Preparing for editing - codecs

Hi,

just food-for-thougt:

I used to read books on editing, what are the best practices, theories etc. I think it would be great to read your - real world nature film makers's - opinions on this issue.

Firstly, I would like to ask you about the codecs you are using, about your chooses, as maybe one of the first technical steps before editing.

To be the first one: I am before a project whereas I have to use several types of clips on the same timeline: 1080i50 HDV, anamorphic PAL, normal PAL.

I am now playing with converting the clips to Apple ProRes 422 codec. One isssue which came out, that during converting anamorphic PAL to 625i ProRes422, it retains the aspect ratio - with using letterboxing. To avoid letterboxing I uprezzed the clip to 720p ProRes422, in this case, however, it deinterlaces the clip. Comparing the two clips with the original clip my semi-trained eye see only a little difference (some added color spill, some blurring) on a cheap JVC SD broadcast monitor.

I know this a special mac issue (Prores 422), but I guess there are other codecs in the windows world, such as Canopus HQ or Avid DnXHD which could have similar consequencies.

I did the same with the HDV clip to avoid the long GOP structure, the two clips seem almost identical (checking the waveform monitor and other control windows).

The question for me, is it worth to make these time consuming extra efforts before editing or is it better to leave them as they are?

If I once deinterlaced a clip (as I did during uprezzing to 720p), would it cause a big quality=resolution loss if I export the finished film for making an SD-DVD?

My pipeline - roughly the following - FCP (editing) --

Several sentences have been cut - why?

So:

My pipeline - roughly the following - FCP (editing) -- Motion/Shake (effects, composition, 2D/3D operations) -- FCP (fine tuning editing) -- Color (CC and to give a "look") -- FCP (outputting)

The outputs are quite common: tapes (minDV, DVCAM, HDV) for festival or SD-DVDs (Pal) and internet friendly formats.

My goal is to avoid resolution/qualitiy losses, unnecessary render time (HDV conforming) and produce - at least technically - the best quality footage I can make.

I would appreciate you thougths, ideas or practices in this regard.

Jules

Avid's Open Timeline allows muli format clips on 1 timeline. So does FCP6.

If you want the best and have the drive speed/space, cut in native format then go to 8 or 10 bit uncompressed for all other things, especially CC and effects. Pro Res 422 is good for minimal stuff but still lossy and makes demands on the CPU. The only lossless codec is uncompressed.