User Guide

50 Chapter 2 Working With DVCPRO HD
Color Recording Method
DVCPRO HD records a 4:2:2 component (Y´C
B
C
R
) digital video signal. Each sample
(pixel) has a native resolution of 8 bits. FireWire transfers color natively at 8-bit color
depth, and HD SDI transfers each color sample as a10-bit value.
Data Rate
The data rate of DVCPRO HD is fixed at 100 Mbps, or 12.5 MB/sec., which is double the
DVCPRO 50 data rate and four times the rate of DVCPRO.
The table below compares the captured data rates for DVCPRO HD formats. The actual
disk space used during capture will vary slightly depending on the number of audio
channels captured.
Because DVCPRO HD is compressed, an internal 7200 rpm parallel or serial ATA drive is
sufficient for capturing DVCPRO HD footage. FireWire drives are often sufficient as well.
Video Compression
DVCPRO HD uses a variation of the DV and DVCPRO 50 codecs. The compression ratio
is around 6.7:1.
Audio
The DVCPRO HD format supports up to eight audio tracks, though not all devices can
access every track. The sampling rate is 48 kHz, using 16 bits per sample.
Timecode
On tape or P2 card, 1080i60, 1080p30, and 720p DVCPRO HD use 30 fps timecode.
1080i50 DVCPRO HD footage uses 25 fps timecode. When recording 720p DVCPRO HD,
each timecode number is used twice, with an asterisk used to distinguish frame 1 and
frame 2 of each timecode pair. This maintains backward compatibility with SMPTE
30 fps timecode. When 720p footage is captured, the 30 fps timecode is converted to
60 fps timecode. To view 30 fps timecode instead of the 60 fps timecode in your media
files, Final Cut Pro has a timecode display option called 60 @ 30 timecode.
Important: Final Cut Pro does not support drop frame timecode for 720p formats.
Format Megabits per second Megabytes per second
1080i60, 720p60 100 Mbps 11.75 MB/sec.
720p30 50 Mbps
1
6.25 MB/sec.
1
720p24 40 Mbps
1
5 MB/sec.
1
1
This data rate assumes duplicate frames are removed during capture.