24p Conversion

[Kevin Camp]

actually you just need to remove the pulldown… in ae select the footage in the project window, then choose file>interpret footage>main. now select separate fields with the correct dominance (usually lower), then click the guess pulldown (most likely the 3:2 pulldown).

put the footage into a 23.976 fps comp and check and make sure the first 5 frames all look good (no interlacing).

now, how you should do it…. is to remove the pulldown at capture. read you nle manual for capturing 24p. any camera/device that records 24p to tape will need to add a pulldown to record it to 29.97 fps for tape. most nle’s can remove that pulldown when you capture. then you’ll work entirely in native 24p. if you need to go back to tape, you’ll just add a pulldown when your ready to go to tape.

remember this… you never want to edit with a pulldown. if you do you will have a hell of a time trying to remove it later, and it is just good practice to always remove the pulldown at capture to avoid problems later….

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Cody Howard]

Ya…i’m using Sony Vegas. And it won’t remove pulldown. And it won’t capture the 24p recorded footage as 24p instead it captures it as 60i.

Thanks for the information! One more quick question…..

All this is going to a DVD….(a documentary that will be sold in various sporting good stores).

So if i were to remove the pulldown, edit, and then export it out to DV tape….to be sent out to the DVD authoring and duplication service , would i need to add back in the pulldown? I’m trying to achieve that “Film Look”. Does AE add back in pulldown?

Thanks in Advance

[Kevin Camp]

to use ae to remove the pulldown, you will need to capture each shot individually (the camera will reset the pulldown for each shot, so in order to remove that pulldown you will need to capture each shot individually).

then you can remove the pulldown in ae for each clip (it will be a bit tedious) and rerender to edit in vegas.

in vegas you will need to be able to edit in a 24p timeline… will that be a problem? i’ll assume it won’t, so you should be able to complete your piece and i would think you could lay to tape as you would any other project and vegas or your hardware will put the pulldown in….

if not, ae can definitely add the pulldown, just drag the footage on the new comp icon and send it to the render queue. click the render settings and choose render fields and pick a pulldown cadence (any will do, like wwsss…), note that the frame rate will now show 29.97. then render. then you can put that to tape.

talk to the dvd transfer guys, tell them that you edited the project in 24p and added a pulldown to put to tape (if you know the cadence, let them know that too). if you added the pulldown at the end, they can most likely remove the pulldown and create a progressive dvd for you, which would be nice since you went through the trouble of working progressive.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Cody Howard]

Hey thank you very much for taking the time to explain all this to me. That just cleared up all my questions. Man….this is a process huh!! Well, onward!

[Kevin Camp]

yep, the 24p workflow is rather rigid if you want to get the greatest benefit of 24p, which is of course progressive frames. and i think that since your final destination is dvd, 24p is a very valid way to go, with film-out and streaming or computer based destination being the others.

a simpler work flow can be 30p. many cameras can shot 30p and there is no special setup, capture settings or workflow… just treat it like 30i with the exception of not needing to deinterlace to effect the video. 30p also has a film like quality with it’s progressive frames and since it is already at 29.97 fps, it will never get interlaced (via pulldown or otherwise) for broadcast or playout on non-progressive displays, like most sd televisions.

so, if you find the 24p workflow to be too difficult with vegas, you may consider 30p the next time… i’m not an editor, just an effects and broadcast design guy, and since everything i work on is for broadcast, i’m a much bigger fan of 30p than 24p. i’ve been royally screwed by footage that was put together with bad 24p worklfows, but i do see the value of 24p in dvd’s… so i tried to hold back my 24p rant…. (if you search the cow you’ll find them).

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Dave Morgan]

ok i have a sony v1u and i also need to remove the pulldown. but do i have to do this in AE, cause if i try in premiere its greyed out,. you cant select it.

so i guess i have to do it in AE then import it to premiere?

[Kevin Camp]

i haven’t used premiere, but i did check into a 24p premiere workflow for someone a couple of months ago…

i seem to remember reading that if you setup up for a 24p project, then capture your 24p footage, premiere will handle the pulldown correctly… there may have been another step in there somewhere, but it seemed like a pretty simple setup.

check on the premiere forum for 24p workflow when capturing from tape.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW