• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  mixing frame rates and aspect ratios

  Posted by Eric Grush on April 15, 2009 at 7:47 pm

  Hello All,

  So I inherited a doco from a previous editor with multiple frame rate and aspect ratios.

  The majority of the footage as well as the project itself are DV/NTSC 23.98 Anamorphic, some interviews and b-roll were shot DV/NTSC 29.97 non-anamorphic. The final output will likely be HDCam. As it stands now, the 29.97 material looks terrible, motion strobing…and the non-anamorphic material starts to look odd when scaled up. My thought right now is to move the whole thing into a letterboxed/non-anamorphic time-line built at DV/NTSC 29.97 and let my Kona 3 do the appropriate conversion to 23.98 during output to tape. Does this seem like the best option or do I have a better solution.

  Thanks,

  eric

  Eric Grush replied 17 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Shane Ross

  April 15, 2009 at 8:22 pm

  Well, the problem is that FCP doesn’t mix frame rates well. Heck, nothing does. Fine for offline cutting, but for final outputs…you have to conform everything to the same frame rate, and same codec really. So consider this an offline cut, and plan on recapturing all of the 29.97 stuff with a frame rate to match. I know the Kona can upconvert SD to HD, but not convert the frame rate at the same time. I haven’t tried to use it to JUST convert the frame rate…I wonder how it handles that?

  So you are also wanting to take this DV project and upconvert it to HDCAM? The Kona 3 can do that.

  This is pretty poor planning…so many people just capture and begin editing without any thought about the repercussions of mixing formats and frame rates…until it bites them in the behind.

  Shane

  

  GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
  Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
• 

  Eric Grush

  April 16, 2009 at 4:17 pm

  Thanks Shane,

  I know what you mean regarding the planing and workflow. The director knew what she was doing, but was shooting overseas with several camera people and there seems to have been a breakdown along the way. Totally get that this is the offline. What is the best way to get a 29.97 to 23.98 without artifacts in the motion? FCP capture as 23.98 or use Cinema Tools to Reverse Telecine to 23.98. Is turning the whole thing 29.97 and opting for a DigiBeta output the better choice?

  And what about aspect ratio? Cause there wasn’t enough for me to worry about already. Oy vey! I love editing. Just wish I could spend more time actually doing that part of the job. But, then I wouldn’t get to have so much fun here on “The Cow.”

  Thanks again.

  Eric Grush
  StudioGrushky
  HaloMediaArts

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