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Editing recorded Zoom interviews with varying frame rates – Sync Nightmare!
HI,
I’m editing a doc-style project using Zoom recordings for interviews. The frame rate for the interviews vary from 25 to 29.97 frames per second. The Broll that I’m using is 23.98. The resolutions and frame sizes are all over the place.
I put the work on a 23.98 sequence to accomodate the broll and not have to generate frames for the broll footage and 25 fps interviews.
When I cut this mess together the interviews loose sync all over the place and not always consistently or all the time. Needless to say it’s driving me a little nuts.
I tried trancoding the interviews to a consistent codec like ProRes but that didn’t help.
For now I’m nudging individual shots into sync as I go. 4 frames forward seems to do the trick.
Is there a way to make it all play nice on a 23.98 timeline?
Thanks!!
(using Premier Pro 14.0 on a Mac with OS 10.14.6 Mojave)
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5 Replies
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I don’t have direct advice as I have not dealt with this specific problem yet, however.
First, Zoom sync is inherently sloppy. Evaluate the original files on direct playback. Is this better or just as sloppy? If it’s just as sloppy, then you may have to clean sync manually. I was just provided a set of files where sync was simply sliding all over. There was no real sync. I adjusted each clip to the best compromise for that clip.
That said, Premiere is terrible with variable bitrate files in any case. You need to convert to a constant bitrate format, preferably an edit format (ProRes, DNxHD, Cineform). Since the Zoom files are nominally 30fps, I would convert to constant 29.97. Test some longer clips with several convertors, say Encode, Handbrake, and Compressor if you have them. See if any of these results in better sync. If you have others, try them. I doubt anything will be perfect per my first comment.
If you can get edit intermediates that look good, that will solve the problem in Premiere.
Another option would be to convert to double-system. Rip the audio and resync clips on the timelime, pulling up as desired, and reexporting this.
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You need to convert everything to CFR before bringing it into Pr.
Dont use AME to convert when using the audio. You still will end up with OOS issues.
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I’ve used Handbrake in the past to convert variable to constant bitrate. This is great if you want to stay with MPEG, but Handbrake does not (easily) convert to edit formats, only forms of MPEG, which are not ideal, especially for long clips.
I’d start with Apple Compressor if you are on Mac and you have it, and convert to Quicktime ProRes. Use a version of Compressor that is compatible with the OS you will be using to edit. Don’t do the conversions on a Sierra system for editing in Catalina, or vice-versa. There are unrelated issues due to the changes in Quicktime over the past several years.
For Windows I recommend Pegasys TMPEG Video Master Works. https://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tvmw7.html I’m not sure what your best output format would be, but this program has solved a LOT of MPEG problems for me over the years so it’s my go-to when other programs fail. It’s also relatively cheap and easy.
Cheers,
tod
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Interesting to learn that Compressor seems to do okay when converting VFR media to ProRes, but Adobe Media Encoder can’t handle the same conversion, despite supporting the same export format.
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