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XDCam HD workflow killing me!
hey everyone. I’m trying to edit a project using a mix of footage shot with both the XDCam (HD 1080p 24- 35 Mb/s VBR) and the JVC GY-HD 200 (HDV 720p 24). Since most of my footage was shot on the JVC HDV camera, I ingested this footage via firewire using an standard HDV 720p 24 preset in Final Cut because my Kona video card has no HD input options. Footage came in great, edits fine, plays back great. Two problems though…
One; I’m getting a funky strobing on all of my dissolves. Can’t figure this out because my footage plays back fine. I’m using the easy setup sequence settings when I chose the HDV 720p 24 preset.
Second; Since I can’t seem to ingest the HD footage from the XDCam via firewire, I’m forced to import it using the XDCam transfer tool. I thought I would just be able to throw this on my timeline and FCP would re-size, interpolate, whatever, but the footage plays back like it has field issues. Can someone please shed some light on my workflow problems or fixes. Can mixing this footage even be done and how? I’m working with FCP 6.04/Kona LHe/Mac OS X 10.4.11. thanks… sorry so long!
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4 Replies
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Hmmm…
I don’t get it… Why doesn’t your Kona LHe have any way to input HD? Its an HD capture card.
Tell us more about your system setup. What version of the Kona LHe drivers do you have?
[alan hotchkiss] “One; I’m getting a funky strobing on all of my dissolves. Can’t figure this out because my footage plays back fine. I’m using the easy setup sequence settings when I chose the HDV 720p 24 preset. “
What is your monitoring device? Hopefully, you are using your Kona LHe for monitoring the 720p24 signal. Next, your strobing you are seeing is because your monitor is a 60Hz monitor and your video is 24p. There’s a difference here. If you had a monitor that can output true 720p24, then you wouldn’t see any strobing. This is why we usually edit with a pull-down. We can edit 24p material and view a 30p signal so that the video plays back smoothly. But this all depends on your monitor and your capture card, if its setup correctly.
[alan hotchkiss] “Second; Since I can’t seem to ingest the HD footage from the XDCam via firewire, I’m forced to import it using the XDCam transfer tool. I thought I would just be able to throw this on my timeline and FCP would re-size, interpolate, whatever, but the footage plays back like it has field issues.”
Again, what version of the Sony Transfer program do you have? FCP is very capable of handling this.
Mixing footage can and does work well, IF you have a fast enough computer to deal with it. Personally, I don’t like taking all that time to render the video. Oh yeah… You do have FCP set to render you HDV video to ProRes, right? Its in the Render Control tab of your User Preferences.
The field issues you are seeing… Keep in mind, there are different flavors of 24p. There’s 24p native and 24p with Pull Down. Sony XDCAM uses 24p with Pull Down. If your timeline is 24p native, you have to remove the pulldown to get your video compatible. Sounds to me like your are having a pulldown issue here. Again, the pulldown is so that you can edit using a 60Hz monitor that isn’t capable of 24p, which, most monitors fall into this category.
Check your video and see if you HDV 720p24 is native or has pulldown. I would bet that its native. To get the XDCAM more friendly, you’ll need a plugin that will remove the pulldown and make it native 24p.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
Appreciate the insight Wayne.
I figured the SD monitor was an issue, but I’m a little hazy on the native pull-down thing. My monitor dies receive the feed from the Kona card. I’m running 5.1 drivers as far as I can tell in the info box. Do I need to update here? Also, my 24-30 fps conversion pattern is set to 2:3:2:3. Is this correct?
I have version 1.0 of the XDCAM transfer tool. Oh yea, and I didn’t have FCP set up to render video in ProRes, so I changed that.
Regarding the issue of pulldown, (sorry I’m a bit ignorant here) how exactly do I tell again if the footage is native or has pull down? Sorry again… so many questions but you are a big help and I appreciate it.
Al @ Pixel Max
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The pulldown on your footage is up to what the original footage was shot as. To find this out, you would have to contact the shooter is the tape wasn’t labeled as such.
As for XDCAM HD, the software is up to version 2.7.1. This could also be one of your problems. Go to Sony’s website and download the newest version. This will update FCP to the latest settings for XDCAM. I would bet this will solve alot of your XDCAM issues.
[alan hotchkiss] “Also, my 24-30 fps conversion pattern is set to 2:3:2:3. Is this correct? “
This setting is for your playback. I wasn’t sure if the LHe had this option. Its used to smoothing playback while editing 24p. If your sequence is setup properly and your playback is still a little jittery, you’ll change this setting to another pulldown pattern to smooth it out. You may have to play around with the offset.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
There is a way to transfer XDCAM footage to FCP using firewire via log & capture, right from the camera. I rarely use it, preferring to use the XDCAM transfer software, but in the case that firewire capture is necessary, you can check your settings in-camera. FAM (file access mode) is the setup it uses for file transfer with the software, but if you want to use FireWire, go to the Operations menu and set the iLink mode to AV/C.
KC Allen
Allen Film & Video“My name is actually spelled KC…really…it is…”
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