EMERGENCY question on importing with 23.98 advanced pulldown into FCP 5.0

[Don Greening]

I posted a response in the Canon forum.

– Don

[Jeff Newton]

Don,

So, on my G4 laptop with FCP 4.5/Mac OX 10.39 it’s working perfectly with all the normal settings. I dont have anamorphic selected in the log and capture window…I actually never have. It just always captured it in 16:9. When you were watching it as it was being captured it would show as 4:3 but when you selected it in the bin it would then show up in the viewer window as a widescreen file.

So, I am trying everything imagionable…but on my G5 tower with FCP5/Tiger it will not work. If I select anamorphic in the log and capture window it gives me a pop up when I go to capture that says…’general error’. I have never seen that with my laptop or even on my desktop.

I even switched my settings the timeline like you said to make the timeline 16:9 but that just seemed to stretch the image. The XL2 records in true 16:9 so I dont want to stretch it anymore.

I also dont fully understand what you meant by:

“You must also choose to use the DN NTSC Anamorphic codec in the preferences window, instead of just DV NTSC.”

I have never worked with DN NTSC before and I looked in my preferences and I couldn’t find it there. Im am seeming like I dont know what Im talking about but I have worked in the program before and I have never came across this problem. I dont know if it is a FCP 5.0 problem…but I just edited a full music video in 5.0 and it was fine. Now…that was not recorded in 16:9 so I didn’t run into this problem…but I have done work on my laptop with 4.5 using 16:9 and never had to change the timeline to a 16:9 timeline.

Sorry to make this so crazy but I am frusterated right now and I have to leave tomorrow morning at 4am to go up North to shoot more footage and come back tomorrow night and edit all the footage to show Monday at the agency…AHHH.

Thank you again, Jeff.
https://www.jeffnewton.com

https://www.jeffnewton.com

[Jeff Newton]

So…check this out…I don’t know if I am doing it right or not but here is what I came up with and it seems to work…for right now…I say that because who know’s tomorrow.

So, in my audio/video settings my sequence preset is set to: DV NTSC 48 KHz – 23.98 and my capture preset is set to: dv advanced (2:3:3:2) pulldown removal.

My log and capture: ‘capture settings’ are set to:
Device Control: DV NTSC
Capture/Input: DV NTSC 48 KHz advanced (2:3:3:2) pulldown removal.

Before I go and import this I create a new timeline that is has the 16:9 setting checked…then I go and import my clips and store then in my bin. I DO NOT place them in the timeline yet I just import them all as I need them. Once I am done importing them I check that they imported as 16:9 by double clicking them in the bin to open them in the viewer…not the canvas/timeline. Once I know that they imported correctly I select the timeline and go to the sequence tab and select settings and remove the check in the 16:9 anamorphic to make the timeline a 4:3 timeline.

Then I can start moving the clips to the timeline without them being stretched and they fall perfectly in line with a widescreen format within the 4:3 ratio. I was even able to view it on my external video monitor and in my eyepiece on the xl2 to make sure that it was regristering as a 16:9 image on the tv screen.

So…that being said…I have no freakin’ idea if this is the correct way…especially since it is not the way everyone else is doing this and it is not the way that I have to do it on my laptop…so who knows.

Don…does this way sound absurd??? And one more question. Where is this:

” And make sure you’ve clicked the Anamorphic check box. In FCP 4.5 it’s in the first tab.”

I went to my laptop to check and see if that was checked and I just didn’t realize it but I am not sure which one you are talking about. On 5.0 on my G5 I dont even have an anamorphic box checked right now and I am being able to do what I just explained.

It’s all a bit crazier than I would have expected for FCP.

Well, Im off to bed. I have to be up around 4am to head out to shoot more. I’ll be checking this post as soon as I return.

Thanks again, Jeff.

https://www.jeffnewton.com

[Don Greening]

Ok, I just started up FCP 4.5 to make sure I’ve given you the right setting info because I was working in OS9 before and was giving you info from memory. Apparently my memory was somewhat lacking.

Here’s the workpath I use in FCP 4.5 for the same thing you’re doing in FCP 5:

Since you’re working with 24pA footage your capture preset should be DV NTSC Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal Anamorphic. Trouble is, there’s no standard preset that contains both 24pA AND Anamorphic. So…….you go to the FCP menu and choose Audio/Video settings. In the setup window click on capture presets and highlight DV NTSC Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal from the list. Then you click on “edit” at the bottom to add the anamorphic addition to your preset from the Capture Preset Editor window that comes up. Just check the Anamorphic box right beside where it says DV NTSC 3:2. Save this as your custom preset. Then in the Log and Capture window go to capture settings just to double-check that it’s going to use your newly created capture setting and start your capture.

