-
FCP7 Sequence preset question- $20 paypal tip to best answer!
This question should be answered by someone who has taken a multi-system project from Final Cut 7 to Final Cut X or premiere.
Here’s my problem. I have an old project that I am reconstituting. Most of the footage we shot with a DV camera it was then dubbed to Beta SP, and then digitized using Prores.
I also have footage which is NTSC DV footage which was digitized via a FireWire. I also have some DV PAL footage also digitized via FireWire. And most recently I’ve added a bunch of footage that we shot on HD, now in Prores.
Ultimately, we need to output the project to HD.
So my question is this. Do I create new sequences in FCP7 that are HD and RES? Or do I create sequences which are DV?
Or do I continue to use the old sequence settings that I started the project with. (Which are 720×480 aspect ratio NTSC DV 3:2 Pixel aspect ratio and NTSC – CCIR 601 – DV 720 x 480.)
Or do I create a new sequence that has HD ProRES settings? When I do this now the files all need to be rendered before I can work in the program. Even the Prores SD files. I’m not sure why this is, but that is the case. The SD footage is small in the viewing window, but when I drop HD footage in an SD sequence, it scales to fill (though there are black bands top and bottom due to change in aspect ration.
Thanks for any help that you can give me.
-
15 Replies
-
[Dan McGuire] “so my question is this. Do I create new sequences in FCP7 that are HD and RES? Or do I create sequences which are DV?”
HD. And then you’ll need to convert all of your footage to HD as well. FCP does not scale SD footage well. Premiere Pro does…very well. FCP 7…not so much. If you want, you can edit all the SD footage in that HD project, and then media manage only the SD footage, and only what’s in the cut, and then upconvert only that small batch of footage. I do that all the time for docs. Just finished doing it again, as a matter of fact.
[Dan McGuire] “Or do I continue to use the old sequence settings that I started the project with. (Which are 720×480 aspect ratio NTSC DV 3:2 Pixel aspect ratio and NTSC – CCIR 601 – DV 720 x 480.) “
NO! Putting your HD footage into this will make it look like poo. And then when you try to make it HD later…you’ll take a lot of time fixing things. The rule always is work in the sequence that matches the footage, OR…matches what you want to output. Unless ALL of the footage is SD. Then I’d cut SD and output and upconvert that output. But you are mixing HD, so cut HD.
[Dan McGuire] “Or do I create a new sequence that has HD ProRES settings?”
Well…yes, that would be the sequence you’d use…as the answer to the first question.
[Dan McGuire] “When I do this now the files all need to be rendered before I can work in the program. “
No, they don’t. THey will be GREEN, meaning they will play back without rendering. You CAN render, but you don’t need to. If they are anything other than green, then you need to adjust your RT settings to UNLIMITED.
[Dan McGuire] “The SD footage is small in the viewing window, “
Yup…you’ll need to scale it about 300%. And only temporarily. For best results you need to media manage this footage, and either recapture the tapes via a Kona card for hardware upconvert (best)…or use Compressor to upscale the footage (second best)…and then relink to those new masters.
[Dan McGuire] “(though there are black bands top and bottom due to change in aspect ration.”
There should be black “pillar boxes” on the sides…as the 4:3 footage won’t fill the 16:9 frame. So either leave them pillar, or zoom in even more to fill the screen.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Shane, Thanks for this.
I’ll kick you some $ if you get me an email address. I’m dandmcguire at gmail.I will eventually need to online this project in either Premiere or FCPX, and also need to think about making that transition. I assume I can continue to work with FCP7 until I need to output my xml and import it in to another program – FCPx seems to allow you to change the sequence settings after the fact.
Am I right in thinking that I can drop SD NTSC and SD PAL and HD 1080 24fps footage all in the same sequence of FCPX or Premiere? My footage is 85% SD NTSC, 5% SDPAL and 10% HD. In addition to the resolution issue, there is a frame rate issue. I hope to eventually output at 1080p 24 fps.
Thanks again.DAN
-
Keep the money. Pay it forward. Do something nice for someone else. That’s how this works.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Dan McGuire] “Am I right in thinking that I can drop SD NTSC and SD PAL and HD 1080 24fps footage all in the same sequence of FCPX or Premiere? My footage is 85% SD NTSC, 5% SDPAL and 10% HD.”
Yes, you can drop them all into an HD FCP X project and the SD video will be scaled automatically (you can control this with the Spacial Conform options) but you will have to deal with any mismatch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio issues manually.
[Dan McGuire] “In addition to the resolution issue, there is a frame rate issue. I hope to eventually output at 1080p 24 fps.”
Yes, you will have frame rate issues. 😉
FCP X will handle the NTSC 29.97 fps footage in a 23.976 fps project just fine but the PAL 25.0 fps footage will play back slower. You will need to Retime (⌘R) it by 105% to make the 25.0 fps footage match the 23.976 fps project. You will also need to turn off Preserve Pitch so that the audio is retimed and transposed as well. If you don’t do both the audio will be lower in pitch than the original.
Bottom line: nothing that isn’t easily fixable in FCP X.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Our workflow has always been to first, convert all SD digital files to HD using compressor. This makes editing much easier and faster, AND the quality seems to be better using compressor conversion than any other method I’ve tried. The only negative is it takes a long time to render the conversions. But this has to be done somewhere, and hopefully not in your edit timeline.
-
Compressor is OK. Premiere Pro and After Effects are better. And hardware conversion….Terranex, AJA Kona cards, Snell Wilcox…are even better. That being said, I do use Compressor a lot.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks to all for these tips. Very much appreciated.
-
Thanks for the good info Shane.
In my case, I have a BMD DeckLink Studio 2 and did a 3 way test for some BetaCam SP to HD conversions. BMD real time hardware conversion, AE scale to HD, and Compressor. I analyzed all of the still frames and Compressor looked the best.
BMD was almost as good, but I could only go from 29.97 to 59.94 in order to use the hardware. My client wanted 30p so I couldn’t use that method.
-
Are there any settings you would suggest in Compressor? I need to look at all the options, but I assume there are things like frame blending and interpolation. Remember I need to end up at 24p HD. Thanks again.
-
Earlier Blackmagic capture hardware didn’t do HARDWARE scaling…they did it in software. Only AJA and Matrox did hardware. Now, more recent BMD hardware does do hardware scaling. That’s why Compressor looked good to you
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up