Professional Audio Podcasting seminar, April 14th in Miami

Now is your chance to attend a seminar about professional audio podcast production. You will learn the fundamental differences between tradtional radio broadcasts, live Internet radio, and audio podcasts… and the advantages of the latter; how to design your audio podcast format; the standard elements (intros, outros, bumpers, etc.); hardware and software to produce your audio podcast; how to conduct high-quality telephone interviews; audio editing of your podcast; compression versus normalization; how to add chapters and graphics to your enhanced audio podcast; how to upload your podcast; and how to create an RSS feed which is compatible with iTunes and other podcast aggregators.

The date is April 14th, and the place is Miami, Florida. Although there is a charge of US$100 per person, attendees will receive a coupon good for a 40% discount off of the recommended audio podcast production software for Mac. Click here for more information, or to register.

Sony upgrades 3G HDV camcorders to universal, for a small fee

Readers of my recent articles in ProVideo Coalition, past articles in Latin American magazines, and those who have attended my seminars are aware of the many 25p production advantages over “24p” (23.976p) production, especially when the video is shot on HDV and the workflow is to take advantage of HDMI or HD-SDI capture. Up until now, producers in the USA (and other 60Hz American countries) who have chosen progressive Sony HDV cameras and appreciate the advantages of 25p had no choice but to go through “unofficial channels” to purchase the 25p/50Hz version of the camera. The ones I know are all very happy with the choice and with the workflow. However, they aren’t so happy that after spending so much extra for the camera and optional worldwide warranty, they still don’t have the flexibility of the 60Hz (59.94Hz) modes, in order to be able to shoot at “30p” (29.97p) or even “60i” (59.94i) for a slow-motion shot. Although most of them prefer 25p for their own productions, some of them are also often subcontracted to “shoot only” for other producers who aren’t so informed about 25p, and often request video to be shot at “30p” or “60i”. Fortunately, Sony USA has now recognized the need for a universal version of their 3G (3rd-generation) of HDV camcorders, which now encompass the HVR-S270, HVR-Z5 and HVR-Z7. See details about Sony’s upgrade program later in this article.

iMovie Pro?

Even though I have never gone to a Macworld Expo (and now probably never will, since Apple will no longer present there), I have always enjoyed watching Apple’s infamous keynote presentations via Internet. However, being so familiar with Final Cut Pro, I never thought I would be blown away by the presentation about iMovie 09, which you will see later in this article. I was quite surprised when I heard who was going to present it (Randy Ubillos), by the new features in iMovie 09, and even more so by Randy’s astonishing comment, which I will visit later in this article.

Controlling HDV when capturing HDMI or HD-SDI

Most HDV editors are ecstatic when they hear about all of the many benefits of using HDMI capture in post-production, as explained in the two prior articles Why capture HDV via HDMI? and Universal HDV Deck. The next question is how to control when capturing via HDMI or HD-SDI, in order to retain timecode and recapture capability.

Universal HDV deck (almost)

Up until now, post-production facilities that accept HDV footage have confronted a major dilemma: If they bought a JVC BR-HD50 deck (US$3,399 list), the only HD recordings they could play were HDV 720p from JVC (none of the HDV 1080i tapes from Canon or Sony). On the other hand, if they bought one of the professional Sony HDV decks (currently between US$2,480 and US$8,290 list), they could play any HDV 1080i tape, but as soon as they tried to play an HDV 720p tape, the IEEE-1394’s video output would mysteriously go blank. Out of desperation, some facilities went to the extreme of buying two HDV decks: one JVC and one Sony. In other cases, people bought a Sony HDV deck only, and then settled for an analog capture from HDV 720p recordings, with its noticeable D>A>D conversion as shown in this breathtaking video (courtesy of Convergent Design and JVC Italy), and in some cases (as with the HVR-M15 and HVR-M15A when playing HDV 720p tapes), a forced, undesired cross-conversion from 720p to 1080i. This is a nightmare for a purist! But hold on…

Why capture HDV via HDMI?

For many reasons explained in my recent article, it makes a lot of sense to capture your HDV footage directly to an editing i-frame códec like ProRes422. One of the best way to do that nowadays from HDV is via HDMI. Editing directly from ProRes422 files (as opposed to hybrid editing or native editing, as explained in the prior article,) offers you visually frame-accurate editing, which is critical whenever your project includes:

• Critical multilayer editing
• Independently recorded 48 KHz audio which needs to be lip-synced

If you try to do either of those two things from your raw long-GOP HDV footage directly, you’ll find that what you see is rarely what you eventually get. This has nothing to do with choosing to shoot in HDV or not; but it has everything to do with how to post-produce your HDV footage, especially when your production will include either of those two demanding facets mentioned above. (If your production includes neither of those facets, and you are very short on space, then hybrid editing or native editing would work, but you would miss out on some of the other advantages you’re about to discover.)



Advantages of capturing via HDMI directly (or via HD-SDI) as opposed to other methods include:

• Avoiding unnecessary D>A (digital>analog) and A>D (analog>digital) conversions by keeping your HD signal as digital (as opposed to capturing via component analog). Click here to see a breathtaking comparison video, courtesy of Convergent Design and JVC Italy. The same HDV 720p25 footage was captured from the same HDV tape both via component analog HD and via HDMI>HD-SDI, and compared. This video is in 1280x720 in WMV. If you are on a Mac and have not done so yet, please download Flip4Mac’s free WMV component for QuickTime here, which will allow you to see WMV in your QuickTime Player.
• Taking advantage of the HDV deck’s correction circuit (which is unfortunately bypassed via IEEE-1394).
• You can get a more universal HDV player (see details later in the next article, Universal HDV deck, coming January 8th).
• You can save time and space (as opposed to capturing via 1394 and converting later)
• You retain Log & Capture, deck control, original timecode, and (as a result) recapture capability (as opposed to using FCP’s HDV-ProRes422 capture preset via 1394, where you sadly lose all of these four features)

Revisiting HDV’s Virtues

Among my clients and friends who are video professionals, many of those who produce commercials, corporate, and music videos have already embraced tapeless acquisition with such cameras as JVC’s high definition Everio, Panasonic’s AG-HMC150/151, and Sony’s EX1 & EX3. However, those who shoot events (Bar Mitzvahs, Quinces/Sixteen Parties, Weddings) —and some of those who shoot documentaries— are relentless in defending their need to shoot on tape. They cite the following HDV advantages over tapeless acquisition:

• There is always an original tape for future use.
• The original HDV tape is the permanent archive.
• The original HDV tape is very inexpensive.
• Although they have to capture in real time before editing, they don’t have to worry about the time or expense of other types of long-term archival methods required with tapeless acquisition.

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