DVCPROHD Frame Rate Convertor ERROR

[Shane Ross]

I might very well be wrong on this, but I thought the only way for the overcranked footage (footage shot 60fps) on the Varicam was to route it thru a separate box that does this and dub to another tape.

What is this FRC (frame rate converter, I know) that you talk of? Who makes it? Is it designed for this?

[Walter Biscardi]

[kdwalter] “The footage is 59.94 and was brought in with the Easy Setup for DVCPRO HD 720p60. I’ve trashed prefs. Repaired permissions. FRC seems unfriendly to others from what I’ve found here on the cow, at 2pop and lafcug…I’ve heard suggestions to make sure the file is top level in browser…it is.”

The best way to use the FRC is to move any footage that you want to convert to a new project. Run the FRC. The move the converted footage back to the main project.

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

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

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

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

[Walter Biscardi]

[Shane Ross] “I might very well be wrong on this, but I thought the only way for the overcranked footage (footage shot 60fps) on the Varicam was to route it thru a separate box that does this and dub to another tape.

What is this FRC (frame rate converter, I know) that you talk of? Who makes it? Is it designed for this?”

The FRC is free from the Panasonic site and works within FCP. After it’s installed it appears in the Tools Menu and only works with DVCPro HD. It’s extremely good.

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

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

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

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

[Shane Ross]

That is VERY nice to know.

[Kdwalter]

Walter:

Thanks for the reply! Per your suggestion I created a new project and tried to frame convert the one and only clip in the project but unfortunately came up with the same error.

Is is possible that the post house transfered the footage to the drive without flags? As I mentioned the processing media window gets to the 80% point every time. Would it even start the process if there were no flags? Here is a section from Panasonics documentation:

Important:
In order to ensure that your media file contains the variable frame rate
footage from the camera, make sure that you are using a capture preset with the
checkbox labeled

[Walter Biscardi]

[kdwalter] “Is this where things could have gone wrong upon capture? Is there a way for me to tell if the footage is captured properly?”

As far as I know there’s really no way to know for sure if the footage is captured correctly. The Kona 2 has a nice feature in the Control Panel where I can look at the user bits prior to capture to ensure that the footage is truly running at whatever frame rate it’s supposed to be running at.

If that check box you mentioned in your post WAS selected, then the footage would have only been captured in whatever frame rate was read by FCP on the way in. I.e., if the tape was shot 24fps, then FCP would have automatically captured the footage at 23.98 via Firewire.

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

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

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

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

[Tony]

Look at the clips in your browser and verify under item properties what the codec is which the clips were captured at.

Are they dvcpro HD 59.94? verify the clip frame rate also?

Did the post house capture via firewire or HDSDI? I have tested both firewire captures and HDSDI with the 1200A and both retain the flags needed for the FRC extraction.

Generally if a clip does not have the flags an error message will appear after you select the FRC in the tools menu telling you that clip cannot be processed because it is not a dvcpro HD clip etc. In this case the FRC never even starts processing.

Other items to look out for include making sure you have not loaded the clip you wish to convert into the viewer, the clip is at the top of the browser.

One FCP bug I have found is that sometimes even when you select the clip you wish to convert FCP will grab another clip in another bin and convert that clip instead. So you must look at the clip name and verify it is the same when the FRC dialogue window appears and cross check it to make sure the clip you have selected is the one that will be converted. Sometimes I have had to boot out of FCP and restart FCP to get it to convert the clip I want.

FYI the FRC will only work on native DVCPRO HD varicam footage not standard def clips transcoded from the varicam clips. The flags are not retained during the downconvert via the 1200A or in FCP.

One last note what is the sequence setting you are working in? You will get a different overcrank or undercrank effect depending on the sequence playback frame rate.

Tony Salgado

PS- what is the mac you are using the FRC on? I tested a powerbook, dual 1 ghz G4 and dual 2.7ghz G5 and there are major differences in the amount of time required to convert the clips.

Or course the dual 2.7ghz G5 was the fastest. For example a 15 second clip would take about 10 sec to process and drop the self contained clip back into FCP. On the dual G4 it took about a minute. The powerbook anywhere between 2-3 minutes.

[Kdwalter]

Thanks again Walter, I’ll have to check in with the post house. I was assured that everything was captured properly but I better follow the old Russian Proverb: ‘Trust, then verify.’

[Kdwalter]

Tony: Thanks for your help.

Are they dvcpro HD 59.94? verify the clip frame rate also? YES, BOTH ARE 59.94

Did the post house capture via firewire or HDSDI? I have tested both firewire captures and HDSDI with the 1200A and both retain the flags needed for the FRC extraction. I’M NOT SURE, THEY USED KONA 2 AND CAPTURED TO A FIREWIRE DRIVE

Other items to look out for include making sure you have not loaded the clip you wish to convert into the viewer, the clip is at the top of the browser. YES I AM DOING THIS. I ALSO TOOK WALTER’S SUGGESTION OF OPENING A NEW PROJECT WITH THE SINGLE CLIP THAT NEEDS PROCESSING.

One last note what is the sequence setting you are working in? You will get a different overcrank or undercrank effect depending on the sequence playback frame rate. THE SEQUENCE IS 59.94

PS- what is the mac you are using the FRC on?
Dual 2 ghz g5
10.3.9
2.5 gigs ram
FCP 5.0.1

[Gary Adcock]

[tony salgado] “FYI the FRC will only work on native DVCPRO HD varicam footage not standard def clips transcoded from the varicam clips. The flags are not retained during the downconvert via the 1200A or in FCP.”

I am going to jump in here, to add to Tony’s comment the Software FRC will also not see flags on upconverted SD footage shot with 24p cameras.
There are a number of things that could be wrong here. from the original shoot to which deck the facility used to capture the content from. This can also occur when the camera has an abrupt and erratic frame rate ramping when shooting -you get a break or burp in the cadence and even the software FRC cannot hold up.
Have you tried checking the original footage on a deck to check the frame rate in the UBit mode? This can also bee seen on a Kona 2 using the Kona Control panel to check the HDSDI feed.

From IBC

Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL