Playing HDV captured video

[Bohica]

I know this is a long shot... but I have one of the new video cameras that record in HDV. I am using Final Cut Pro HD to edit the videos. Does anyone know if it can export to a high def file type that can be read by Sage. I have tired any number of export combinations... going crazy here.... Thanks for any advice....

Tim

[Crashless]

You should be able to use Compressor to re-encode the timeline in FCP to a format compatible with your windows box. As a general rule, if WMP can play it, SageTV can too.

Experiment with DIVX and their HDTV profiles, those would probably suit you best.

[Bohica]

I have tried many compresssor exports... to no avail. Get most of them to provide audio to WMP... but no video. A couple will give audio to sage... no video. Dont know if it is the export or the codecs used on my windows box...

<T>

[Crashless]

it might be both - are you using quicktime 7? if you aren't, try installing it on both machines, and using h.264.

You might have to make your own profile - which have you tried?

[Bohica]

I just tried about 8 different exports... QT7 on both... the only one I can get to work in both QT and WMP is the H.264 -- although I havent gotten the format 16x9 down yet. I need to export it as a QT7 streaming... if I get this reliable -- is this the format I should use? Will it give me decent HD output and sound? Still working with it so my tests aren't finished... Doesnt help that the G5 is two floors up...

I am reading that the HDV format is just HD streams... or ts or tp files. Cant seem to export to any native ts or tp or all the others from final cut at all. Pain... should h.264 be good enough for now? I will update with what I find out in terms of file size and performance if I get this working...

[Crashless]

Originally Posted by Bohica

I just tried about 8 different exports... QT7 on both... the only one I can get to work in both QT and WMP is the H.264 -- although I havent gotten the format 16x9 down yet. I need to export it as a QT7 streaming... if I get this reliable -- is this the format I should use? Will it give me decent HD output and sound? Still working with it so my tests aren't finished... Doesnt help that the G5 is two floors up...

I am reading that the HDV format is just HD streams... or ts or tp files. Cant seem to export to any native ts or tp or all the others from final cut at all. Pain... should h.264 be good enough for now? I will update with what I find out in terms of file size and performance if I get this working...

Hmm, if the HDV streams are just MPEG2 ts files, have you tried just taking the .mov that FCP captures and put it on your Sage box? Not the most compact solution, but definitly the easiest. Then, for your edited files, you should be able to export w/o recompression - I'll post more once I'm in front of my editing machine at work.

[Crashless]

OK - on my Mac now.

If you clear all your ins/outs of your sequence, 'File->Export->Quicktime Movie' use 'Current Settings' include 'audio and video', markers 'none', uncheck 'recompress all frames', check 'make movie self-contained' - you should get a video that is the same codec as your source. Try putting that on your SageTV box with QT 7.

Does it work?

If not, you mentioned you had some luck with h.264 - that'll end up being your best quality/size bet if you start messing with the settings. You're going to want to export 'using quicktime conversion' -> options:

video: compression: h.264
quality: high/best <-experiment with this
frames per second: leave blank or set to your sequence setting
keyframe every: leave this to default
limit data rate to: 500-1250 KBps <- you will have to experiment with this too.
filters: none
size: use current size

Sound: Format: uncompressed
sample rate: 48khz
sample size: 16bit
Channels: 2 <- unless you're doing some crazy mixing

Now, why do you have to use internet streaming? Some codecs don't like it turned on - but h.264 should be fine if set to 'fast start' or 'fast start-compressed header'. DO NOT USE 'hinted streaming' - you don't need it.

Good luck.

[Bohica]

OK -- I think I got it. Dont know if this will help anyone else... but here goes. I choose to export through compressor, selecting H264 LAN streaming. (Dont know if this matters because I change the codec...) Once in compressor, I use inspector to change the file format to mpeg2. In the extra tab, I include multiplexed MPEG-1/Layer2 Audio. This automatically changes the file extension to an MTS. Video format is 1080i HDV Res.

This will play as a TS file both in WMP, QT7 and in Sage. I am in the middle of exporting a 50 minute video and it looks like it will take about 7 hours to export. I will update with the file size and the performance from the server and client... Thanks for the help on this... now I know what all those posts mean when they talk about the intricacies of compressor...