So What Does Luke Have To Say About Editing HDV

So, cutting HDV...

Ok, so here's some advice on cutting HDV, that I've picked up on so far.

Oh, and by the way, if you're not at all into the technicalities of editing then I wouldn't read much further! All you need to know is the edit is progressing and we hope to have a complete set of HDV trailers by the end of next week.

The following are a few paragraphs that gives some basic but useful advice about importing and editing HDV.

Offline DV edit system -

Be aware that this method of editing can cause you a lot of headaches, as we discovered!

When we first cut the trailers, we cut them using DV footage imported directly from the camera at native DV quality. We then assumed it would be just as simple to online the footage in HDV and simply link up all the cuts in full quality.
As it turns out, HDV is compressed using a GOP (group of pictures) system, this means that any single drop frame results in the camera having to re-locate the timcode during capture. So that means that when we decided to online the footage in HDV it split the clips into smaller chunks of footage, which meant that when it went to link the files up in HDV it did not have matching capture scratch clips! Rendering all of our work in DV useless!

This lead us having to use the following method to re-cut the trailers, and eventually the entire film.

Importing HDV -

This is an important factor that anyone should consider when importing their HDV footage to begin your cut.

HDV is compressed very heavily so that it can be recorded onto a standard mini DV tape, this means that your computer has to work incredibly hard to decompress the footage anytime you play it out. In editing terms this means that the simplest of cuts and scrubs take a hell of a lot of processing power!

To help out your computer, its best to import all of your footage in native HDV, then use the batch export function to convert all of your footage to a more stable and less compressed format. Such formats as Apple Intermediate Codec, or if you have the space, DVCPRO HD are good choices as they hold the same aspect ratio but are edited much more easily that native HDV. You then edit the whole sequence in your converted format, then once you have finished your edit, you can simply remove the converted format clips and replace them with the original HDV clips ready to render and export.


So far, these are the main issues that HDV have thrown at us in the last few weeks, but after a few tests and experiments we seem to have come up with a method that works pretty well.

I would go into more detail but I think I could go on forever! If you have any questions then just ask!

Oh yeah, and one last thing, before you get your kit set up, make sure your camera or deck is compatible with your software!!!

I'll keep you posted.

Luke