3:2 Pulldown in FCP

[Jeremy Garchow]

That’s because dv50 has a the pulldown recorded into the data stream to fulfill the NTSC spec. The 720p24 does not have the pulldown recorded unless you set it up to record that way. What version of 720p did you record? 720p24N, or 720p over 60. What are your sequence settings? How are you monitoring your footage?

[Rob Roberts]

We recorded at 720/24p same setting as our Vericam shoots. We have tried several sequence settings including 720/60. The video looked like, well, video, smooth, but not a 24p sequence. We are monitoring on an Apple HD display. To try to eliminate the Apple display we have down converted to 601 SD and monitored on a SONY SD SDI CRT, and witnessed the same strobing effect. Would shooting in 720/24pn make a difference?

[Jeremy Garchow]

So really, you should be editing in a 720p60 (59.94) timeline. This will give you the 24p look but remain in a 60p timeline. 24pN (the N stands for native and not normal in this case, kind of a bad nomenclature if you are used to working with 24p SD footage is you ask me) leaves you with only the 24 frames and then you would edit in a 23.98 timeline. It sounds like you have your settings screwed up somewhere in the pipeline. Also, when you use the apple display to monitor, do you mean watching it in the canvas in final cut, or do you have an SDI to DVI converter? In order to judge final quality, you should be watching through the proper devices, such as a capture card hooked to a CRT monitor, or a converter that I just mentioned. Using the cinema display preview in FCP is not an accurate way to monitor your footage.

How’d you do the downconvert? Are you sure you shot 24p? And what exactly do you mean by strobing effect? 24p, looks a little stroby especially on fast pans and camera moves.

[Rob Roberts]

I appreciate your effort to help us track down where we are off. I have produced various projects with a Vericam as well as a DVX100, I have a pretty strong track record with 24p. This is a strobe as in there is no jitter frame, but rather a freeze frame where the jitter frame should live. When played back, it looks like an old fashion strobe effect. We are not monitoring through a SDI to DVI interface, but as you suggested first witnessed the anomaly in our viewer window in FCP. Thinking that was not the best way to monitor, we down converted the sequence for our final use which is SD Broadcast dubbed to Beta SP for station dubs. The same strobe effect was present in the SD sequence.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Well, there is no jitter frame in 720p60 progressive material as there is no interlacing. You should see duplicate frames, which it sounds like you are seeing. How did you do the downconvert? Did you send it out to a dub house somewhere? Do you have a Kona 2? Did you try and render one out of FCP? Give the steps you have taken to get to what you are seeing and I can help you. I still get the feeling you have the settings wrong somewhere, or you shot it wrong. It is possible. The HVX 200, while similar in nature to the Varicam records differently. The Varicam always records to tape 60p. Always. The HVX does not always record 60p to P2. It could be possible that you shot in the wrong mode and are trying to watch footage that should be off-speed. Kind of like when you have shot off-speed footage with the Varicam and you watch it in real time, I guess you could say it has a strobing effect. When you shot with the HVX it should have said 24p or 24pN in the viewfinder, not 24p:60. That means you have shot the footage overcranked or slow motion.

Also, if your footage was shot correctly and we just need to get the settings correct, I’d suggest getting yourself a decent monitor (such as the PVM 20L5/1 or the 14L5/1) and a capture card (the AJA Kona series is superb). Until then, you won’t really know how pretty your footage really is.

Jeremy