• Compression Techniques

  29.97 to 23.98

  Posted by Steve Harrington on April 19, 2013 at 4:45 pm

  I have a 29.97 clip which was originally shot at 23.98. Every 5 frames looks something like this: A.B.C.D.D.
  Meaning I have a duplicate 4th frame every 5th frame to compensate.

  Im trying to convert it back to 23.98. However Im getting this every 4 frames: A,B/C, D,D. Meaning I have one blended frame and still one duplicate frame.

  How can I get this to convert more like this: A,B,C,D/D. So basically the 4th and 5th frame are mixed which wouldn’t cause a blending issue.

  I used compressor to covert this, but Im figuring I might need a different compressor with more control.

  Steve Harrington replied 13 years ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Mark Spano

  April 23, 2013 at 5:28 pm

  Actually, no compressor program will get you back there. But it isn’t as hard as you think. If the cadence is like you say (A B C D D A B C D D) and it is consistent throughout, here’s what I have done in the past to rectify:

  • Open FCP
  • Choose 29.97 easy setup
  • Create new project
  • Create new sequence
  • Import 29.97 (2:2:2:4) file
  • Add file to sequence
  • Remove every fifth frame (for this, I use a genius little macro tool called MadRuby which allows you to record a few keystrokes and then play them back on repeat until done. So you can record “right,right,right,right,i,o,shift-delete” which is a key sequence that will remove every fifth frame. Then you can set MadRuby to playback with repeat x number of times and it will edit out the duplicate frames for you.)
  • Export newly edited sequence as QuickTime Movie, Current Settings, Self-Contained
  • Open this QT in Cinema Tools
  • Choose Conform…
  • Conform the QT to 23.98 fps

  Now you have the original 23.98p file without any loss in quality or duplicated frames.
• 

  Steve Harrington

  April 23, 2013 at 6:07 pm

  interesting solution. will try it.

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