Shane,
Wow. Thanks for the super fast and well thought out reply! This forum is a great resource.
Yes, this shoot/compatibility issue was a result of some dangerous assumptions by myself—trying to keep our shoot in the HD realm (all previous interviews were shot with a Varicam) instead of going HDV, which, after some research, would actually cut nicely with the Varicam footage. For various reasons the format decisions were being decided at the 11th hour and we went with the P2 workflow looking at the whole thing from the camera to the edit—which I can see clearly now is a backwards approach. Should have made a plan that started from the final output to to the edit platform to shoot logistics to the camera decision. Good lesson, that.
Yes, I did:
1. Send him the original .mxf files containing both the "Contents" and "Last Clip.text" files. So he should be cool on that front—as I can import those exact files into FCP and get good clips with good timecode.
2. Do P2 imports into FCP 5.0.4, which it translated into Final Cut Pro Movies. That's actually what I sent him as backups.
Sorry, I mistakenly said that I did a QT export. (I've tried so many things of late, it's hard to keep track of things. Ha.) Thanks, I now know the difference between .mov and the actual codec, and why FCP files are not necessarily universal. They don't teach you this stuff in prison-er, I mean grade school. (humor)
"dvhp" was something I saw during my google-fest, trying to figure out these issues. If you go to:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/QuickTime/APIREF/CodecTypeConstants.htm
you'll see this line:
kDVCPROHD720pCodecType = 'dvhp'
I wasn't sure what people commonly called this codec. (besides !#**$%#!)
I actually asked him before the shoot what exact platform he was working on, and should have badgered him for an accurate answer, as opposed to "...an Avid on my PC." I don't think he realized at the time that these are crucial questions, as he is used to being given a nice little format-agnostic tape, and getting on an airplane. Apparently, neither did I. But I do think that he must have the capability, as he has produced a rough cut of previously shot footage that was captured with the Varicam. He's not a full-on tech geek (as you often must be), he's pretty much a documentary producer/director that's forced to use technology to get his product out.
Bottom line, I need to talk to him instead of trading emails, as this should be a simple thing for him using the .mxf files—even though you say that he should be able to view the QT's.
Oh, to answer your question, my client has a modest Avid, and he uses the term "offline" (I think) to say that he's simply rough cutting content—but not necessarily at low res. (If that was the case and a paper cut was all he was after, I could burn him some window prints and let him have at it with a legal pad and pencil... Don't I wish. Ha.) My client's hometown cameraman who shot most of this doc on his personal Varicam, has a big rig Avid of some sort. He will be doing the edit, apparently. My deal is that I just want this to work for them, so they have a great program, and so I can quit stressing.
One weird issue still lingers for me. My client should have access to .mxf files. Understood, cool. But why couldn't he view the .mov files? I get the impression from searching online that Apple's DVCPro HD codec is
not Quicktime supported (even for playback) on Windows machines. Is it because they are actually FCP Movie files in .mov format, and not true "Quicktime" files? He said he's updated to the latest version of Quicktime, as I have on my wife's PC. Neither of us have had any luck. Do you think the Pro upgrade would solve it? I've tried VLN (VideoLan), touted as a pretty universal player that should be able to view these files. No luck on that front either.
God, I love my Mac.
(Just FYI...EVERY FCP system running 5.0.4 and QT 7.0.3 supports DVCPRO HD from a P2 card...and any FCP system running 4.5 and QT 6.5 is compatible with the DVCPRO HD format).<</div>
Cool. Thanks, really good to know.
Oh, by the way—the HVX200 was a rental. Didn't have enough time before the shoot to get to know it well enough. Loved the camera, and would love the workflow once well versed in it. Transitions are hard. Great idea on dumping footage to DV, but no longer have the camera, cards or P2 Store device.
We shot 60+ GB of stuff. This camera is great for indie film and commercial use, but documentary will require some creative workflow adjustments, and a shift backwards in thinking to the old days of 16mm, and the considerations that issues like mag changes and stock/processing costs bring to the table. One thing's for sure—that camera is sure going to sell a few Macs, as indie (lower budget) newcomers to the business will go with FCP if for nothing else than financial reasons, instead of going the Avid/PC route.
Again Shane, thanks so much for the great response. If you ever need anything in the Pacific NW, just holler.
Cheers,
Tom DeCuir
Dual 1.8 G5/1GB/160+250 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
