FCP 7 HDV Color and Compatibility

Hi All,

MAC Pro 2 x 2.66 Intel Xeon, 6GB RAM, OS 10.6.8, FCP 7.0.3

Someone wants me to help them put together rough cut for a doc. But I see possible problems.

1) Footage was shot by different videographers and all footage is in HDV. What chances do I have for color correction on the footage? I know HDV and coloring are not friends. Any workarounds? How will HDV look if it's ever shown on a BIG SCREEN?

2) Project is currently in FCP 5.1.4. If I work on project, I am going to work in FCP 7. How does the client view the project back in FCP 5.1.4? I know that FCP is not backwards compatible. Workarounds?

Thanks!

Jake

What specific concerns do you have about color correction?

I cannot recall exactly which HD formats worked natively in FCP 5.1, but I do know that DVCPro HD was one of them (there may be others). Your friend could convert the HDV to DVCPro HD for editing and sharing purposes and when you're finished with the color grading, simply output a self-contained movie to hand back to him. Or you could export an XML file of your work that he could open in FCP 5.1 to build a new project.

-DH

I am myself on 5.1.4. (with the occation to use X at an other person's suite)

5.1.4. includes an earyer version of Pro Res, the Apple Intermediate Codec - I could imagine that this gives a better range for various corrections, at least offers a much quicker editing process (rendering!) than HDV. We had some discussions here some months ago - of course ProRes is said to be even better (own experience I have only with the FCPX suite - which is not directly to compare).

For the customer question: if it is only to show the intermediate result of the edit why not render it out to a Quicktime movie - this runs probably on all versions; of course one cannot proceed with the edit on itself - but I don't think that's what an editor really wants: a customer changing around on his own...

LG

David,

Many years ago I worked in HDV and a couple of times I had to do some minor color correction (I am not an expert) and the results I got was horrible. I seeked advice on some forums regarding HDV coloring an everybody just said "don't even bother working with HDV and color correction." So, it was a general statement.

1) Convert HDV to Pro Res or DVCPro HD - Definitely

2) IS there a good link where I can learn about woking with XML file? Not familiar with the process.

Thanks!