Pal conversion question

[David Roth weiss]

Sam,

Apparently Compressor is now up to the task of doing good PAL conversions. I have not yet tested it out myself, but others here report good success. It could be worth your time to fine tune a custom preset that would allow you do run batch conversions continuously at your shop, but with 100+ 30-min shows you might be doing the conversions for the rest of your life. Meanwhile, it will not be cheap having the work done by an outside agency. Perhaps you should consider hiring a temp worker to do the project at your station?

David

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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[Dino]

Considering that you need “Digibeta SP” it might be best to outsource it to someone with the proper hardware. Also, mentioning what your source is might be nice.

You make no mention of your location in reference to asking for commendations for a facility. In the New York area, I have had much success with Devlin Video.
https://www.devlinvideo.com/

[Sam Lesante jr.]

Hi Dino,

Thanks for your response.

As far as my source, it’s DVCPRO HD at 720p and DVCPRO50

I am on the East Coast about 2hrs south of NYC and 2 hrs north of Philly.

If i were to outsource, what’s the process? what do i need to provide them? Is it just my FCP timeline and all the media?

TIA

Sam

[Dino]

You have over 100 half hour shows that exist only in your Final Cut system? Are there no tape masters? Are these still timelines of edits or single complete files of entire episodes?

If you don’t already have properly formated, quality controlled, content checked master tapes to simply copy and need to come from a timeline, this moves from a dub with conversion to a mastering job with the added complication of mastering to a different standard. I would charge a lot of money for this and they should too.

I would say that with the time this requires, you are better off renting the equipment and doing it yourself (and maybe hire a video engineer to at least set it up) except I don’t know how you are going to get proper timecode across standards coming from FCP.

[Sam Lesante jr.]

I have most of the shows on a dvcpro master. However, they also want seperate M&E tracks for future shows so I have 10 or so with their timelines still.

Is there some mode of recording that I could make the NTSC to PAL conversion easier yet still have it look good in both?

TIA

Sam

[Dino]

The ideal would be a Digibeta (or DVCPro50) master of each show with the proper audio configuration. If DVCPro25 is what you have that can serve as a source for the conversion. Probably the best way to get the rest of the audio on is an edit to the PAL master.

This is getting complicated and I don’t want to steer you wrong with the limited amount of detail we can accurately exchange in an online forum. It is probably best that you start looking for a facility to work with. Considering the scope of work this could easily run to 8 or 10 full days. A good facility will work with you to determine the best route based on your exact needs and budgetary limitations. At this scale, it might even be in your interest to rent a suite and serve as your own operator. I had previously mentioned Devlin Video in NYC, there are probably others closer to you.