export to DV or 10 bit uncompressed?
 

Hi;

I'm about to edit a short film shot on Mini DV (XL2) I have the option of exporting to Digibeta at the end but am wondering if exporting the DV25 project as 10 bit uncompressed codec to a digebeta deck will end up giving me a higher quality master than going back to mini DV or am I missing something? I'm figuring the lower Digibeta tape compression is more favorable than re compressing to miniDV tape?
Thankyou and apologies if this has been asked before, I searched around but couldn't find anything.

Olly

If it is miniDV footage, than a DV timeline is as uncompressed as it is going to get. You buy nothing signal wise by dropping it into a 10-bit Uncompressed timeline, rendering, and exporting it to Digibeta. In fact, it may even compress the image slightly.

Export it to DV. If you need a digibeta copy, then dub it.

Hi;

Thanks Shane, I was basicly assuming that putting the signal back to mini DV would send it through the same 5:1 tape compression again but I guess once it's been compressed the first time it need never happen again! I will take your advice and have a good conversion to Digibeta made from the Mini DV master....

Olly

Hi;

Once again this question has cropped up, I've recently read that taking a minidv signal into FCP via firewire and then changing it's codec to 10bit uncompressed will yield superior results when colour correcting, (as long as one stays within the 10bit uncompressed codec and does not convert back to the DV codec for mastering) Could anyone explain why this may or may not be the case?
Thankyou;

Olly

I've exported both files, quicktime dv and 10 bt uncompressed, and, believe me, 10 bit uncompressed looks a lot SHARPER, and overall better. I don't know why, but there really is a difference.

DV frame size is 720X480 while uncompressed may be 720X486. Maybe uncompressed looks a lot better because the DV is being re-scaled. DV footage in a 720X486 sequence should not be re-scaled. You need to move the frame down two pixels or four pixels (I forget which).