720p drop frame sequence need better workflow

[Walter Biscardi]

[Herb Sevush] “I’ve been thinking about this as well, but i’m worried that the resale value of the 1200 is going to really drop with the availability of the 1400.”

Of course it will. What I paid $32,000 for just over two years ago is now available for $25k on the 1400. But getting the frame accurate editing to tape is going to be worth selling off this unit. The 1200A is going to be great for a studio which just records a feed off the camera and not much editing.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Director, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

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

[Ansillary Changes]

Hello everyone. I also have found my own little Final Cut Pro work around that I use to get around not having the option of a Drop Frame 720p 59.94 timeline. I am interested to know if anyone else has tried to following method.

I conform several HD shows a month that are brought in from D-5 using the DVCPRO HD 720p60 codec. When I setup a sequence, I choose the DVCPRO HD 720p60 timeline setting, and go into the sequence settings. In the General settings tab, then change the Editing Timebase: from 59.94 to 29.97. Now when I go into the Timeline Options tab, the Drop Frame checkbox is no longer grayed out, and I can select it. I then hit OK, and drop my digitized show into the timeline. The footage goes unrendered, and you lose the control over seeing and stepping through each field, but once rendered everything is fine. I then output to a Panasonic 1700A (the 1200A was a nightmare!) Drop Frame time code accurate to a DVCPROHD tape at 720p. Once in a while I will have an issue where the the bars and tone may come in a field early. For example, sometimes my bars may come up on the second field of 00:58:39;29, insteading of coming up at 00:58:40:00 exactly. Sometimes it comes up a whole frame early, its not consistent or accurate everytime so I often run an assemble a few times and cancel out right after the bars as a test just to see where the bars come up, and then run the full show. This has been working out for me okay and none of my outputs have been rejected by the networks so far. I was wondering if anyone else has used this method as a workaround, or if anyone had any comments or questions. I would love to hear from you guys!

-AC

[Nicholas Nykamp]

Two years later and FCP still greys out the drop-frame option for a DVCPRO HD 720p60 sequence (unless the timebase is set to 29.97, as Ansillary Changes pointed out) . I’ve searched for answers but this appears to be the most recent thread on the topic.

Am I missing something or have people just given up complaining?