HD For Indies

OK, an extension of what I said yesterday:

There are 4 different ways to get XDCAM HD footage into your Final Cut Pro edit:

Flip4Mac's XDCAM v2 plugin, $500 (also can encode back to XDCAM disc with their FlipFactory HD)

It's $500 but it's out NOW and working. Works with SD AND HD XDCAM HD content, but 1080i50 and 1080i60 only (maybe will change shortly with 1080p24 HDV support coming out last week).

PROS: Works, available, free demo is out there

CONS: But 25mbit only, 25mbit 1080i50 and 1080i60 only according to their website, no 24p, no 18 or 35mbit VBR support, $500 with free alternative due imminently - are there any functional advantages? I don't know yet

Sony's about-to-be-released free plugin (no link yet, sounds like mid-July):

-FREE as in beer, supports 1080p24, 1080i50, 1080i60, even VFR (variable frame rate)
-again only 25 mbit, so no 18 or 35 mbit VBR (variable bitrate)

PROS: free, handles the maximum number of formats natively
CONS: not out yet, no 18/35VBR support

Over HD-SDI without deck control from camera

This is what we did at the Texas HD Shootout - queued up shots on the XDCAM HD disc and played out the HD-SDI and captured uncompressed via an HD-SDI capture card to a SATA RAID. It works, it's good quality, but highly space inefficient - you get 130 MB/sec files instead of 3.6 MB/sec files with the same kind of image quality (in theory, will double check when I can, but differences should be pretty minor)

PROS: works right now for ANY shooting mode (except VFR) if you have the disk array (for uncompressed, could use DVCPRO HD also), so don't have to worry about 35mbit (which is what I'd shoot on anyway)
CONS: requires substantial additional hardware, makes HUGE files, no timecode in, makes HUGE files, 3:2 pulldown removal requires other tools (like After Effects) to do it

Over HD-SDI from camera (or deck) with FireWire deck control

I talked to Joe from Sony at the event he was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, he told me about then sent me this info:

Re: i.LINK (AKA Firewire or IEEE1394) modes.
FAM (File Access Mode)
This lets you access the XDCAM Professional Disc like a hard drive or a rewritable CD drive. You will see the directory structure and all files. You can drag and drop files to and from the Professional Disc with the appropriate tools. This includes standard Windows or OSX tools as well as specific applications. NOTE: There are restrictions on what you can drag to the disc. There are no restrictions on the General folder.

AV/C (AudioVideo/Control)
This lets you access the Audio-Video material on the Professional Disc as streaming media and you can control the media as though it were a DVCAM VTR. The Audio and Video are formatted to conform to DVCAM specifications. This means that the output is downconverted to standard definition video with either 2 channel 16 bit audio or 4 channel 12 bit audio.

At the show you asked if it is possible to output HDSDI video and audio with Firewire control. To accomplish this, you must put the i.LINK connection into the AV/C mode so you can control the deck using the i.LINK (Firewire) port. You would take the Video with embedded audio out of the HDSDI port. Audio is also available separately from the audio monitor port.


....then you'd just need to make a custom capture preset so that deck control is FireWire (as if were DVCAM), but audio and video come over HD-SDI. He then continued:

Re: 24P output formats
Both the camera and deck can record 24P video. The recording is a true 23.98 Frame per Second progressive recording. 3:2 pulldown is never recorded on the disc in HD formats. There are two playout modes for 24P material. These are menu items on the deck. The camera only support one of the playout modes:

24P played out as 24PsF, i.e., true progressive playout.
If this mode is active then SD output is muted since 24P is not defined for SD video.
Only the PDW-F30 and PDW-F70 decks are capable of this mode.
The PDW-F70 has HDSDI and Component Analog HD outputs that support this mode.
The PDW-F30 has Component Analog HD output that supports this mode.
The PDW-F350 and PDW-F330 do not support this mode.

24P played out as 60i with 3:2 pulldown added.
All XDCAM HD equipment is capable of this mode.
If this mode is active then SD output on all SD ports have 3:2 pulldown.
The PDW-F350 and PDW-F330 have the following SD ports: Composite and i.LINK.
The PDW-F70 has the following SD outputs: Composite, SDI, and i.LINK.
The PDW-F30 has the following SD outputs: Composite and i.LINK.
The HD output will match the SD output and run in 60i mode with 3:2 pulldown added.


...so I take that this way: from the CAMERA you CAN play 24p footage back and capture it over HD-SDI, but it's 24p on 60i, so you'd need to use CinemaTools to remove 3:2 pulldown.


PROS & CONS: same as for HD-SDI capture above, but now you have timecode, so CinemaTools is an option for 3:2 pulldown removal, so long as files aren't bigger than 9GB (limitation of CinemaTools).

From the DECK you can capture as true 24PsF...but who wants to buy the deck unless they have to unless you're a post house or can't keep the deck around for capture?

Oh, and there is a fifth option - if you have the deck, I'm betting it has standard nine pin deck control so you could do that...

-mike