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23.97fps guidance in UK please!
Hi, it is a long time since I have had to get my head around anything other than 25fps because we don’t tend to use anything else in the UK. However, we have a fast turnaround online/grading job wiht confusing frames rates and could do with a nod in the right direction.
We have been supplied the FCP project and media. All media is using the DVCproHD 720p60 codec, but the frame rate of the sequence AND the media files is 23.97fps. I don’t quite see why that is but am thinking the camera was capturing 23.97fps but recording the frames into a 60fps file. Maybe a DVCproHD 720p23.97 codec doesn’t exist and that is the reason why?
Our client realises that they may have to do standards conversion to the master we supply (they have a few broadcasters in different areas) but I am not sure exactly what frame rate we should play out? The hardware is a Blackmagic HD decklink extreme. There are video playback settings for 59.94 and 23.97.
Another issue is that the broacasters want 1080i59.94 HDcam masters. We have the HD extreme connected to our Panasonic Plasma and sony BVM 21″ and when we set the card’s output to 1080 we get worse picture quality (on the plasma) than if we set it to 720. This is also confusing because either way the 720 picture must be being upscaled to 1080 because that is the resolution of the monitor. Could the monitor (actually a TV) be doing a better upscale than the HD extreme? Or am I missing something here?
Currently the best looking output we can get is by using the “blackmagic hd 720p59.94 – 8 bit (1280×720)” setting. If we use “blackmagic hd 1080p59.94 – 8 bit” then the picture is slighly pixelated.
I’m struggling to see how we will get from our 720p23.97 (albeit DVCproHD 720p60) material to a 1080i59.94 master.
If anyone out there has experience of this mixture of rates I’d be glad to hear from them. Thanks
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3 Replies
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Your frame rate is fine – it’s 23.98p. Your problem is the upconversion from 720-1080. As you’ve seen, simply setting the video output to 1080 isn’t a good solution.
Go into System Settings/Blackmagic/Processing/Select output processing, and check if your Blackmagic card supports upconversion from 720 to 1080.
Ideally, I think you want your video output to be set to Blackmagic HD 720p59.94, and your system settings to be cross converting from 720 to 1080.
If your card doesn’t support upconversion, your options are to get a video card that does, or export a 720p24 quickime and try using Compressor to upconvert the clip before playout. Then you’d set your video output in FCP to Blackmagic HD 1080p 23.976-59.94 to add the 3:2 pulldown.
Rob Tinworth
http://www.1021.tv -
Many thanks for your reply Rob.
That makes perfect sense. Unfortunately when we select the 720p to 1080i upconversion in the blackmagic control panel the picture and sound completely break up when we press play.
It works fine on just the HD-to-HD output which I presume is a “through” setting.
Seems like the problem is post FCP and happening on the card – could it be a driver issue?
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Hard to say. It’s always worth updating the firmware.
What’s your video output set to in FCP?
Rob Tinworth
http://www.1021.tv
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