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16 Chapter 1 Working with HDV
Steps for Native HDV Editing
The steps for capturing, editing, and outputting HDV in Final Cut Pro are almost
identical to the workflow used for DV, but there are several important differences. The
differences between the HDV and DV workflows are highlighted in the steps below.
Step 1: Connect your HDV camcorder to your computer via FireWire
This step is similar to connecting a DV device via FireWire.
Step 2: Choose an HDV Easy Setup
Choose the HDV Easy Setup that corresponds to your HDV format.
Step 3: Log your footage and capture it to your scratch disk
This step is much like logging and capturing DV and other video formats. The
differences are:
 Some options and controls are different in the Log and Capture window when you
capture HDV. For example, you can resize the window in real time.
 When capturing HDV, scene detection is always enabled. A scene break is embedded
data on tape that indicates where the camcorder was stopped and then started
again. Whenever Final Cut Pro detects a scene break in your incoming HDV footage,
a new media file and corresponding clip are created.
Step 4: Edit your HDV clips into a sequence and add effects
Editing HDV is similar to editing other formats in Final Cut Pro. However, you cannot
view native MPEG-2 HDV video on an external HDV device connected via FireWire. You
can monitor HDV video via DV FireWire, a third-party video interface, or the Digital
Cinema Desktop Preview option.
Important: The only way to output HDV video to an HDV device via FireWire is to use
the Print to Video command.
Step 5: Output HDV back to tape, or export to a QuickTime movie
Before you can output or export your HDV sequence, Final Cut Pro needs to conform
any noncompliant GOPs to the correct I-, P-, and B-frame pattern. Conforming is a
necessary step for creating an acceptable MPEG-2 data stream for HDV devices.
Important: Conforming and rendering are not the same. Rendering calculates the
visual data for each frame, whereas conforming ensures that your sequence has the
proper GOP structure prior to output.
You can only output HDV footage to tape using the Print to Video command. The
Edit to Tape command is not supported for HDV media.