Hello, thanks to everyone in advance, this forum rocks!

Last week I was hired to produce a 1 hour TV weekly show. We are going to shoot in HDV.

We will edit by using Final Cut's multiclip capabilities in an HDV codec sequence (or Apple intermediate codec, whatever works best), and then adding the graphics (animation codec) on top of that.

The client wants to have an HD quality master delivered in a Hard Drive, but we also have to do a SD tape out in DVCAM for the broadcast station.

I'm evaluating the posibility to buy a Blackmagic Intensity or Studio card so that I can output that HDV sequence to DVCAM in realtime without having to render it.

Will this work?
Will the Black Magic Card help my system output realtime via firewire?
Will it only output via analog connections or SDI?
Will I have to change to ProRes in order to have realtime?


We would like to keep the small HDV file size if possible, Pro Res is far heavier.

Any advice would be awesome, so please feel free to do so.

Thanks a lot in advance

I have the Intensity Pro board and yes, this can output via live down-conversion from an HD source. It does through it's outputs (component, hdmi, SDI - depending on which product you have) and will *NOT* output via firewire concurrently.

Does your DV-CAM deck have a SDI input tap or are you going analog input.

Another way, would be to just output to standard dv via firewire - although that would require making another sequence setting @ DV (and thus re-rendering everything @ SD).

I would probably cut the program in ProRes 422 (LT) if I were in your shoes.

Its a lean codec which plays well in FCP and 3rd party capture cards.
HDV file sizes are a plus but file sizes should never dictate your workflow - especially when quality is at stake (in this case, cutting in HDV would both slow editing performance and minimize render quality).

Just get a fast harddrive that is spacious enough to handle ProRes renders.

-C

"Multi-clip"? Do you mean multi-cam? For this to work in HDV, either capture as ProRes or edit HDV files in a ProRes sequence. This will have to be rendered when you finish.

Use Compressor to make a SD DV version and go straight to DVCam tape by FireWire. Make sure if the DVcam version is supposed to be letterboxed or anamorphic (16:9).

Thanks everyone, notes taken! :D