Premiere 6.5 problems and HD,

[Peter Copestake]

Yes!! The old original 6.5 which still does everything I want.
But on the film I've been working on for the last week the source window has reverted to 4:3 and I cannot find how to alter it.
I say 'reverted' as my main project just now has a lot of 4:3 in it. That looks OK but the 16:9 footage in that project is likewise squeezed into 4:3
Not a big problem as it is OK on the external TV monitor.

And while I'm on - this 6.5 will not handle HD, will it? So is there a pocket-sized modern camcorder or other device that will shoot SD that I could use for casual use?

[Peter Copestake]

16:9 frames exported for stills are also 4:3 and have to be stretched back to 16:9

[TimStannard]

16:9 frames exported for stills are also 4:3 and have to be stretched back to 16:9

This is almost certainly because the only difference between 4:3 and widescreen Standard Definition is the shape of the pixels (in 4:3 the pixels are slightly taller than they were wide and in 16:9 they are wider than tall) HD is simpler because pixels are all square (at least I'm pretty certain they are)

[Peter Copestake]

Sorry for delay. Thanks, Tim, I'm a bit slow understanding these things but when my grandson said 'look at the properties' of the clips I find that they show the figures for 4:3 as you say.

[TimStannard]

No worries Pete. I suspect you have a few years on me, yet I certainly feel the slowing down.

[tom hardwick]

No, P6.5 won't handle HD but it's absolutely fine with 4:3 & 16:9 SD footage. Neither format uses square pixels and to confuse matters further both aspect ratios are 720x576. So it'll be a project settings issue, but I guess you've found that out by now.
Don't know of any equipment that shoots SD but there sure is a ton of it for sale on eBay and like sites.
Tom.

[Peter Copestake]

Thanks once again, Tom. The camcorder question was solved when I took the opportunity of taking ( I can hardly say buying) one on offer from a member not long after I put this query up.
As for the source window squeezing 16:9 to 4:3 - it doesn't do it with footage from our Sony Z5 , supposedly HD, on another project. Presumably 6.5 just reads this as SD as its properties are 720x576 and sems to edit OK.
Peter.

[tom hardwick]

You say your Sony Z5 is 'supposedly HD' Peter, and I'm not sure what you mean by this. The camera shoots DV (720x576) or HDV (1440x1080). Premier 6.5 will only accept the former, so if you've shot in HDV mode you'll have to get the camera to do the downconvertion so that Premiere is presented with SD. Is this the way you work?

Interestingly the Z5 always shoots in HDV mode (it uses HDV CMOS chips) regardless of your settings. If you switch the camera into 'shooting DV', what happens is the Z5 shoots in HDV and downconverts (degrades) this signal to DV and then records this onto the tape.

So if you're happy that your tapes won't give you dropouts it's always better to shoot and edit in HDV mode. That way you can make much better looking DVDs because you'll be using the much more expensive and sophisticated downconverter that comes with your NLE system.

[Peter Copestake]

"Is this the way you work? " Thanks for assuming I work, Tom! More playing at messing around. I think I must have unwittingly downconverted once before that's why it was 720X576. Done it deliberately today and it worked OK for what I wanted but will probably shoot in SD in future as it makes little difference to me unless it's likely to be of value to someone else.
The monitor source window is OK on this little project but not on the main one.
Thanks for straightening me out AGAIN
Peter.

[tom hardwick]

For those who still happily shoot using HDV camcorders it's worth pointing out that if you record to tape in SD mode (rather than HDV) then dropsouts (should they occur) will be far less damaging visually. All camcorders have error correction built in, but a slight crinkle in the tape will be beyond its help.

I was always slightly nervous when using a brand new tape for the first time on an important project. Each Sony Premium cost all of £1, meaning there was no end of line inspection whatsoever; I was the inspector. Reusing tape that had proved it was dropout free was always the way I preferred to go. People used to tell me I was mad to reuse tape, but simply rewinding it and playing it into your computer was reusing it; the tape knew no difference.

[Peter Copestake]

Though I understood that digital didn't suffer from drop-out like analogue because of some techie stuff I don't understand and certainly found it trouble-free. I keep my camera tapes in case I, or someone else in the future, wants to re-edit from them as they all have archive value.
Perhaps this should be a separate thread but is there a better way of copying Hi8 to digital than playing to a digital recording device - in my case a digi tape deck? The camera tapes in those days were noticeably better than the first edit copy and I could re-edit some films some time (Some hopes!)

[tom hardwick]

The way you're digitising your Hi8 tapes certainly gets the job done, but it's a laborious process that means you end up with SD DV avi files recorded onto mini DV tapes. That's fine, but future generations will need access to a working DV tape deck to view them, and tape decks are mechanically delicate things that have a limited life span.

Much better (I'd have thought) to timeline your analogue tapes and output them as mp4 files, then record these to USB stick, HDD, or other flash memory. That way future generations can easily skip through your footage and easily record them to the next digital storage medium.

Tom.

[Peter Copestake]

"Much better (I'd have thought) to timeline your analogue tapes" Yes, Tom, I see that but how to get them on timeline except via some kind of digital recorder first?

[tom hardwick]

Oh I see. I just assumed you had an NLE system that would digitise the analogue footage that was fed into it. Most DVC systems allowed you to connect up your 8mm or Hi8 or VHSc camcorder and the footage would be digitised on the fly. Some mini DV camcorders would allow you to do the same thing: feed in analogue footage that the camera would convert to digital.

[Peter Copestake]

Thanks for troubling to explain, Tom. My equipment doesn't do the coversion on the fly.