PAL to HD

[Josh Olenslager]

Transcode to 1080i50 using compressor; frame size is a whole different animal. If you originally have PAL DV you’ll have to pillar box the footage to keep it from stretching. Just select preserve aspect ration (using letterbox) if your moving from DV to HD.

Josh

[Austin Reedy]

That sounds good. Thanks! My biggest difficulty right now is getting frame rate to be compatible. I have 25 and 29.97 both in timelines, and they appear to be playing at the same speed, but I’m concerned exporting that timeline will have one of those clips end up playing at a weird speed, or getting some kind of odd visual/audio kink because of it. Will that happen, or is the frame rate less of a problem than i think?

Austin Reedy
Freelance Post
Austin, TX

[Josh Olenslager]

Austin,

Frame rates can be tricky. If you’re worried about clip-speed changes I would suggest you transcode everything to whatever your end frame rate will be before editing although if you’re rendering it out in the timeline it will give you a pretty accurate preview as you view it. Both 29.97 and 25 have odd interlacing cadences, even PAL DV strangely enough. That way you can take a glance before dropping them in the timeline. When you transcode, using compressor I assume, but cinema tools would also be a choice, select the “keep clip speed” option. It’s less of a problem moving from 29.97 to 25 as there will be removal of redundant frames rather than creation of extra frames. That should help out any glitches and duplicate frames that tend to make some things look like they stutter.

Good luck!

Josh

[Austin Reedy]

Okay, I actually tried to clips, one I didn’t compress with a new frame rate, one I did. When bringing both into Final Cut, the 25 fps clip played normally (in a 29.97 sequence), the one I changed the frame rate played faster and was out of sync audio wise. I wasn’t convinced the 25 fps footage was going to work, but my concern now is that when exporting the project later in 29.97, I fear the 25 fps stuff will get sped up or something and ruin the export. Do I want to compress to 29.97 then slow 4% to make it fit, or am I okay compressing the DV PAL using ProRes 422 and leaving the frame rate at 25? I’m totally new to PAL so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Austin

Austin Reedy
Freelance Post
Austin, TX

[Josh Olenslager]

What are you using to transcode your footage? Try making a copy of one of your 25fps clips, drag and drop onto Cinema Tools, click the conform button, and finally select 29.97 from the drop down. If you’re worried about the clip action slowing or quickening, you will want to deselect “keep length 100 % of source.” However, depending on what you’re using to convert the footage, you’ve got different interfaces and options. It’s not going to be detrimental to simply drop your 25fps footage into your 29.97 timeline and have it render out. I would convert to ProRes or whatever codec you’re editing in, just to help with render times, but if you’re worried, convert it at its native frame rate and have FC do its thing when you edit.

Josh

[Austin Reedy]

I will try this with Cinema Tools. So far I’ve just used Compressor. The strange thing is that when I compress the DV PAL stuff to ProRes 422 leaving the Frame Rate alone, there is no rendering issue in FCP. I don’t know why, I expected it, but since nothing’s there I’m not really sure what FCP thinks is going on. When I check the clip’s information, it says the footage is still 25 fps.

As I said before, my biggest concern is the footage slowing down or speeding up when exporting it from FCP. I guess regardless of what it thinks or says, I should export a test sequence, and see what the footage looks like. I can better describe my problems (if any are left) after doing this. Thanks!

Austin Reedy
Freelance Post
Austin, TX