Anyone have a good workaround workflow for getting HDV 23.976p into Avid?  Have about 6 hours of footage shot on HV20 and am capturing it via a freeware program and then converting it to uncompressed AVI's via TMPGEnc....but it's taking forever and have to do file by file with all the huge uncompressed AVI's and not wanting to have to re-import for an online.

The latest version of DVFilm's Maker can read the M2T files and convert them to an Avid DNxHD QuickTime file at a true 23.976 clip.

http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

OK, I'll look into using that.  Now if I convert to a DNxHD file, will I need to re-import when I am doing an online for HD output?  I thought the point of working in DNxHD files is that you go back to your original HD files for your online?  But you can't go back to your M2T files no?  I'm I totally in left field here?  Thanks.

Since the source material is HDV, and most likely a low bitrate (19.7 or 25Mb/s)... using DNxHD will preserve that quality since DNxHD at 720p/1080p will make use of bitrates in excess of what you'll need. (720p 24fps DNxHD = 60 or 90Mb/s --- 1080p 24fps DNxHD = 36, 115 or 175 Mb/s)

I'm pretty sure in this case, you may get away with using DNxHD 36, because there's nothing much (I'd imagine) to be gained by using 115 or 175Mb/s. Though you could test a couple of shots visually and see for yourself. If storage isn't a problem, go with 115Mb/s to be safe.

Only thing I can think of that will differ from the source HDV material and the DNxHD material - is the raster size. If you're using 720p HDV material, then you'll be fine, but if you're using 1080p then the raster will shift from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.

I doubt you can make use of the Thin-Raster DNxHD modes, as these seem to only apply to HDV-Standard projects like HDV50i/HDV60i etc...

BobRusso:

The latest version of DVFilm's Maker can read the M2T files and convert them to an Avid DNxHD QuickTime file at a true 23.976 clip.

http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

 

 ...This is helpfull to know, because as far as we could find out, DVFilm Maker couldn't handle HDV 1080i 60 to QT 24p. What would be more to the point is for Avid MC to handle Canon's HDV 1080 24 F format directly. This would save us a ton of post processing time.

malefunktion:

Since the source material is HDV, and most likely a low bitrate (19.7 or 25Mb/s)... using DNxHD will preserve that quality since DNxHD at 720p/1080p will make use of bitrates in excess of what you'll need. (720p 24fps DNxHD = 60 or 90Mb/s --- 1080p 24fps DNxHD = 36, 115 or 175 Mb/s)

I'm pretty sure in this case, you may get away with using DNxHD 36

That isn't comparing apples with apples.  HDV applies temporal compression as well as spatial compression, whereas DNxHD doesn't.  In practice this can mean that HDV at 25 Mb/s can look considerably better than DNxHD at 36 Mb/s.  The big gain when converting to DNxHD becomes apparent with effects work and the reduced CPU load.

So if you're working with 60 Hz media, for quality go with DNxHD 220.  If you're in the larger 50 Hz world, go with DNxHD 185.

JWRL, that's absolutely correct. But in my defence, you may have noticed that I suggested that Lowrider try a couple of imports at different DNxHD bitrates and visually compare it to eventually make their decision. Additionally, I also said further down that Lowrider would most likely be better off avoiding 36Mb/s DNxHD in favour of a higher bitrate around the 115Mb/s mark.

But I'm all good with additional clarification for the original poster.

How do you access the .m2t files from a tape?

I'm confused.

So once converted, would you then work within a 720p/23.976 project?

We've been talking about using cameras with drives or solid state storage that capture .m2t files. If you are using HDV tape I suggest using CapDVHS on Windows or HDVxDV on the Mac to capture the .m2t stream.

At this point you could work in a 23.976 project depending on what codec the video was transcoded to. I've used Maker to transcode some Canon 1080i AVCHD to DNx60 with very good results. DVFilm suggests not shooting in the 24p mode for the best picture quality: http://www.dvfilm.com/fx1/index.htm

Ended up using a freeware program called HDVSplit to capture and then used TMPGEnc to convert the .m2t files to DNxHD files to import into Avid.  The quality came out great (also the program joins scenes or clips into one output file which is very convenient.

BobRusso:

The latest version of DVFilm's Maker can read the M2T files and convert them to an Avid DNxHD QuickTime file at a true 23.976 clip.

http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

 

 ...Excuse me, but wouldn't the best solution be to enable MC to allow for Canon's M2t 24 P & 24F formats natively ?

Canon provides a great, portable and truly inexpensive route to 24P HD but now we need avid to close the deal: firewire capture with smart simultaneous pulldown removal for Canon HV series cameras, and others. Just like this product: (http://tinyurl.com/5le5wb) but with DNxHD instead of their codec. Not a 3rd party software, but a capability inside avid that keeps us competitive by saving time.