24F and 60i on same tape?
 

I dont remeber if I read this somewhere, but will it mess anything up on the tape if I go from recording in 60i to 24F on the same tape, or can i safley switch back and forth? (As long as i import correctly, of course)

I've switched from 60i to 30F to 24F many times with no problems with the tape. Be careful when capturing though

Have recorded all possible formats (ie:dv, hdv, 24f, 30f, 60i) all on a single tape with no issues. After capturing in Vegas 7 you can easily preview and check to make sure that each clip has the correct format mode.

James -when doing 24F, do you capture HDV natively in Vegas 7? Or do you use one of the intermediate codecs - e.g., Cineform? Do you edit using the 24p 3:2 pulldown deal?

When you are capturing in Vegas 7 it is saved as a M2T (Mpeg 2) file with a resolution of 1440X1080/23.976fps video clip. I guess this is considered natively capturing it. I also don't think that during the capture stage there is really any consideration regarding pulldown....it's just capturing the cameras digitial signal.


Loading 24f material into the Vegas timeline I uncheck the pulldown option from the vegas preferences. I then choose the HDV 1080 24p project properties. This translates into working with the original 1440X1080 23.976fps file which preserves the original aspect ratio/size/frame rate perfectly.

One note here...this is assuming that the video is going to end up on a HD television. The HD 1080 24p project properties will work as well. The difference being either rectangular pixels with HDV, or square pixels with HD. The HD properties may work better when your final broadcast is for computer monitors.
Since the camera seems to natively use HDV 1440X1080 pixels (at least that's what the M2T file and manual technical specs would indicate), I assume that the camera is using a rectangluar pixelated CCD system and the HDV project properties in Vegas would be the best match.


For rendering I render to a the HDV 1080 24p intermediate codec which is again 1440X1080/23.976frps. This does used the cineform V2.5 HD codec.

Thats it! For final delivery I currently do two things...either burn to standard DVD and allow DVD architect to convert the HDV file to SD (it does a great job!) or leave it as the HDV intermediate file on the computer for download to the net either as is, or compressed further into quicktime/wmv/etc.

Whew...!!! that made my brain hurt.

Capture 60i
 

James, do you do the same process when you capture footage that was shot in 60i? I am having a difficult time capturing 60i footage from my XL2 into Premiere Pro 2.0. I know that you were talking about Vegas 7, but if I can duplicate the process in Adobe than it's worth a shot.

60i is much the same. Keep in mind I am talking about high def 16:9 aspect stuff with a resolution of 1440X1080 so it would be a different than whats coming in from an XL2.

Basically I am capturing files as their native m2t format. Which is the mpeg 2 compresion scheme for HDV. If I were capturing standard definition I would be using Vegas's DV codec.

What is the nature of your capture problem? In all likelyhood it is not so much the capture codec that is an issue.