New Features in Final Cut Express HD This document contains information about new features included in Final Cut Express HD. For the latest information about product updates, tips and techniques, and qualified third-party devices, visit the Final Cut Express HD website at http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress. Final Cut Express HD revolutionizes the video postproduction field by offering 720p and 1080i high definition (HD) video acquisition using the HDV format. HDV is a new HD format created by a consortium of manufacturers, including Sony, Canon, Sharp, and JVC. The great advantage of working with HDV is that you can record an hour of HD video with a consumer-priced camcorder on standard mini-DV videocassettes. This format brings the exquisite quality of HD video to anyone from a seasoned pro to a hobbyist on a budget. Bundled with Final Cut Express HD are LiveType and Soundtrack, which will help your productions look and sound even more professional. LiveType allows you to create elaborate motion typography quickly and easily. Soundtrack assists you in creating sophisticated musical tracks for your program, while providing ease of use even for musical novices. These applications work together seamlessly with Final Cut Express HD. An Introduction to HDV With a frame size that is up to four and one-half times larger than the current resolution of DV, this new medium is ideal for high-impact corporate presentations, event coverage, news gathering, or even HD cinema applications. MPEG-2 video compression makes it possible to put such large HD images on mini-DV tapes. In fact, HDV uses a type of MPEG-2 compression that is very similar to the compression used for DVD-Video. 1 Since HDV is high definition video using MPEG-2 compression, it requires a slightly different workflow than intraframe formats such as DV. With DV, each frame contains all the information needed to display the video. With HDV video, only some of the frames contain all the information required for display. These are called I-frames. Grouped together with several subsequent frames (called B-frames and P-frames), these frames form a GOP (Group of Pictures). This MPEG-2 footage needs to be processed, or encoded, into an intraframe format before you can begin editing in Final Cut Express HD. This format is called the Apple Intermediate Codec. Encoding is done automatically for you during the capture process. Comparing the Data Rates of HDV and DV It is useful to know the data rates for the Apple Intermediate Codec, so you can plan for the storage requirements for HDV footage. For example, 1 hour of 720p30 HDV video requires 23 gigabytes (GB) of disk space. Format DV NTSC DV PAL Apple Intermediate Codec 720p30 HDV Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i50 HDV Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 HDV Frame size 720 x 480 720 x 576 1280 x 720 1440 x 1080 1440 x 1080 Data rate 3.6 MB/sec. (equivalent to 12 GB/hr.) 3.6 MB/sec. (equivalent to 12 GB/hr.) 7 MB/sec. (equivalent to 23 GB/hr.) 14 MB/sec. (equivalent to 46 GB/hr.) 11 MB/sec. (equivalent to 38 GB/hr.) Note: Data rates for the Apple Intermediate Codec are variable; these figures are approximate and may vary according to the complexity of your footage. Images with a lot of detail have a higher data rate, while images with less detail have a lower data rate. HDV Devices Before you can work with HDV, you need an HDV camcorder. Final Cut Express HD supports a number of camcorders for HDV capture and output. To make sure that you have a qualified HDV device, be sure to check the "Final Cut Express HD Qualified Devices" document, located at http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html. 2 HDV Workflow in Final Cut Express HD New capture presets and a special video capture dialog make the process of capturing HDV clips simple and reliable. Just choose the Easy Setup that corresponds to your HDV format in the Easy Setup dialog before you begin working on your project. Once you choose the correct Easy Setup, Final Cut Express HD is ready to handle your HDV video. After capturing the video, organize and edit the clips as you would for any other Final Cut Express HD project. You can even use a second computer display, such as an Apple Cinema Display, to display HDV video at its native size. To print to video, you first need to encode the video back to the HDV format using the Print to Video command. After the video is encoded back to HDV, it can be either manually or automatically recorded to tape. More specific details regarding the HDV workflow with Final Cut Express HD follow in the next section. Capturing, Editing, and Outputting HDV Video Now that you have some background about how HDV operates within Final Cut Express HD, you are ready to set up your system to capture, edit, and output HDV video. Setting Up to Capture HDV Video Before attempting to capture HDV video in Final Cut Express HD, you need to set up your system properly. Setting up an HDV editing system is similar to setting up a standard DV system. To set up your HDV editing system: 1 Make sure your HDV camcorder is properly connected to your computer and turned on before you open Final Cut Express HD. For information about connecting a camcorder to your computer, see Final Cut Express HD Help, Chapter 2, "Setting Up Your System." 2 Double-click the Final Cut Express HD icon in the Applications folder to open Final Cut Express HD. 3 Before you begin, save your project by doing the following: a Choose File > Save Project. b In the Save dialog, enter a name and choose a location for the project. c Click Save. 3 4 If necessary, specify a scratch disk (the hard disk where the media files you capture in Final Cut Express HD are saved). For information about specifying a scratch disk, see Final Cut Express HD Help, Chapter 4, "Specifying User Preferences, System Settings, and Easy Setups" . Note: By default, Final Cut Express HD saves media files to the startup disk. 5 Choose the Easy Setup that corresponds to your HDV video format. a Choose Final Cut Express HD > Easy Setup. The Easy Setup dialog appears. b Choose one of the following options from the Setup For pop-up menu: Â HDV Apple Intermediate Codec 720p30 Â HDV Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i50 Â HDV Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 You are now ready to begin capturing HDV video in Final Cut Express HD. Capturing HDV Video Capturing HDV video is very similar to capturing DV video using the Capture Now command. The main difference is that capturing HDV video may not take place in real time. The reason for this is that Final Cut Express HD processes the HDV frames into the Apple Intermediate Codec, so you can edit the video. To capture HDV video in Final Cut Express HD: 1 Click in the Browser to make it active, then choose File > New Folder. 