EX1 footage on FCP Timeline

[Don Greening]

Hi Lawrence,

Sine you’re using FCP 6 you can take advantage of one of the program’s new set up features. Create any old sequence you want then drag one of your EX clips into it and release the mouse button. A dialogue will come up stating that: “The sequence setting don’t match the clip settings. Do you want to change the sequence settings to match?” Just say yes and you’re done. Afterwards, by all means go and check out the settings for your new sequence and see what they are.

FCP is pretty smart that way, nowadays.

– Don

[Lawrence Gray]

That’s what I’ve done… and the setting is as I said. Very strange. Why’s it say Interlaced and not progressive?

Lawrence Gray

[Don Greening]

I’m not sure. When FCP conforms a new sequence to match your clip settings does the footage look like it’s playing back progressive in an interlaced timeline or does it look good? If it looks fine then just duplicate your easy setup and call the new one 1080p 25.

You also shouldn’t have to custom set the frame size. FCP already knows that if your footage is HQ 1080p 25 VBR it also knows your frame size is 1920×1080 sq. pixels. If you shot SQ 1080p25 CBR the frame size will be 1440×1080 anamorphic. Make sure you’re not trying to change an anamorphic frame size to a square pixel frame size.

– Don

edit update: I just thought of something else. Once FCP conforms a new sequence to match your clip settings go to the browser and in the field dominance column check that it’s set to “none” for that sequence. Then you’ll know for sure that you’re viewing progressive footage in a progressive timeline.

[Lawrence Gray]

Not sure what you mean by duplicate the Easy Set up. How do I do that and why?

FCP didn’t seem to know which aspect ratio so I had to set it by hand. Certainly Square rather than anamorphic.

And the play back doesn’t look interlaced despite the Sequence Setting saying it is. However, when I round trip to Motion that comes back interlaced despite the preference setting being EX 1080p25 and needs rendering.

Lawrence Gray

[Don Greening]

T[Lawrence Gray] “Not sure what you mean by duplicate the Easy Set up. How do I do that and why?”

This might help:

https://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/how_to_get_the_most_out_of_your_easy_setup_part_1/

– Don

[Andy Mees]

Lawrence

Are you absolutely certain that you have what you think you have? What I mean is, however unlikely, its possible the footage was actually shot at 50i instead of 25p … stranger things have happened, and its sure to throw anyone for a loop if they’re assuming their footage is of one format when its really of another.

Easy enough to find out though. Just select one of the raw master clips in the browser and press Cmd-9 to view the clip’s Format properties. Note them down and post back with the info … in fact, it would be useful if you did the same thing with one of your sequences.

Cheers
Andy

[Lawrence Gray]

Afraid the XD Cam is set to 25p and I’ve no reason to think it’s doing anything else.

Format Properties… Vid Rate 25fps, Frame Size, 1920×1080, Compressor XDCAM EX 1080p25 (35Mb/sVBR), Data Rate 4.3 MB/sec, Pixel Aspect Square. Field Dominance None

Sequence… 25fps Frame Size 1920×1080 XDCAM EX 1080p25(35Mb/s VBR) 4.3 MB/sec, Square

That all looks OK to me…

I looked at the article that Don suggested and looked at my Capture Settings in my audio/visual settings. I used the generic setting to set the 1920×1080 custom size. I closed it and opened it again just to see whether the settings had taken and the Custom setting had changed to HDTV 1080i(16;9)

So I wonder why? And wonder if that has anything to do with the sluggish performance of my Mac Pro.

I also note that despite have the Blackmagic Card in there, I get no QuickTime Video Settings. I also note that if I try out the other settings for cameras that would require a capture card I get no mention of the Blackmagic Card. This might be because I’ve no deck attached to the card… I’m tapeless!… Or it might be because of something else.

It might be irrelevant. The card does get noticed and does play back on a monitor. So I assume it’s doing work on the real time stuff.

Is this quirk anything to consider when trying to work out why my Mac Pro performs worse than an iMac? (I’ve had all the tests on the hardware find nothing. THe machine works OK without FCP installed. Install it and it takes six seconds to open up a menu and even menus within the FCP take time to open. And moving the play is not exactly easy. And for reasons beyond me, once you separate the sound from the video, it does not always re-link when you link it back.

So there’s a number of issues I’m trying to work out and this quirk just seems yet another bizarre one.

I assume that all XD Cam users have exactly the same setting? They might like to check to see if it’s not just me.

Lawrence Gray

[Craig Seeman]

I’ve seen a specific issue in FCP where 1920×1080 Progressive files show as interlaced when looking at the properties in FCP. It’s not specific it EX files either. Take the same file and open it in Compressor and it’ll show as progressive. FCP does actually handle the file as progressive though.

If the “Easy Setups” and any custom settings aren’t holding it’s time to trash all of FCP preference files. Be prepared to have to create any custom things you have. There are actually several different preference files for FCP so we’d have to dig up that list for you. Preference issues are common enough that there is (was?) a shareware utility designed specifically for backing up preferences files long before the inevitable trashing must be done.

[Don Greening]

[Craig Seeman] “Preference issues are common enough that there is (was?) a shareware utility designed specifically for backing up preferences files long before the inevitable trashing must be done.”

It’s called FCP Rescue and can be found here:

https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/

There are versions for FCP 4, 5 and 6.

– Don

[Lawrence Gray]

Thanks… so it seems it’s just another of those confusing little glitches that seem to plague the programme.

Lawrence Gray