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Final Formats in both NTSC and PAL
Hello,
I’m looking for some workflow advice about editing a 60 minute documentary that needs finishing in both PAL and NTSC. The video-footage was shot in NTSC-DV and the 2D animations were rendered out in NTSC as well. I tried converting the final NTSC Sequence to PAL with compressor and had horrible results with both the standard conversion DV and Uncompressed presets. The Nattress plug-in looks pretty good but requires that I nest and render each shot separately because it requires single source media for the conversion. That means editing the film twice and finishing the audio twice as well. Maybe someone reading this has experience with finishing films in both formats and would like to give me some advice. Thanks!
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4 Replies
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Or do it properly and take the NTSC master to a post facility that can do a standards conversion via the really nice big expensive hardware (Terranex) and make a nice looking copy?
Shane
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[Antonia Gogin] “I tried converting the final NTSC Sequence to PAL with compressor and had horrible results with both the standard conversion DV and Uncompressed presets”
Did you use the PAL preset in Advanced Format Conversions? Did you turn on the Frame Controls, setting the resize and rate conversion to Better or Best? (I have found Better works better than Best if there are graphics)
I have found Compressor 3 does really good standards conversion if you use the proper settings. Better than Nattress….it is wicked slow though.
But unless you are broke…you should do what Shane suggested and get it done on a Terranex. Its the best tool out there for this and if you care about your film, you should get it done right.
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Hey!
I haven’t tried exporting the entire NTSC cut yet and importing that back into FCP for the Nattress conversion but will give it a go asap…. and yes I did test the Frame Controls in Compressor for Better and Best when I did the conversion with the PAL presets. I tested almost every variation in Compressor and found that for the material that I have, Nattress did a better job. But….actually Shane is right I should just get it done with a hardware converter….. but money is an issue. How are the Snell & Wilcox converters in comparison to the Terrenex? Also if I do go the professional route should I make a NTSC master without titles for the conversion or leave them in?
Thanks for the responses they’re greatly appreciated.
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It will always be crisper if you re-do the titles in PAL rather than convert them
Snell and Wilcox make great stuff too. Should be fine.
Interesting that you got such poor results with Compressor. I had always used Nattress until recently. I had a piece with graphics I needed to convert and was unhappy with the softness. I tried Compressor 3, and was amazed at how good it looked. Almost indistiguishable from the PAL original. Maybe going from NTSC to PAL (where the image is getting blown up a bit) its not as good.
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