HD wedding video, help!
by Michael Kwan
on
Jan 3, 2008 at 6:43:44 pm
Hi,
I got married a few months ago and hired a professional to videotape (HD) my wedding. I've been a video enthusiast in SD video for a long time so I thought I should be able to handle the editing myself.
He shot in HDV, and I asked him to simply give me the tapes and I can borrow a HDV camcorder to capture it myself (to save cost). I am a PC user and I borrowed a HDV camcorder, but it couldn't read the tapes, so I had to give the tapes back to the videographer and pay him to capture them in a portable hard drive for me.
Now I got the hard drive back, but I can't read the files. They're in MOV format, but I just can't open them no matter how I try. He captured them using Final cut pro; I did some research and found that PC don't seem to be able to read MAC-captured HD video format, so now I'm stuck.
A few questions, hopefully somebody can give some advice:
1. He captured the files into separate folders, but I realize that each tape is only a few GB in size, range from 3GB to 8GB. I thought each DV tape should hold up to 13 GB in size. Why is the file size so small? Is it because when FCP captures it it compress it into a different format? He said that he captured it lossless.
2. Is there any other way I can edit the footages myself without having him re-capture the tapes all over again or having him to do the conversion? Because if then I'll have to pay him again.
3. Based on a sample file (see below), does the file look compressed or is it still in its original format?
Thank you so much.
Note: I can use quicktime to open the file but there's no picture, just audio. The Movie Info shows the following:
Format: HDV 720p24, 1280x720(1248x702), Millions
16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Left, 48.000 kHz
16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Right, 48.000 kHz
Movie FPS: 23.98
Data Size: 36.25 MB
Data Rate: 2.39 MB
Duration: 00:00:15:04
Normal Size: 1248x702 pixels
Current Size: 1248x702 pixels
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Michael Palmer on Jan 3, 2008 at 8:02:08 pm
The best solution is to get the original HDV device from the videographer and capture directly into your editing software. Or if you only intend on making SD DVD's then have him down convert to and re-capture to DV files for you. Just keep the original HDV tape for later.
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Michael Kwan on Jan 3, 2008 at 8:17:14 pm
That is a solution but very expensive because I'll have to rent his equipment. Having him to do the conversion is also expensive. If I'm spending the money, I would rather buy a Macbook because I'm planning to get one, but that'll be at least a few months from now.
The important thing is the captured files, because I may have a mac one day soon, but probably not a camcorder that can read the tapes. One important question, does the file size look ok to you? If so, that means the files are in good format, and I'll just keep the file until I find a way to convert it, or until I buy a Mac.
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Kevin Shaw on Jan 3, 2008 at 11:44:41 pm
This sounds like a case of miscommunication which your videographer should have been able to avoid, but given where you are now you'll probably either have to get the files in a different format or buy a Mac to edit them. My original recommendation would have been to ask for a copy of the tapes in widescreen DV format which you could easily have edited, saving the HDV masters for future reference. Another option would be to find out what brand of HDV camera your videographer used and buy the least expensive one of those, which isn't too expensive for the Sony and Canon camera lines.
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Kevin Shaw on Jan 4, 2008 at 6:42:34 pm
These sound like files from a JVC HDV camera, in which case there may not be an inexpensive way to play them because they don't have much in the way of consumer-priced models. The file sizes do seem a little low but that could be because they're in 720p format at 24 fps, which uses less space than HDV 1080i/p at ~12 GB/hour. I don't see an easy way out at this point other than buying a Mac with the latest version of Final Cut Pro, or asking to have the footage recaptured as widescreen DV in a PC file format.
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Zak Mussig on Jan 4, 2008 at 4:16:58 pm
Michael,
I'm not trying to hassle you, but you're in for a rough ride if you don't just pay the guy to edit for you.
You're buying a Mac... which is a good, but isn't all that you need. These are native HDV QT files, so, as far as I understand, they can't be edited in iMovie. iMovie transcodes to a format called the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) when capturing HDV video. You need at least Final Cut Express. The files are also 24 fps (a shooting decision I don't agree with for wedding videography), and I don't know off the top of my head whether FCE will edit 24p HDV. You need to check that out before you buy to software. If you need FCP you should take into account that running Final Cut Pro on a MacBook isn't officially supported.
Suddenly, it seems a lot cheaper to just have the other guy edit the video for you, or at least paying him to transcode those HDV files to DV AVIs (or whatever file you're set up to deal with.
Those are just some of my thoughts... hope that helps a bit,
Zak
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Michael Kwan on Jan 4, 2008 at 4:57:06 pm
Hi Zak,
You're right... I didn't know the FCP part. He told me any mac could play the file so I assumed that iMovie could edit it. If I have to buy the Final cut pro.. then the story would be quite different.
Re: HD wedding video, help! by Scott Cumbo on Jan 5, 2008 at 12:36:41 am
Just go to a dub house and have them transfer the HDV tapes
to minidv for you. or rent the JVC HDV deck for a day and come SD into your PC through firewire. both those solutions won't break the bank.
Ta-da! A winner. Rent a BR 50 and capture tapes as both SD and HDV. Not hard. I can't think of any editing app on the PC side that can't manage HDV? Is there one?
Douglas Spotted Eagle
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