High Def Post Production

[mark25s]

I just shot a project in high definition but I'm knew to editing in HDV so my knowledge is limited. Fortunately I will have a professional guiding me but i have a few questions before i begin.

I have approximately 7 hours of HD footage on mini DV tapes. I shot it on a Sony Z1U. I will be editing on my new intel iMac.

What application should i use to digitize this footage? I have access to final cut pro, express, imovie hd, ect. Are there any other/better programs for the capturing/digitizing process.

How much space will this take up? How big of a hard drive should i plan on buying?

Thanks!!!

[Case]

What application should i use to digitize this footage?

It's already digital, no need to digitize.
For heavy editing you may want to transcode to an intermediate codec, tho'.

I have access to final cut

It sees quite a lot of 'Hollywood' action. You may have seen it on end titles of movies in the last year(s) or so.

How much space will this take up? How big of a hard drive should i plan on buying?

25 Mbit/s = 3.125 MB/sec = 187.5 MB/min = 11 GB/h = 77 GB/7h for untouched storage. Multiply that several times for editing with an intermediate codec, trying out several versions of editing, et cetera, and you'll be wanting a TB in no time.

[JimboS]

So what "brand " of HD/Blueray burner do you have...??
What brand of HD/Blueray disks do you plan to use???
Play on the computer??....no problem.......

[brucejackson]

I have Mac Pro 2.8 8 core and final cut studio 2 for my main editing system and I love it.
I also have a PC that is using sony vegas and premiere for my part time editor.
I love to use FCP to capture and I don't think there is a better one for Mac.
as for the transfer rate. 1080i/29.97 with 2 channel audio will require 3.13 MB/s, I shoot 720/24P for wedding and it will require 2.38MB/s for each layer.
I use firewire 800 RAID as my scratch disk, set up as RAID 1 to maximize the protection.
Got the 1TB for $399 and with RAID 0, 1 and JBOD
http://www.timelinedigitalinc.com/caldigit-raid-solution-caldigit-firewirevr-c-25_28.html
You can also get 2 firewire drive and use os stripe under disk utility but I don't feel comfortable using os RAID.

[dun4cheap]

11-13 Gig is a good number for every 60 minutes of mpeg2 HD. Final Cut would be your best choice on the Mac. As for PC well there are definately quite a few options. I personally recommend a capture drive, and an export/render drive, completely separate of each other.

[rumplestiltskin]

Final Cut Pro...absolutely. Load your Mac up with 4GB of RAM (<$100, I see you have 2GB now). Agree with the two external drives; one to the FW400 port and the other to the FW800 port. If your external drives are only FW400, that's okay; just get a FW800>FW400 cable or adapter. (If your drives are FW800, reverse what I said.)

When you edit with FCP, be sure that you're not running other stuff; you want to reserve all the cajones for FCP.