get XDCAM downconversions to looks better but that's one of the best.

Thanks again.