Let’s start with the Panasonic P2 media. First, install the Panasonic P2 drivers- this enables your PC to read the MXF data (OpAtom in this case) directly on the drive. If you don’t do this, EDIUS will not work correctly.

Once you load the data onto the EDIUS, choose P2 Select from the Capture menu. Here you’ll see thumbnails displayed and, underneath, the clip metadata.

There are two main ways of working with P2 media. Because the solid-state storage media is so fast, it’s perfectly possible to work directly from it, even with a heavy codec like AVC-Intra (although this does require considerable PC horsepower). To work this way, select the Direct Import method, in which case both proxy and hi-res files will be available for editing instantly. Alternatively, if you need to use your ever-so-valuable P2 card on another shoot, you can choose the Copy and Import method, which transfers the data to your local hard disk.

One very cool feature with P2 camcorders is the ability to simultaneously copy the lo-res proxy files to an SD card. This means you can edit your story on a laptop, for example, while traveling back to base, then transfer the project to a workstation, hook up a P2 drive and EDIUS will auto-conform using the hi-res footage.

Sometimes individual clips can span a number of P2 cards. If this is the case, you can choose the Combine Files and Import method to reassemble complete clips on your local hard disk and make them available in the bin.

To output the finished project, you can do one of two things: either transcode to one of the many formats supported by EDIUS, or, if you want to write back to the P2 media itself (something most other NLEs cannot do), you can only do this if you’re using DVCPRO, either in SD or HD. (Note: we’re currently working on AVC-Intra encoding.) This could be particularly useful if, say, you need the project to be somewhere else quickly.

Now, let’s try EDIUS out with the Sony XDCAM HD media. Once again, you need to install the XDCAM driver software first so that Windows can view the MXF data (this time it is OP1a). From within EDIUS, choose XDCAM Select from the Capture menu. Select the clips you would like to work with, right-click and select Register to Bin.

There are two basic ways of working with XDCAM. Editing on the storage medium directly in hi-res is not an option because of speed issues, so you can choose to edit with proxy files only. This method is selected in the Download window: Download after register > Proxy Download. Select the files you want to work with and press Register to Bin. Proxy data is indicated by a P on the thumbnail, and it can be edited in the timeline as you would any other footage.

You can edit your entire project using proxies. Select XDCAM HD Exporter, give the project a name and location, and you’ll see a further dialog box relating to proxy clip handling. Choose Export after importing hi-res data and the hi-res data will be automatically inserted to create the final output.

If disk space is not an issue, you can take the "no-brainer" option by checking Hi-Res Download and Proxy Download. Proxy files are copied in a matter of minutes, but the hi-res files will take some time. Now you can edit using proxy files while the hi-res data is transferred in the background. This is quite fun, as you are presented with a dynamically changing timeline while the data transfer plays catch-up and the Ps change to Hs (indicating hi-res).

Steven Wise
Director of Product Marketing, Playout and Editing
Grass Valley

Steven Wise is the director of product marketing for the playout and editing product line for Grass Valley, based in Kobe, Japan. Wise has over 15 years of management experience in digital video (broadcast and prosumer sectors) as well as in information technology and education. Prior to joining Grass Valley, following the acquisition of Canopus, Wise worked at several technology companies, including Pinnacle Systems (Europe) and FAST Multimedia UK.

Steve Says Keep in Mind…
Although tape continues to defy the frequent predictions of its impending demise, we are now seeing a proliferation of non-tape-based media, which is profoundly changing the way we edit video. Here we look at how the Grass Valley EDIUS nonlinear craft editor, now in version 4.5, handles two such types of media- Panasonic’s P2 and Sony’s XDCAM HD- and the different workflows associated with each.

For the P2 segment of this tutorial, we’re using an AJ-PCD20 P2 drive with 16 GB P2 memory card, with AVC-Intra footage shot with Panasonic’s AJ-HPX2100 camcorder. AVC-Intra, which is an MPEG-4-based codec, has two flavors: 100 Mb/s, 1920 x 1080i, 4:2:2, 10-bit, for post-production; and 50 Mb/s, 1440 x 1080i, 4:2:0, 8-bit, for ENG. In this instance, we’re using the latter.

Sony’s disc-based offering, XDCAM HD, uses MPEG-2 MP@HL compression and Blu-ray discs, which are cheaper than P2 storage, but slower. The EDIUS workflow for XDCAM is similar, yet subtly different. It has three data rates- HQ (35 Mb/s), SP (25 Mb/s) and LP (18 Mb/s)- at 1440 x 1080i resolution and 4:2:0 sampling. We used a Sony PDW-F70 XDCAM HD recorder connected by IEEE-1394 (it can also be connected to a LAN).

Grass Valley
www.grassvalley.com
711 Charcot Avenue
San Jose, CA 95131
ph. 800.547.8949
steve.wise@thomson.net