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Conforming problem with h264
I am working with projects that have mixed RED raw files and Canon 5D h264 files. When I export an XML or an EDL from Final Cut Pro 7, the Red files conform properly. But The h264 files are not conforming.
I get conflicts in the timeline which I have to resolve one by one.
Any tip on how to get Davinci to conform those h264 files properly?
(For info, we use proxy ProRes of both the RED and 5D footage for the editing)
Jonathan
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9 Replies
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Does the h264 footage have timecode? i.e. when you converted the 5D footage did you set individual timecode to each reel? This is a common prolem with 5D footage because the camera does not generate timecode.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
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I had a similar problem with a client providing AIC .mov each one of them starting with 00:00:00:00 timecode. There is a little piece of software called qtChange. It cost $25 dollars and does wonders on Quicktime files by creating a new timecode. It can also extract time of make from a THM sidecar file if you have an access to the original media structure from dslr (good practice to copy an entire card rather than files anyway). The danger of course is that if there is any useful timecode in the files to be modified it will alter it and break any workflow that relies on the existing timecode. If there was no useful timecode to begin with there is almost 0 risk in altering the edit. The reason is that many editing apps (FCP and Premiere) do not explicitly use timecode to conform the timeline. They are counting frames from the beginning of the file. There are some exceptions however (some FCP nested sequences or multicam may suffer.) Anyhow I recommend making a copy of a project and trying it with qtChange (google it). I can confirm that using it on a footage that all had the same timecode and no reel names did work in FCP and in PPro (PC). I just had to set up reel name creation in qtChange, and offline and relink all of the files after altering the timecode. I also had to change some settings in Resolve (do not recall right now) and use amf instead of xml to conform.
P.S. My resolve station is a Windows station. so xml might work fine for you (my understanding – fcp xml 5 out of PPro on Windows is buggy) -
I recommend to use a track for RED and another track for 5D clips.
If you are using xml, unclick the option in settings “assist using reel numbers from the” and it works for me. it reads the entire timeline.
Di Davinci Resolve Colorist
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qtChange seems like a good way to do this. Thanks for the tip. Do you know, if I add a time code to the h264 file, and then convert it to ProRes. Is the timecode going to follow? Since you work with Windows, you probably haven’t tried that. I’ll give this a shot, and post my results.
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No it doesn’t. And the issue is that not only I want my proxies to have timecode, but also the original h264 files. Since I rather grade from the h264 than the converted ProRes. I guess qtChange will do the job.
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That sounds good, where do you find that option? While exporting in FCP, or while importing in DaVinci? I don’t seem to find it.
Final cut uses file names and frame count. I would be surprised if DaVinci wasn’t able to do the same. I guess you’ve got the trick.
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Actually codec shouldn’t make a difference. timecode here is a something that the wrapper takes care of. In this case is .mov. It also makes no difference if you convert to ProRes first. But as I said do run a test on a duplicate project and duplicates of the files to make sure it won’t break your edit.
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If DaVinci would use frame count rather than the timecode then the grade would break (dynamics/windows/timing) every time you change your edit or bring in the clips in from somewhere else (VFX etc). Just an educated guess.
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