Status of LumiereHD and FX1
 

Aloha,

What is the status of LumiereHD being able to work with footage from the FX1?

I can currently capture footage, but nothing else works yet.

Will future versions of LumiereHD be able to capture with timecode from the FX1? Being able to use in and out points to capture HDV footage from the FX1 would be great.

If you have a beta version of LumiereHD I would be very interested in helping. I am currently doing a feature with two FX1's and a solid post solution would be great.

Dustin,

We will release a beta to all our customers on Tuesday.

The beta won't allow to go back to the camera but will allow for everything else, including MPEG2 Transport Stream encoding in 1080i 25 Mbps for output to DVHS decks.

Mahalo...

Frederic
Lumiere HD

The beta with support for the FX1 has now been released.

It is available to our customers on our website.

Frederic

Frederic,

Thank you! I am already capturing with the beta version.

Will there be any future versions of LumiereHD that support timecode? I really want to be able to put in and out point and have LumiereHD capture just the sections of the tape I need.

Dustin,

timecode...hmmm perhaps with the Z1

Frederic

Sooooo....
Hows it going editing with the FX-1 and FCP? Is the Lumiere beta version doing the trick?
Problems? Work arounds?
Anyone using a G4 dual 1 gig?

Thanks-

Jeff Patnaude

Hi, I just purchased an FX1 and I am now finding out I have more and more money I need to spend D:

I am leaning towards a G5/FCP system, and then purchasing this plugin.

My question is, do you have any users using HDV VTR's or decks, or does your plugin support this option?

although I do not have some kind of deck right now, I am used to an editing workstation with one, and I am trying to save the heads on the camera.

does Lumiere support deck control or support in any way?

thanks, sorry if this was asked before.

Evan,

Yes Lumiere HD supports the DVHS 30K deck from JVC.

We are now working on compatibility with the 40K.

Frederic

FYI, there are similar deck support options for PCs with the Canopus Edius NX and Edius SP, which happen to be well ahead of what you can do with HDV on Macs. I'd steer clear of Macs for HDV work until Apple ships a proper self-contained solution, which by recent accounts appears to be some way off.

Kevin,

I think the Apple vs. PC debate when talking about HDV is irrelevant.

HDV is just a format and most professional editors aren't going to change their editing system and OS to accomodate for a format amongst others.

As we have all witnessed over the years, release after release, NLEs outdo each other and I think it would be silly to switch everytime an NLE releases more features or support for a format.

As far as Lumiere HD competing with Canopus, well... we do our best. We're a small company trying to offer the best product we can.

Frederic

<<<I think the Apple vs. PC debate when talking about HDV is irrelevant.>>>

For most other things I'd be inclined to agree, but in this particular case it's clear the PC platform is leaps and bound ahead of Macs for doing HDV work. Maybe that won't matter to a whole lot of people, but for someone like the fellow who just bought an FX1, there are better ways for him to edit the footage than to buy a G5 Mac for that. If people really want to try to edit HDV on Macs that's fine with me, but it simply doesn't sound like the workflow is efficient and there are issues with using the DVCProHD codec for editing. Just want people to know they have other options, and that for right now PCs are worth considering.

PCs are always worth considering. ;)

Frederic

Kevin,

Let me ask you a question. What are the most important things for you to have when editing HDV? In order of importance?

Frederic

<<<What are the most important things for you to have when editing HDV? In order of importance?>>>

One of my top priorities for any video work is that I can get it done as quickly as possible. Based on everything I've heard, there isn't currently any real-time solution for getting HDV footage into Final Cut Pro for editing, so right from the start the workflow is significantly hampered. If that one problem could be solved effectively I'd say Macs at least have a practical solution for dealing with HDV, which I would not say today.

Another one of my priorities is being able to edit on my laptop. I expect this to be a bit of a challenge for HDV, but I know of at least two shipping editing applications which should be able to do functional HDV editing on the laptop I currently own. Hard drive issues will be the limiting factor there.

After that it's the usual editing issues plus figuring out how to output finished HDV projects. My current plan would be to encode to Windows Media HD at 720p resolution and burn to a standard DVD, until we have some better way to distribute HD content.

I also know people who think it will be critical to have real-time monitoring of HDV editing projects. I assume there's hardware people can buy to generate realtime HD output from FCP-HD, but how much does that cost?

For PCs there are at least five currently-shipping video editing applications that directly support HDV capture & editing, and at least two of those appear to meet my needs. For Macs I see no direct support of HDV at all, and the workarounds available sound rather awkward. I'm surprised Apple hasn't addressed this issue themselves yet.

I am not trying to start a flame fest, but I have already made the descsion of which editing system I will be going with (2x G5/ FCP) I have a 1080i CRT studio monitor and from what I hear, all PC applications (except maybe Avid) have problems with a monitor

You yourself just admitted that your top priority is getting something done fast....so you will take whatever is on the market and claims to work. I am stressing over a workflow right now too, but you have to forgive the camera and format for being so new.

Basically there are only two editing systems in LA, Avid and FCP (to a smaller extent). All other programs are not even mentioned, much less used or taken seriously. I am not talking about your friend with the Xl1 and a canopus capture card who goes to American River Community College, I am talking about post production houses.

I already have access to someone else's PC-Based avid suite, so all that is left is a FCP system @ home. My editor would laugh in my face if I tried to get him to cut on anything else.

right.

so...i guess...in conclusion...I think the worst possible thing we could do right now is grab whatever is on the table first.

This is a new format we are talking about, I just spent thousands on this camera + equipment, so why would I want to buy whatever crappy software worked first? Unfortunatley it takes more time for the "bigger" guys to get on board. I mean, we dont even have a deck from sony available.