HDCAM to SD for Offline using FCP 6.x

Hi Everyone,

A project recently came in requesting us to Pull in SD material (DVCPRO50 requested) for an offline edit. The material was shot using the Sony F900 and the DP said that he shot it at 24p. The Producer rented the Sony J-H3 HDCAM deck and brought it to us with his 64 tape masters.

Our facility has two mirrored editing suites (2.66 and 3.0GHz quad-cores with 4-5GB Ram, 2.5 TB RAID enclosures & Blackmagic Decklink HD Extreme cards)

After setting up the deck, finding the frequency setting of 24PsF compatible with the tape format, we tested bringing in a 10 minute clip using the HD-SDI ports in it's native HD format; and the footage looks amazing.

However, the request was to digitize the footage to the HD for an offline edit, and here is where we run into problems of either no video/audio and/or error messages.

• Blackmagic tech support states that it needs to be 1080i/720p to be down-converted using their cards and does not interface with the 1080PsF 24 EXCEPT for digitizing in the native format.

• Using a MoTu provided by a colleague in our building, we've tested and found that during the Setup and workflow, it Disables ANY SD down conversion options and only allows for the native format when it reads the 1080PsF 24 material.

• Speaking with an engineering rep from the deck's rental company, he said that the deck, even though mentions that it has downconverting capabilities, it MIGHT only be able to downconvert 29.97 PsF and 23.98PsF w/ Pull Down because those are easier formats to convert to, and that the J-H3 is rather limited in it's functionality, and that perhaps a higher-end HDCAM deck might be able to do what we set out to do.

I have read several posts on this forum that have mentioned FCP 6, Blackmagic Decklink cards, HDCAM and the J-H3, however I have not seen a post that has listed them all, or similar to our situation at our facility. If anyone might have any insight, advise and/or suggestions, I would be extremely appreciative and say thank you now, in advance.

I look forward in hearing from you.

Regards,
-James