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Capturing 24pA off tape and P2 cards: different compressors
We are running a test, mixing our DVCPRO HD 24pA footage that was shot both on P2 and on DVCPRO HD tape into the same timeline.
Everything works great: pulldown removes automatically both on log and transfer of P2 and on capture of tape media. When we log and transfer the P2 media, its compressor is DVCPRO HD 1080p30, but when we capture the footage off tape, its compressor is DVCPRO HD 1080i60, despite our Easy Setup’s compressor being set to DVCPRO HD 1080p30.
All other properties are the same for the P2 and tape media. The compressor is the only difference (both are 23.98fps, 1280×1080 frame size). Anyone know why the tape’s coming in as 1080i60 and how to make it to capture with DVCPro HD 1080p30 compressor?
Thank you.
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8 Replies
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Thank you, Dave. We’re capturing off tape with remove pulldown selected so that the footage comes in progressive, not interlaced. We are currently mixing these clips with the P2 clips on a timeline and it looks fine (all properties of the two differently sourced clips are exact same except for their compressors).
Our sequence settings are the same as our P2 media: 23.98fps, DVCPRO HD 1080p30 compressor with field dominance set to none. So the tape-sourced clips (whose compressor is 1080i60) appear not native when put into this timeline (we get the gray/green render bar above it).
This might not be a big technical issue but I don’t know why the tapes aren’t capturing as 1080p30 since the pulldown is removed and I don’t know how to force it to be so. I don’t want to mix compressors on a timeline if I don’t have to.
Thanks again for any thoughts. -
Hey Dave,
We actually shot 24pA and FCP removes the pulldown on capture just fine, giving us progressive 23.98 clips. 1080p30 is the correct setting for this kind of sequence. 1080p”30″ isn’t referring to the frame rate, although it does look misleading at first.
The only thing we’re stuck on is why our 24pA clips, captured off tape, have 1080i60 compressor vs 1080p30. The clips are progressive, 23.98 just like our P2 footage so we’re trying to get the same compressor applied to both.
Thanks again. -
Been looking into this more and it appears FCP defaults to compressor 1080i60 once our deck is hooked up (AJ HD 1400). Otherwise our Easy Setup of DVCPRO HD 108024pA defaults to compressor 1080p30. That must be why P2 comes in as 1080p30 compressor and tape-digitized media comes in as 1080i60.
Now my question is: how to make the deck allow capture using the 1080p30 codec or if it’s not possible, is mixing 1080i60 and 1080p30 compressors on same timeline no big deal? (All other properties of the P2 and tape-sourced media are the same: frame rate, dominance, size. The compressor is the only difference).
*Our media is progressive, 23.98 DVCPRO HD 24pA both on tape and on P2 cards so the above question relates only to codecs.
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We are shooting 24pA. Getting it to capture 23.98 is not an issue. Here’s more info on 24pA: https://www.thedvshow.com/faq-pro/index.php?action=article&cat_id=015&id=383
We’re curious, only, why our p2 media comes in with DVCPRO HD 1080p30 compressor while tape comes in DVCPRO HD 1080i60. It may be mixing the two on a timeline is no big deal. If others out there are using both P2 and tape-sourced 24pA, I’d like to hear about your experience.
Thanks.
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OK, finally got it. DVCPRO HD 24pA gets recorded to tape as a 60i signal. FCP is capable of yanking the extra frames out so it comes in at 23.98 no problem but the compressor will still read as 1080i60. Because P2 never goes to tape, it can come in at 1080p30. Both are progressive once digitized. You can mix them on the same timeline just fine because they are the same thing. Don’t worry about the 1080i60 v. 1080p30 compressor difference.
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So can i ask what your sequence settings are? We are using 24pa footage as well that comes in at 23.98 but we are mixing with archival footage at DV/DVCPRO NTSC and when we throw lower 3rds on the archival in a 1080p30 sequence the media gets distorted. Was wondering if this distortion has anything to do with sequence settings.
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You can expect some glitches mixing such different media. Your timeline settings should reflect what the majority of your footage is. Make sure you have correct settings by making a new timeline, then drop in a clip that is representative of the majority of your footage and allow FCP to change its settings to fit the properties of that clip (this will be an automated response to dropping a clip in a new timeline). Then either up/downconvert the rest of the footage to match those properties or you can try conforming the lower third-ed “archival” footage in your 1080p30 timeline by highlighting it and selecting Modify> Conform to Sequence.
Mac OSX10.5.8
2×2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
8GB 800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM -
Thanks for the quick response! I’m going to test that out now.
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