HD NTSC to HD PAL

[Grant Gomm]

export it through compressor. 768×576, 25fps…

-Grant Gomm
http://www.blacklionproductions.com

[Walter Soyka]

[Jared Callan] “Hello all. I shot a music video and I need to convert it to PAL. The footage was shot on a Sony EX1 at 1080 24p. The editing timebase is 23.98.”

Nearly all 24p-originated content is simply re-interpreted at 25 fps for PAL. It changes the length of the program a little, but it’s a perfect frame-by-frame rendition of the original, free of frame blending or motion estimation artifacts.

Export a self-contained Quicktime movie of your completed 24p edit. In Cinema Tools, File > Open clip, then click the Conform button and set the new frame rate to 25.0 fps. TRT will now be about 4% shorter, and the pitch will shift slightly.

You can optionally Process > Time stretch the original audio in Soundtrack Pro to change the duration without changing the pitch, then combine the conformed video with your new audio. Not everyone does this.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Jared Callan]

I loaded the video into cinema tools and conformed it it 25, but it squashed the image. Is there a way to stop that and how do I export out of cinema tools?

Jared B. Callan

[Walter Soyka]

Ignore the squash for now. Once you click the Conform button, Cinema Tools changes the frame rate in the original file on disk. There is nothing to export.

Re-open that conformed file in Quicktime Player or FCP, and it should be the correct size, and it should now run at 25 fps instead of 23.976.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Jared Callan]

Awesome! Thank you so much. 🙂

Jared B. Callan

[Michael Gissing]

The audio has now changed 3/4 semitone which the band may not be pleased about. The length change that you have just done is 4% so the next step is to correct the pitch back to the original.

The best software for that task that I have heard is MPEX3, Pitch n Time and iZotope. It is not a trivial thing and I suggest you pay an audio pro with the right software to do this for you.

[Walter Soyka]

[Michael Gissing] “The audio has now changed 3/4 semitone which the band may not be pleased about. The length change that you have just done is 4% so the next step is to correct the pitch back to the original. “

Well, the tempo has changed, too… and some clients are more sensitive to this than others, but these are the pitfalls of multi-format distribution.

Of course, I defer to your expertise on the best tools for the job. As I mentioned before, I’d consider time stretching the original audio rather than pitch-shifting the Quicktime-processed audio — but perhaps this doesn’t make a difference?

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Michael Gissing]

[Walter Soyka] “I’d consider time stretching the original audio rather than pitch-shifting the Quicktime-processed audio -“

It doesn’t matter. Changing length without changing pitch is the same process as changing length and then changing pitch later.

The alternative to the tempo pitch problem is to convert 23.98 to 25 in real time with a Teranex or similar hardware device. If the audio is more important (music video being a prime candidate) then that is the best approach.

I work in 25 and deliver broadcast material to all countries. As program length is also an issue, most programs I do are converted by real time hardware so pitch, tempo and overall timing remain constant.