Hi-8 Movie Production

SJH wrote on 8/15/2002, 1:26 PM

I'm early into editing after five years of raw footage on my first camera, a Canon ES4000 Hi-8mm.

I've been using VF 2.0c for about a month now, and am close to completion on my first movie. Capture has been via a DAZZLE Creator 80 connection box, with my video going through the S-Video connections. Intermediate viewings have been via MPEG-1 to VCD (I have yet to try MPEG-2 encoding).

I've been in touch with a video post-production house and have been advised that the best finished product will be achieved by outputting my final movie to an external medium. The easiest being to output (print-to-tape) to a three-chip Mini-DV camera. Every decent production house can deal with this format, and from that point forward you can master your piece on some serious gear. Options include DVD, VHS or transferring to film for projection at festivals and competitions.

My plan now is to install a bi-directional card onto my computer, so that I can output my movies to Mini-DV or DVCam format. I will likely purchase the Matrox G450-eTV, which is the third-generation TV output card from that company. It allows input and output via RCA and S-Video jacks. Reviews are most favourable.

I would be very interested to hear how other people have produced their work in this medium, especially those who have had their work professionally mastered and/or transferred to 35mm for big-screen viewing.

The video quality from my camera is generally very good, and is most excellent under controlled lighting situations. When connected directly to a television, it does not scream "home video", which is why I have continued to work in this medium for so long. My next camera will certainly be DV, but for now I have to reward my five years of shooting by producing a finished product.

Would love to hear how others have maxxed-out this medium via VideoFactory (or Vegas) and external production facilities.

Thanks.

sjh

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 8/15/2002, 2:27 PM

SJH, do you have a firewire (1394) port in your computer? If so, you can connect this directly to the miniDV camcorder and print digitally to the tape. There will be no quality loss from conversion to analog. This is what your production house means when they suggest printing to miniDV. If you don't have one, you can pick one up for around $25 or so. Make sure it's OHCI compliant. If it comes with a driver disk, toss the disk in the trash; use the Windows drivers instead. You will also need a firewire cable to connect this port to the camera. After that, VideoFactory will be able to connect to the camcorder and send the digital output directly to tape.

SJH wrote on 8/15/2002, 11:11 PM

Chienworks:

Thanks for the tip. I am aware of that route, but that will have to wait until I actually upgrade to a MiniDV or DV-Cam format camera. To that end, I shall wait another few months until the next batch of cameras hits the market, then get the biggest bang for my buck. I have thought about something in the under $1000 range, but have since been persuaded by people in the industry to get a two or three-chip camera.

For now, and with a Matrox card, I can send my VF-edited movies back to my Canon ES4000, or to a VHS tape.

Thanks again for your input.

sjh

HeeHee wrote on 8/21/2002, 2:19 PM

SJH,

How did the audio capture with the E-TV card? I have an ATI All-in-Wonder and hate it because the audio is always out of sync with the video.

Per Chienwork's suggestion, as well as others, I purchased a 1394 card and Canopus ADVC-100 Analog to Digital Converter. I can't say enough good things about this product! Not only does it convert my HI-8 tapes to digital, but it also keeps them in perfect sync. I am able to "Print to Tape" to a VHS VCR or other analog device as well through the Canopus without degradation.

Some Digital camcorders have analog passthrough which works the same way as the ADVC-100.

SJH wrote on 8/21/2002, 10:56 PM

HeeHee:

Thanks for the post.

I did not buy the Matrox or any other supplemental hardware for my computer. As I said in my last post, I talked to some people in the industry who said I would be better off to take my camera and tapes to a well-equipped facility. So what I've done is to join a video co-op, where I will learn how to edit on a dual-processor G4 Mac with software such as Final Cut Pro. They have a SONY converter which will allow me to pump my Hi-8 footage into the Mac with no loss of original quality. They've done it before for other members and it has worked like a charm.

This is not what I had originally envisioned, but will nonetheless be better than futzing around with more video cards. And, I will be editing on better gear and with industry-quality software.

But I hear the Canopus really rocks, so good on you.

Thanks again for writing.

Cheers,

SJH