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FCP6 Assembly Edit 23.98 to 29.97 using AJA IO HD
I’m having an issue outputting a 23.98 sequence to a 29.97 HD Cam tape.
The AJA seems to be setup properly, I can see everything and have no actual problems outputting to the Sony HDW-1800 from FCP6 through the AJA IO HD.
But when I go back and check the tape, the time code is off.
Up until this point the media I’ve been working with is QT from XDCam. So my sequences have been XDCam codecs. I thought it might be the codec so I transcoded to Apple Pro Res and the sequence was still off, adding 2 frames for every second. So after 5 minutes of recording the TC was 5 sec and 10 frames.
Has anyone experienced this problem?
No matter if the media is using an Apple Pro Res codec or the XDCam codec, the TC is off, sometimes consistently and other times non-consistently; one clip will start 5 frames late, others will start maybe 2 frames late.
Is FCP doing the pulldown or the AJA IO HD?
FCP6, Mac Pro Quad Core Intel Xeon, OS X 10.5.6, AJA IO HD, SONY HDW-1800, AJA GEN 10.
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5 Replies
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Dave,
I am not a daily user of AJA, I/O HD, but we have them in Finland. I do reserve the right to be wrong on this, but none of the AJA products do a frame rate conversion. And without sitting in front of an HDW-1800, I cannot be sure, but I don’t think it will do what you want. Your time code issues are related to trying to feed 24 frame TC into a VTR set to record 29.97. I don’t think it can add pulldown on input, only output. I would make a 24p master. The HDW-1800 will add pulldown on playback, but there is an optional board that needs to be there. Typical Sony.
Don’t try to use a 29.97 timeline either. Final Cut does an abysmal job of frame rate conversion from my experience. I am not sure you selected the right tools from your well equipped arsenal for this project.
Best,
Dennis (laying in bed recovering from surgery) -
Hi Dennis,
I WAS pretty sure that the AJA IO does the frame rate conversion, but you may be right. I’m was thinking that the problem was that it was FCP that was doing the conversion. And if that is the case it is doing a horrible job.
And yes I knew already that putting it into a 29.97 sequence was a bad idea. I’ve done it before, and yes FCP does a disastrous job. FCP will have to step it up when it comes to frame rate conversion if it wants to compete against AMC4.x-5.0. Avid Symphony also does a great job.
Either way this was merely a test to see if it could do the job.
The HDW-1800 will do the 3-2 pulldown (with the HKDW-104 card installed) but only on output. So I’d have to have another HD deck, which I don’t.
Thanks so much for the input, it helps my decision. But if anyone else has either attempted and gotten FCP to output a 23.98 sequence to a 29.97 master without TC issues, from FCP and using the AJA IO HD, I’d like to know for sure that the AJA IO can not do the job. The AJA manual isn’t clear on this issue. I just want to make sure that I have my info from multiple sources stating this, so I have some sort of consensus.
Dave
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Have you tried using the timecode tab on the AJA control panel? You can downrez and have your timecode right IF you use that tab. It controls what timecode you’re sending to the deck. Just make sure the timecode int the tab is the same as the in point of your sequence in your timeline.
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Well there is no way that your frames are not going to be off, your sequence is counting from 00-23, the deck is counting from 00-29. These extra frames are added on the fly through out the second.
As far as the TC drift that sounds like a Non-Drop to Drop or the other way around.
While the AJA does not do frame rate conversion it DOES do 23.98 to 29.97 by adding the pulldown. Frame buffer is set to 23.98 then output is set to 29.97 (or 59.94) you can then select the pulldown cadence 2:3
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You will have to account for the length of the tc discrepancy in your layoff.
3 seconds and 13 frames in 24p is a different length than 3 seconds and 13 frames in 29.97.
Jeremy
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