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P2 720pn footage and Media100HD Suite !!HOW TO IMPORT!!
All,
Just wanted to share an experience.
I recently shot a series of events on P2 cards. In order to conserve space (double my shooting time), I shot 720pn (30 frames per second).
==== SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU KNOW ABOUT P2 “native mode”
To the uninitiated, the “n” mode cuts the data rate in half by eliminating the redundant frames recorded to fill up the constant data rate of 60fps. The effecitve end result is that you still aquire 30fps, but you double your available recording time. The end tradeoff is that you can’t create slo-mo effects in post utilizing the “extra frames” which are always recorded.
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Media100 P2 import currently (based on our experiences) does not support the “n” modes. They are nonstandard formats for DVCPRO. (The Firestore ALSO does not recognize or record this mode…and you cannot record “n” formatted data over firewire to ANY device…computer or otherwise…as…again, it is a nonstandard data format.)
=====The point.
2 hours of P2 footage recorded in 720pn30.
Media 100 does not import this directly as (not to beat a dead horse…) Media 100 does not currently support “n” modes of recording for the P2 format.….And I hate FCP. (more on that later.)
SOLUTION:
Adobe Premiere CS3!!!!1) I opened a preset for 720p 59.95 DVCPROHD.
2) I imported my P2 cards into Premiere.
3) VIEW by timecode attribute (so everything is in proper temporal order)I highlighted all of my video footage… and dragged it into the sequence/ timeline.
4) Play the sequence to check everything.
5) FILE Menu. EXPORT ENTIRE TIMELINE to Panasonic P2 format. Select a folder on the HD and export.6) On the export, the “missing” frames are regenerated/re-inserted, and a DVCPRO “compliant” data file/stream is generated. More importantly, a P2 file image is created from this export…that the Media100 WILL import with no issues!
Happy day. I knew that Premiere would be useful for something…
The magic here is that
a) it generates a P2 image from the footage
b) it was much quicker than the roundabout FCP conversion route. (Renders/caching, etc.)-C
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1 Reply
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Ok….premature posting. I got excited and posted too early….
This event had no asociated live audio.
Just tried it with footage w. audio. Nightmare.
Audio not working for the aforementioned process.
The video translates over, but in retrospect, importing into FCP and exporting a compliant .MOV file is still the best method.
(sigh)
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