Format, m2t or QuickTime, from gy-hd100?

[Jeff Troiano]

As I posted prior, some friends are using the gy-hd100 for a project. I'm going to be taking the footage and getting it setup in final cut pro, for editing. I am new to fcp, so this may be a stupid question. But here goes...

They called and asked with format they should film in, m2t or QuickTime. I told them QuickTime, since I would have to convert the m2t for edit in fcp any ways. I just wanted to make sure I gave them correct information?

Any advice would be greatly welcomed. Am I over my head with this? In my current abilities, most definitely, but I have faith in myself, and since I'm not being paid, nor do they have any budget to pay anyone, this is a great learning experience for myself.

[Jeff Troiano]

I forgot to mention, they are recording to a camera mounted 80gig hard drive, with back up to tape.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

While importing, apple always "re-wraps" any footage into it's own mov file.

If you are recording on a windows machine (hard drive), these quicktimes will most likely not be used directly but will have to be transcoded. Since you have no control over the ingest of footage the best option is to get the tapes and import directly into fcp either via the camera (as vtr) or using a VTR.

If this is not possible, then take what you get and let apple do its thing. The quality loss (if any) for the kind of project you are probably doing might not be an issue. Based on your requirements, you might want to transcode to Prores, perhaps?

[Jeff Troiano]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll just see what they send me. I don't know that they are recording onto tape. They are going straight to an 80 gig drive, thats connected to the camera via firewire. Then they are sending the footage to a network drive I have set up.

I don't know anything about this JVC camera or how it works. All I know is he called me and asked which I would want Quicktime files, or m2t files. Since I will be working in FCP, and quicktime is an apple format, I told him to film and send it to me in that. But I figured, as you mentioned, I might have to change it to proress, no matter what I got.

They borrowed the camera from someone, so I'm pretty sure they don't know much about it either. Sad thing is, this is for a project that might actually go to air. (its a travel channel type show)

[Marty Jenoff]

If they are shooting HD probably best to shoot M2T and if DV then Quicktime.

I don't have any first hand experience with this, but I past posts I've read it's been recommended to do this. People have had problems with HD quicktime files. If I can find the original postings I'll post them to this forum.

[Marty Jenoff]

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/divergen...quicktime.html

[Robert Adams]

Jeff - I would strongly suggest your colleagues shoot two fifteen second clips, one in each format, and send them to you (using a file transfer like yousendit or fetch or whatever) so you can see what you are dealing with and give them some feedback before they do the shoot.

Whenever I work for a new client I send them a test file, with some moves, some light changes, split audio on both channels, some sharp detail, and some heavy contrast. You can get all this into four shots in a 15 second clip shot in your backyard in daylight. Generally it's all fine. Sometimes I - or the client - get to see problems early enough to fix them without any cost.

Happy new year.

All the best

R

[Jeff Troiano]

Originally Posted by Marty Jenoff

If they are shooting HD probably best to shoot M2T and if DV then Quicktime.

I don't have any first hand experience with this, but I past posts I've read it's been recommended to do this. People have had problems with HD quicktime files. If I can find the original postings I'll post them to this forum.

Thanks for the help. Yes they are shooting in 30p720. From what I think I have read, that frame rate wasn't a problem. I think I've read it was the 24p720 people had problems with. I did leave a message for them to do a test shot of each format and send to me. They are down in the Virgin Islands filming a travel channel type show (although its not for the travel channel, but some knock off cable channel, that has travel channel like programing)

While I know its not what its meant for, I've setup a pogo plug. If you don't know what a pogo plug is, its pretty neat. You plug it into your router, set it up online, and then download a small program to your computer, and it adds a virtual drive. Right now I have a 2tb drive hooked up to it. They are going to be uploading footage every day, and I will be taking that footage, and start assembling it into something. Then we will video conference and whittle it down to 22min episodes. I can cut things together, render out a small version of the video, put it back on the pogo plug drive, and they can stream it or download it. We can all watch, and make final cuts or changes together. Cost was less then $100, and there are no addition monthly fees. It was made to setup a media drive, music movies and stuff, and be shared by families. Has an Iphone/droid app, that if I put music on it, I could listen to over my phone. Can hook up 4 drives at same time, or more with a usb extender.

[Marty Jenoff]

Very interesting. Curious how long it takes them to upload those HD files?

Looks like a good alternative to my FTP site or yousendit. Also might be a good way to back up projects.

[Jeff Troiano]

Originally Posted by Marty Jenoff

Very interesting. Curious how long it takes them to upload those HD files?

Looks like a good alternative to my FTP site or yousendit. Also might be a good way to back up projects.

A lot depends on the size of the file. I tested it with a 24fps 1080p clip, that was just under 2g, and it took 13 min to upload. I've had it up for a week now, have taken video and photos with my iphone, and uploaded them, then streamed the footage onto my computer. Downloading is a bit faster, but I really wasnt worried about that, since I will just unplug the drive I need and connect straight to the computer, to get the footage. With the amount of footage they will be filming, it will probably be one of those, start the upload, and go to sleep, and hope its done by morning. Many internet companies limit upload speeds, to try and prevent illegal file sharing. We had to go this route, because they will have any where from 50 to 100 gigs a day of footage.

[Brian Luce]

As I recall, the Firestores that can record in QT are optimized for FCP, so you should shoot QT. But test first. PC's like m2t better.

[Phil Balsdon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Troiano

They called and asked with format they should film in, m2t or QuickTime. I told them QuickTime, since I would have to convert the m2t for edit in fcp any ways. I just wanted to make sure I gave them correct information?

This is the correct information. The camera was designed to record Quicktime files that can be brought directly into FCP. As long as you match your FCP settings to match the Quicktimes there will be no rendering etc.