User`s guide

FINAL CUT PRO
59
CHOOSING A WORKFLOW
The V4HD supports a range of SD and HD
workflows, summarized in Figure 7-3 below. The
V4HD supports every workflow via FireWire 400
or 800, although Apple ProRes 422 HQ should be
used with a FireWire 800 connection whenever
possible. For uncompressed SD, all DVCPro
formats and Apple ProRes, the V4HD provides
sequence and capture presets for all supported
format/frame rate/codec combinations. Other
codecs require that you make your own custom
sequence settings. Refer to the following sections
for further information regarding each workflow.
Also see “Video encoding and CPU performance
during capture” on page 61.
Uncompressed SD
The V4HD supports both 8-bit and 10-bit
uncompressed SD capture and playback via
FireWire 400 or 800. Both NTSC and PAL formats
are supported, as well as 480p 23.976. Choose the
sequence preset and capture preset that
corresponds with the format you need to capture,
edit and play back.
DVCPro25 / DVCPro50 / DVCProHD
The V4HD provides hardware-accelerated
DVCPro25, DVCPro50 or DVCProHD capture and
playback over FireWire 400 or 800. The V4HD
hardware performs DVCPro compression during
capture and decompression during playback.
Video streams over FireWire to and from the
computer as a compressed DVCPro video stream.
Choose the sequence and capture presets that
correspond with the video format, frame rate and
DVCPro format you need to capture, edit and play
back.
Apple ProRes 422
The V4HD provides hardware-assisted Apple
ProRes 422 capture and playback over FireWire
400 or 800. When capturing ProRes, Final Cut Pro
requires an Intel-based multi-processor Mac, and
four or more processor cores are recommended.
For ProRes operation, be sure to choose the V4HD
Full raster presets (for the sequence, capturing and
playback) that correspond with the video format
and frame rate you are working with. For the best
possible video quality, set the V4HD’s Full Raster
mode (Figure 6-19 on page 48) to FireWire 800 HQ.
This setting requires a FireWire 800 connection
between the V4HD and the Mac. See “Full Raster
mode” on page 49 for further information. If your
computer experiences performance issues during
capture or playback, or if circumstances do not
allow for a FireWire 800 connection, you can use
the FireWire 400 settings with excellent results,
especially for ProRes standard quality workflows.
Figure 7-3: The V4HD supports these workflows with Final Cut Pro.
Workflow FireWire support Sequence preset Capture preset Full raster setting
Uncompressed SD 400 or 800 V4HD - Uncompressed V4HD - Uncompressed N/A
DVCPro25 / DVCPro50 400 or 800 V4HD - DVCPro / DVCPro50 V4HD - DVCPro / DVCPro50 N/A
DVCProHD 400 or 800 V4HD - DVCProHD V4HD - DVCProHD N/A
Apple ProRes 422 standard 400 or 800 V4HD - Apple ProRes 422 V4HD - Full raster FireWire 800 HQ
recommended
Apple ProRes 422 HQ 800 only V4HD - Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) V4HD - Full raster FireWire 800 HQ
recommended
Other codec 400 or 800 Custom V4HD - Full raster FireWire 800 HQ
recommended