2 Control-click the folder, then choose Set Capture Folder from the shortcut menu. Your captured clips are placed in this folder. 3 Name the folder, then press Enter. 4 Choose File > Capture (or press Command-8). 5 In the Capture dialog, enter a name for the clip, then click Capture. The capture preview window appears and the camcorder begins playing back video. However, unlike video on the LCD screen on the camcorder, video in the capture preview window may not play back in real time. The status area of the capture preview window displays the percentage of real time in which the video is being encoded from HDV to the Apple Intermediate Codec. 6 Press the Esc (Escape) key to stop capturing. The video playback on the camcorder stops immediately. The capture preview window may lag behind, displaying where the video is in the encoding process instead. As these frames are being processed, the status area of the capture preview window displays the percentage of frames left to process. Note: Pressing the Esc key a second time stops the encoding process and cancels the capture. 4 After the capture preview window closes, the HDV clip appears in your Capture Folder. Note: Final Cut Express HD has an incremental clip naming function with HDV video. When you capture an HDV clip, Final Cut Express HD looks for any recording breaks introduced at the shoot. For each break, individual clips are made from the original HDV video clip. When capture is completed, these clips appear in the Capture Folder, and the corresponding media files are placed on your hard disk. Editing HDV Video Editing HDV video in the Apple Intermediate Codec is just like editing DV video in Final Cut Express HD. If you want to monitor your HDV video at full-frame resolution, you can use a dedicated HD video monitor. Alternatively, you can route the signal to a second computer display, such as an Apple Cinema Display. This makes for a more costeffective way to monitor your HD footage at its true size. To view your HDV video on a second computer display: m Choose View > Video Out > Digital Cinema Desktop Preview. Outputting HDV Video After you've completed your program, you'll want to output it. You have a couple of options for outputting. You can either output to videotape using your camcorder, or export your sequence to a QuickTime movie for use in iDVD. To output HDV video to videotape: 1 Make sure your HDV camcorder is properly connected to your computer and turned on before you open Final Cut Express HD. 2 Insert a DV tape into the HDV camcorder. 3 Click anywhere in the Timeline or Canvas to make it the active window. 4 Choose File > Print to Video (or press Control-M). The Print to Video dialog appears. 5 If you want Final Cut Express HD to start recording automatically, select the Automatically Start Recording checkbox. 6 Select any other elements you want to include on your tape, such as Bars, Slate, and Countdown, then click OK. A progress bar shows the progress of encoding from the Apple Intermediate Codec back to native HDV and gives you a time estimate for when the encoding process will finish. After the video is encoded, the camera automatically begins recording your program to tape if you selected the Automatically Start Recording option. If you did not, a dialog appears instructing you to press the record button on the camcorder, and then click OK. In either case, the camcorder stops after the program is recorded to tape. 5 To export your sequence to a QuickTime movie for use in iDVD: 1 Open your Final Cut Express HD sequence in the Timeline. 2 Choose File > Export > QuickTime Movie. The Save dialog appears. 3 Enter a name and choose a location for the movie. 4 At the bottom of the dialog, make sure the Make Movie Self-Contained checkbox is not selected. 5 If you need chapter markers from your Final Cut Express HD project to be exported to the QuickTime movie, choose DVD Studio Pro Markers from the Markers pop-up menu. 6 Click Save. For information about creating an iDVD project and burning a DVD, see iDVD Help. Using a Computer Display for External Video Monitoring Final Cut Express HD offers you a new option for monitoring video playback. You can route a full-screen view of the Canvas or Viewer to a separate computer display, such as an Apple Cinema Display. Typically, monitoring video in Final Cut Express HD is done by connecting a video monitor to your DV deck, camcorder, or transcoding device. Now you can view the Final Cut Express HD interface and the Finder on one display and use another display as a dedicated video monitor. Although this setup is valuable for working with DV video, it is even more useful for viewing HDV formats such as 720p and 1080i that are now supported by Final Cut Express HD. Since HD monitors are very expensive, this is great news for those who want to monitor HD video. Regular editing commands function when full-screen video is presented on any display. This means you can still set In and Out points and use the J, K, and L keys for playback while the video is presented full screen. Note: Unless your final program will be viewed on a computer display, it is a good idea to view your video on a professional video monitor for a more accurate color representation of your video. Computer displays operate in RGB color space, while NTSC and PAL broadcast monitors use YUV video. Some effects and certain colors may be represented differently on computer displays and video monitors. 6 Choices for External Video Monitoring in the View Menu You have a number of choices for monitoring video on computer displays in Final Cut Express HD. The mode you choose depends on the number of computer displays you have connected. To choose an external video monitoring mode: m Choose View > Video Out, then choose an option from the submenu. Â Canvas Playback: Video plays on the main computer display only. Choose this mode when you want to work without an external video monitor or when you are working with real-time video effects. Note: If you are not seeing real-time video effects in the Canvas and the RT menu in the Timeline is dimmed, choose View > Video Out > Canvas Playback. Â Digital Cinema Desktop ...