-
PAR for DVCPro HD from P2 via FCP
I am editing a video shot on the Panasonic HVX200. We shot 24pn 960 x 720. I imported and converted the footage into Quicktime files using FCP at DVCPro HD 720p60 with PAR set to HD (960×720). I then edited the footage on a DVCPro HD timeline at 23.98 fps. These where the setting provided in the panasonic dvcpro easy setup, and everything worked great.
Using Automatic Duck I then exported xml files to be imported into AE 6.5. My plan was to do all my color correcting in AE, then import back to FCP for my final online and for making my final master.
When I import the xml and open the comps, my footage appears squeezed and does not fit the entire comp size. for some reason the comp automatic duck creates has a bigger HD size for the comp than my 960×720 footage. BUt changing the comp size doesn’t solve the problem of the squeezed footage. When I “interpret footage” of the quicktime clips, I do not see the option of a HD PAR.
So my question is,
What should my PAR be set to, in both how AE interprets the quicktimes and my comp settings? Should I keep them as square pixels? How will this effect my output back to FCP?
thanks for any help
-
4 Replies
-
When you right click on a piece of footage and choose “Interpret Footage” there’s a box at the bottom called “Other Options” that has a pixel aspect ratio popup menu. The second from the bottom option on this menu is HDV 1080/DVCPRO HD 720 (1.33). This is the one you want. (So the quick answer to your question is that the PAR is 1.33.)
As for your comp, I’d set it up using the DVCPRO HD 720 preset, and make sure you have the toggle for Pixel Aspect Ratio correction toggled correctly in the viewer.
However, don’t take my word for this being correct. Test it with some footage — take a shot through your intended workflow and see if you are happy with the results.
I’d love to hear how it turns out.
-
So when I try to interpret the footage, the “more options” button is grayed out and I can not pick from any of the PARs I need.
So I left the PAR set to square pixels and set the comp setting to square pixels, setting everything else to the proper setting. when i rendered out a test to a DVCPro HD quicktime, it imported back into FCP with no problems and looked fine. No problems.
If anyone could enlighten me as to why this is working out right or why am i not allowed to set the proper PAR when working with this footage, I’d love to know. but every thing’s working fine now.
Thank for the reply!
-
I tried this, and it worked (thank you artisanal!!), but 2 questions….
1. how to render out of AE with those settings, and retain the toggled PAR? rendering straight up lossless, or other usual codecs (photo jpg etc) outputs a squished 4:3 quicktime, and if in the output module i choose to “Strech” to something like 1280 x 720, and render out as DVCPRO HD 720P60 (choosing 24fps), the rendered quicktime appears to be the right PAR, but the image is slightly fuzzy….
is there a better way to output DVCPRO HD footage from AE? What I’m doing, based on the advice by artisanal, and trying various things in the output module, seems convoluted, makes only some sense, and is bizarrely (in my mind) undocumented and not addressed by adobe… Perhaps i have missed something completely, I feel like I must have….
Please if anyone has better methods to the above, or other discoveries, post them! 🙂 🙂
many many thanks to all
jeffm -
Nothing better to add, but I have several questions for Kristan.
How did this turn out? I’m actually thinking of doing the same thing with a 13 minute HDV project I’m working on.
I just got to the color correct phase and am very unhappy with the results I’m getting inside FCP. I can’t afford to update to the new FCP Studio that comes with “Color”, and after exporting a test clip into AfterEffects I like the results I’m getting using the “curves” effect very much.
My question is this: when you finished color correcting and rendered your pieces back out, how big were the files? I’m guessing they must have been enormous! Maybe this doesn’t matter anymore since there’s no longer that 2Gig maximum file size thing to deal with. But still…
And if you rendered out sections of your project from AE, did you then reassemble them in FCP? Or do one giant render?
For the final finish, did you go back to a deck? How did you get the piece out of the machine?
I hope this isn’t too many questions, but I guess I’m trying to decide if this workflow, which seemed utterly surprising to me when I first read your post, might work for me, too.
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.
Made With Care In Brooklyn, NY
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up