Re: Do I really need a capture card for editing hdv? Help!

Hi Buck,

Just to make things a bit more insane...there is almost no information in this thread that I disagree with...

No, I'm not insane...or at least I remain undiagnosed...

Part of this deal is workflow and what you ultimately need to do with the footage, as several of these responses indicate.

You can certainly ingest/cut/export back to tape via firewire with most HDV variant camcorders and NLE combinations...as has also been mentioned.

The catch is that you would be doing a strict data transfer into your editor in this situation. HDV is long GOP MPEG with 8 bit palette precision. I've used it quite a bit...it definitely works for tons of stuff and as Douglas mentioned, if it's well shot by someone who knows what they're doing, it's easily broadcast-able.

Here is where I would maybe take a moment to examine what your end purpose is...nature stock footage. To me this screams "FUSSY COLOR CORRECTION" (I only use all upper case when I'm screaming...or abbreviating states or provinces). I'd have to say that Michael's recommendation for the JVC LCD monitor (about $5K USD) is a good way to go. I'd also suggest an HDSDI I/O card (that Kona that Michael mentions). Do you NEED it strictly speaking? Well, if you only plan on shooting your camera at 25 Mbps HDV, maybe not to simply get the footage onto the machine, but you have to consider a couple of things:

1.) The EX1 is capable of higher data rates than strictly HDV and if you ever decide to look at an external recording device to use HDSDI-downstream from the camera like the soon arriving Convergent Design Flash XDR recorder (recording 160 Mbits, 4:2:2 I-frame will really help with masses of fluttering leaves in the distance, believe me...), you won't have an HDV/XDcamHD compliant stream anyway...

and 2.) All these native formats are 8 bit with 256 discrete levels in each color channel...it sounds like a lot until you try to do some subtle color correction on it and suddenly you're attempting brain surgery with a battle axe...

Having a card like the Kona will enable you to ingest your footage from the HDSDI output of the camera and you can choose to move into a 10 bit, I-frame format (each bit doubles the palette precision so 8 bits is 256 steps, 9 bit would be 512, and 10 bits is 1024 discrete steps with each color channel...you just went from 16,777,216 possible color subtleties at 8 bit to 1,073,741,824 at 10...that'll help dial in the coat gradations on that Hunter's Hartebeest...).

Now of course, you can't "add back" any color that isn't there in the camera, but it does allow you to make much more subtle, precise adjustments...important is nature footage, particularly footage that you are selling.

Also, having an HDSDI output to feed that JVC monitor gives you an actual video output that you can not only view, but you can also run a scope on... Using a computer-based display card to feed a monitor via DVI is a dicey proposition as the display card is typically affecting the signal in some way, if nothing else, it's an RGB structured signal vs a video Color Difference (Y'CbCr) structured signal, which is what the video will be once it's moved back to tape, and is what the HDSDI pipe is handling. Therefore, even using the JVC monitor in both cases, the HDSDI feed will be a more dependable rendition of the finished product than a DVI feed from the computer's display card.

(also...keep in mind that you will nedd a dual-link DVI card to feed that 30" LCD display...this is not the same as dual-head, dual-link DVI gets you beyond the 1920x1200 pixel ceiling of standard, single-link DVI, which a 30" LCD won't even go down to...)

So I guess in your situation, I might lean toward a workflow where you can push your footage into 10 bit territory for post...the Kona route with the JVC monitor.

Good luck with your decision.




TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Creative Cow Host,
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