Once you’ve done that go to the sequence menu and click on “settings”. In the window that appears this is where you check the Anamorphic box for the timeline. Rmember that this is for FCP 4.5 and not FCP 5. I’ve done it this way and so far everything has worked out great and I also have an XL2. The settings in FCP 5 must be very similar to the set up in FCP 4.5. I made a couple of mistakes in my previous posts to you that sent you off on the wrong quest and for that I appologize. I should have had FCP running when I was initially responding to you. Good luck and I hope I’ve been able to help you finally.

– Don

[Craig Lindvahl]

Don-

You sound like just the guy I’ve been searching for. I’ve shot some stuff on the XL2, 24 p (2:3, not 2:3:3:2), and I’m struggling with the FCP 4.5 end of it.

When I digitized with a JVC BR-DV600 deck through an AJA IoLA, I had some trouble, so I’ve been digitizing through the camera. Here’s the thing-when I drag stuff from the bin to the timeline, I have to render it. After all that, when I’m finished, I make a new sequence, without the 16:9 selected, drag the original in it, wait til it renders, and then I have the letterbox version. Kind of time intensive, you know? i also have a couple of strange issues going to dvd studio pro, but I’ll save that for another time.

Am I doing this correctly? Here are the settings I’m using.

Thanks so much.

Craig Lindvahl

Audio/Video settings:

Sequence preset: DV NTSC 48 Khz-23.98
Capture preset: DV NTSC 48 KHZ anamorphic
Device control: FireWire NTSC
Video Playback: ProIO-NTSCUS-Component YPbPr SMPTE N10-10-bit 422
Audio Playback: ProIO Out

Sequence presets:

Frame size: 720×480 pixels
Editing timebase: 23.98fps
Field Dominance: none
Pixel Aspect Ratio: NTSC-CCIR 601/ DV
Anamorphic 16:9 on
Video processing: high precision YUV allowed
White Point: White

Compressor: Uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2
Millions of colors (24 bit)
No data rate limit
No keyframes set
Quality: 100

Audio settings: 16 bit 48 k

Capture presets:

Using Dv video for video input
XL2 using NTSC
23.98 frames per second
DV/DVCPRO-NTSC at best quality
24 bits per pixel
720×480 (anamorphic 16:9)
Using DV audio for audio input
Input: First 2 channels
Rate: 48k
Speaker: off
Volume: 100, Gain 0

[Don Greening]

Hi Craig,

First of all I should say that I’m no expert by any means, especially compared to the rest of the folks in here. People like Graeme Nattress and forum moderators like Walter Biscardi are the ones whos’ opinions you should be waiting for. I just know what’s worked for me in the past and from what I’ve read.

Having said that, to keep your workflow time down to a minimum here’s what I’d do in your case. You want to shoot in 24p and output to DVDSP to create a 24 fps DVD. Following Graeme Nattress’ workflow from his article you’ve used the XL2 to capture 24p (not advanced) so you’ve got that part right. The reason for the red render bar in your timeline is because FCP has to add back the pulldown to display your footage correctly on a 30fps (29.97) NTSC monitor. Some faster computers can do this on the fly but some won’t because it takes a lot of processing power.

If you read my previous post to Jeff you need to create a custom capture preset because there isn’t one that has both 24p capture and anamorphic. The other thing is that you’re using the 10 bit uncompressed codec for rendering which is really going to slow everything down. If you have a lot of graphics as part of your timeline then you will see a certain amount of quality improvement in those by using 10 bit but from what I’ve been able to read there will be no difference in the video quality. So….using the same timeline codec as the one you captured with seems to be the way to go to keep your editing time managable.

In order not to see any letterboxing in your footage you need to create the custom capture preset AND a timline set to anamorphic as well. In the viewer or canvas windows you shouldn’t see any letterboxing at all because those windows will automatically configure themselves to 16:9 aspect ratio. The same thing should happen when you see it on your 16:9 external editing monitor.

Read Graeme’s article about this topic. Just delete where it says DVX100 and insert XL2. The workpaths are identical. There’a also a section on creating a 24p DVD using DVDSP. A veritable gold mine of info.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/24p_in_FCP_nattress.html

Or you can wait until tomorrow when Walter and Graeme will be back and cruising this very forum.

– Don

[Craig Lindvahl]

Don-

You only have to know one more thing than me to qualify as an expert in my eyes. Thanks so much-I’m printing the article as we speak. In the end, the images are so beautiful that it’s worth whatever it takes to make it happen.

Thanks again.

Craig Lindvahl

[Graeme Nattress]

Thanks Don! I think all the original poster has to do is to duplicate the DV NTSC Advanced Pulldown removal easy setup and modify it with an “anamorphic on”, and then the footage will come in ready to go onto the timeline. You can also take any footage that has been captured, and in the browser just turn on the anamorphic.

Timeline should be 23.98fps and anamorphic. That should do it. Failing that, thanks for posting the link to my article as that clears up most things.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP