59.94 not Dropframe?

[Walter Biscardi]

I’m adding Tiger / FCP 5 to my primary HD editing system on Monday. Panasonic is delivering a D5 to our shop Tuesday for further testing. I’ll get back to you guys on Tuesday / Wednesday to let you know what we find with FCP 4.5 / 5.0 as far as frame accuracy.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Walter Biscardi]

We got the entire issue resolved and are now able to make completely frame accurate edits using Final Cut Pro 5.0 with our AJA Kona 2. Here’s a full overview of our findings.

DVCPro HD as a format is Non-Drop Frame for all frame record settings except true 60fps. 59.94 and 23.98 are both Non-Drop Frame settings. The primary issue we faced is that the network obviously requires a 29.97 Drop Frame Master. What we were attempting to accomplish during our testing was to force Final Cut Pro to accurately start the show on Field 1 of 01:00:00:02 on the HDCAM Master from a DVCPro HD Non-Drop Frame Timeline.

What we were able to show in our test is that Final Cut Pro 5.0 is frame accurate on each and every edit, however, it was landing 1/2 frame backwards or forward each edit. On a few of the edits we hit straight up 01:00:00:02 on Field 1. On most of the edits we landed at 00:59:59:29 Field 2 . The film lab attributed that 1/2 frame offset to the Teranex converter and confirmed that Final Cut Pro was cutting accurately each time.

Here is the procedure we used:
Final Cut Pro Timeline – DVCPro HD at 59.94
In Point set to 00:59:00:00 (Start of the Bars)

Sony HDW-F500 HDCAM Recorder connected via RS-422 to Final Cut Pro (via Kona 2)
Time Source set to LTC+VITC
Playback Offset set to +00:00:02

Assemble Edit until just after 00:59:40:00

Perform a second edit at 00:59:40:00 (Start of Slate)

Edit through the rest of the show.

This procedure seems to render us a reliable, frame accurate master each time.

Very special thanks to CineFilm Labs here in Atlanta for their help in the test and to Ramy Katrib at Digital FilmTree for his input as well. And a huge thanks to Guitar Center here in Atlanta for their assistance in putting together the Road Ready Cases for the new Biscardi Creative Media Remote High-Def Workstation. 10bit HD in a box. 🙂

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters