HD For Indies

Hey all, it's late, I'm beat, drove 6 hours today, including a mad 200 mile dash in under 3 hours from 4 to 7pm to catch Superman Returns (shot on Panavision Genesis, BTW).

So here's the quickie scoop on XDCAM HD & FCP stuff:

-25mbit only - 18/35 in progress, not yet
-1080p24 IS included, as well as 1080i60 and 1080i50
-FireWire capture
-FREE Sony software
-supposedly available now/real soon, but link I found doesn't work
-NO Canon 24F or JVC 24p support at this time, they're working on it
-for 18 or 35mbit, you CAN use FireWire deck control (put camera in AVC mode, that's Audio Video Control something or other, not Advanced Video Codec), then capture over HD-SDI - so FireWire deck control, HD-SDI ingest
-when doing that HD-SDI capture, the CAMERA kicks out 24p as 1080p24on60i, the DECK kicks out a true 1080psf (Sony style 1080p) - so that's an advantage of the deck

Thursday Update - it'll be interesting to see if the Flip4Mac software offers any advantages over Sony's, other than the fact that as of right now, the Sony software isn't available yet (where is it!!???!!). I could see Flip4Mac dropping their price in the next month. It is tough to compete with free. I found out Greg Boston, who was at the Texas HD Shootout, now owns the camera that we had there and is a few hours drive away, so I'll probably collaborate with him to check out the plugin.

Full notes below, probably more good stuff, too tired to glean'em right now:

got here late, looks like they have a Sony 4K projector running...Woooooow

1/2 million Final Cut (all versions) seats out there

got installs - ABC, NBC, CBS, fox, CNN, etc.

Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, paramount, Unviersal, WB have all cut major features w/FCP

current standing:

FCP 5.1 shipping,
-FCP no longer standalone
-MacBook Pros are 2.5x faster than Powerbooks
-OK, it's official -XDCAM HD native editing is listed
-"touch the video as little as possible"
-only one version of FCP - not a bunch of steps
-
Native XDCAM HD suprt

requires FCS 5.1.1
Sony XDCAM transfer software
1080i50/60, 1080p24, and VFR
-24mbit CBR (not 35)

BTW - the projector looks FANTASTIC - tack sharp and good! It's the high end Sony 4K monster
-over 600 customizable commands and tools (hey - make the stuff a button or key command!) in FCP
-can add shots to a multicam clip at any time - handy!
-"works with MacBook Pro DVI output" - so maybe that Dig. Cinema Desktop for MacBook? No?
-Fincher uses a 65" plasma monitor using Digital Cinema Desktop
-Compressor - ask about the green sparklies? Play w/5.1.1
-HEY - can install Compressor nodes at no additional charge!
-Import-Sony XDCAM menu
-launches the external app
-you get visual preview of all your shots, each clip is read off the disc, can do an offline logging session
-pop in the cartridge, then you go online
-on left side you ahve a list of discs have worked with or are installed,
-on top are thumbnails
-on bottom is picture preview, transport controls, on bottom right list of all metadata associated w/clips
-go go into a previewed clip and mark In and Outs, then click the Plus button and it'll add that to the queue to be imported
-on the preview clip itself, it puts a little IN/OUT text on each clip's preview so you can telll when they've been set
-the little window on the lower right shows q'd per shot
-you can Sort By Subclips and it'll put all the marked stuff up front
-there's a checkbox for importing to FCP
-get a little queue of these working
-the dock icon shows how many shots left to pull in
-shots appear in your bins in FCP as they are sent from the Sony app
-how fast is importing? Dunno
-realtime XDCAM HD cross dissolve
-on MacBook Pro, XDCAM HD plays back realtime, even with a 3way color corrector (auto balance and saturation adjusted)
-can save color corrections as favorite then drag & drop to other clips, even in bulk
-could also do a two HD shot composite (PIP essentially)
-playing multiple clips, it drops to 1/2 rate with 2 or 3 clips, with six clips it is 1/4 frame rate, but snaps right back to full speed when you get back to a single clip
-realtime Motion performance, playing back XDCAM HD shot, adding filters that play back realtime....wow, it's pretty impressive off the MacBook Pro!
-can leave the clip looping and playing while you mess around with settings
-saving settings as a favorite is POWERFUL - can do batch stuff!
-any way to get Motion to do that? Could be done for pulldown stuff? Get Graeme to write Motion plugin?
-CAN export back to Sony XDCAM HD
-has to conform for a GOP structure, then writes it to disk, so expect it to take just as long as HDV conforming as well
-Shake now $499
-working on it
-can create disc images of the XDCAM HD discs on the computer and access it as such
-loading previews of clips takes a few seconds per shot in general
-keyboard commands are all the same as FCP keystrokes
-on import, writing files to your designated folder (set in Sony app not FCP)
-Canon and JVC - not yet, in testing and stuff
-within a week for Greg's question
-plugin in theory available now
-Q: edit w/low res proxies and relink? A: no, not at this time, and not much benefit to doing so
-OH! and this connects via FireWire to transfer data, not GigE
-faster than realtime import, 3-3.5X realtime
-but anywhere from 1.5-3.5 times faster than realtime
-frame accumulation can work with time lapse
-Aurora Borealis shots were done with time lapse with frame accumulation
-in frame accumulation form 2-64 frames
-2, 3, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 frames
-YES you can get FireWire deck control for HD-SDI input (decks or cameras or both?)
-undercranking is 4fps, timelapse starts at 1fps
-firmware upgradeability? upgrade by memory stick (and that works now)
-the H264 based stuff is destined to be consumer only according to Sony rep
-XDCAM uses MPEG-4 for the proxies
-35mbit MPEG-2 with current chipset does better than anything around that bitrate according to Sony guy....I sincerely don't believe that, since the Canon looked better to my & Adam Wilt's eye
-

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Questions to ask:
-green sparklies when 10 bit converting in Compressor?
not asked
-XDCAM HD - what about 18/35 mbit - when? no comment, working on it

-how does VFR (variable frame rate) work? not asked

-does Apple plan on supporting 18&35 mbit?

YES

-saw the 1080p24 HDV codec, so does that mean Canon XL H1 24F support?
working on it
-what about JVC GY-HD100U 24p support?
working on it

-720p25 support? not asked

-back to XDCAM HD conforming - same time as HDV?
Shake - end of developmental life?

-JVC & Canon 24p & 24F HDV support in this version? NO

-when's plugin ship? supposedly now, but can't find it

End notes. Must crash. More tomorrow, including comments on Superman Returns.