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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy NTSC to PAL questions

  • NTSC to PAL questions

    Posted by Julie Bigford on November 16, 2007 at 7:44 pm

    Hello everyone!

    I have a project that is NTSC; all footage and quicktimes are NTSC. The client needs it in PAL, both on DVCAM, and as an uncompressed quicktime.

    I have done some research online, and on this forum, and still just don’t understand what I need to do and the best way to do it. If any of you can help me out with exactly what I need to be doing, I’d really appreciate it! Or if you can point me in the direction of articles/websites/previous threads on this site that can help me out.

    I’m working on a Duel 2.3 GHz Power Mac G5, OS X 10.4. FCP 5.0.4. I have a DSR-25 deck that can do both NTSC and PAL. My monitor is only NTSC, though, so I don’t believe I’ll be able to watch the final product.

    I’d really appreciate any help!

    Julie Bigford replied 18 years, 5 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • David Roth weiss

    November 16, 2007 at 8:00 pm

    Julie,

    You really should check out the standards conversion plugins that Cow member Graeme Nattress hads created for this purpose. They do a great job, and short of having it done through hardware at a post facility, probably your best option. Go to http://www.nattress.com to check it out, and demos of the plugins are available. BTW, follow the instructions to the letter…

    David

    David Roth Weiss
    Director/Editor
    David Weiss Productions, Inc.
    Los Angeles

    POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY™

    A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

  • Julie Bigford

    November 16, 2007 at 8:02 pm

    Will do. Thanks so much!!

  • Julie Bigford

    November 16, 2007 at 9:06 pm

    The video tutorial on nattress’ website showed me how to covert a single clip. I have about 1 minute of clips on a timeline that I need converted. Can I do the whole timeline at once? Or do I have to do each clip individually?

    I ask the question because in the tutorial, one step is to take the original clip from the browser and drag it into the “Source Clip” value in the filter. This makes me think that I have to convert each clip individually. I’m just hoping that there is a way to do the entire sequence at once.

    Thanks!

  • Graeme Nattress

    November 16, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    Just make a movie of the timeline, then convert that movie. We lost of the ability to convert sequences back with FCP5….

    Graeme

    http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

  • Julie Bigford

    November 16, 2007 at 9:45 pm

    Excellent! Thanks so much!!

  • Julie Bigford

    November 16, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    Sorry for asking so many questions! I just want to make sure I’m doing it right, I’m not getting the same results as you did in the tutorial :S

    1. I exported the sequence to an uncompressed QT.
    2. Opened a new project in FCP and imported the QT
    3. Changed my easy setup to DV-PAL
    4. Placed my QT on the timeline.
    5. Nested the clip: In the Nest Items dialogue box, it is set at 720×480, NTSC DV (3:2) Aspect Ratio. But in the tutorial, your dialogue box had the dimensions/aspect ratio already set to PAL. Have I done something wrong at this point? Or do I just need to change the aspect ratio to CCIR 601/DV PAL (5:4)?

    If I change the aspect ratio to PAL and I complete the rest of your instructions, this is what I get. (I can’t get the link to work, here’s the page: https://ebaudio.com/NTSC_to_PAL_img_1.png) Note how the scale is at 83.33%, and the clip is not as wide as the canvas. Is this right?

    Sorry for bothering you all, I’m just not really sure of what I’m doing! Thanks!!

  • Paul Dickin

    November 16, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Hi
    You need to be working in a PAL sequence, if it isn’t it hasn’t got the right settings.

  • Julie Bigford

    November 16, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    I thought that by changing my easy setup to PAL, I was working in a PAL sequence. I guess not…

    I started over and made sure that I made my sequence AFTER I changed my easy setup (I now see the dialogue box telling me that only new sequences will be affected by the change) and hot damn! It worked!

    Thanks everyone for all of your help and patience!!

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