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Problem Working With Footage From Two Cameras
Hi there,
This is my first post on the forum. I have a question that I hope you can help me figure out.
I am an assistant editor working on a project with footage from two cameras – Panasonic HVX and a Sony XDCam. After L&T, the Panasonic footage comes in as 1280×1080; 29.97 fps; Compressor – DVCPRO HD 1080p30; Data Rate 14.1 MB/sec. The Sony footage is already in a quicktime and is 1920×1080; 29.97 fps; Compressor – XDCAM EX 1080p30; Data Rate 4.3 MB/sec.
I’m trying to use the footage in the same sequence and have set my sequence settings to match the Panasonic. In doing so, I get bright green render bars over the Sony footage, and it can take hours to render. My external drive is cranking….I get the beach ball, and FCP crashes sometimes.
I’ve tried to find some answers, but there’s nothing clear cut. The closest thing I’ve found is to convert both to another compressor using MPEG Streamclip, but when I do that to the Sony footage, it becomes drop frame, and I lose the time code. (My boss doesn’t want to lose the original TC).
Is there a way to get the footage from both cameras to match in frame size? Is there a way to use the footage from both cameras in the same sequence without getting the render bars? Is there something I need to do to the footage before/during L&T?
I’m stuck. I greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide! Between the 2 cameras, I’ve got about 12 hours of footage….
All of my media is on an external hard drive. I’m working on a MacBook Pro; 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor; 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3 Memory: FCP 7.
Many, many thanks!
Kelly
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6 Replies
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Use a ProRes sequence. The DVCPRO HD one is thin raster (anamorphic)…so you are losing pixels with the XDCAM footage as XDCAM is full raster. Use a ProRes sequence…you will have to eventually render both file types, but that is the best option for mixing camera formats.
DO NOT use an XDCAM sequence.Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Hi Shane,
Thank you so much for your prompt response, and the information on raster! I created a Pro Res 422 HQ sequence 1920×1080 and when I cut between the cameras (teacher and class), I get the famous “One or more frames has dropped during playback…” on the Panasonic footage.
Is there a way to get the frame sizes of the footage to match? Or does that make a difference?
Is there a better way to do this in the future? We’ve got a lot of classrooms to shoot…
Thank you again!
Kelly
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HQ is overkill. Just make it ProRes422 and you will also need a fast enough hard drive to play the render files. External FW800 owould be minimum for HD ProRes.
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And if you want the cameras to match…you need to shoot with matching cameras. If you want, you can media manage both formats to ProRes 422. Let it go overnight. Otherwise, just use a ProRes 422 sequence.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thank you both for your help! I’ll try the Pro Res 422 sequence settings at 1920×1080.
No luck on the matching cameras, so I’ll be sure to follow your advice. 🙂
Shane, can you shed some light on what you mean by “media manage both formats to ProRes 422”? I’m sorry….I’m still learning…
Kelly
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I ran a sample of the footage from both cameras through Compressor to Apple Pro Res 422.
But, when I dropped the Panasonic footage on the Apple Pro Res 422 1980×1080 timeline, I still get the bright green render bars. Did I miss a step?
I thought this would eliminate the need to render.
Please help.
Thanks!
Kelly
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