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Problems Recapturing 24P Varicam Footage to Conform to 30FR DV Project
Our feature was set up and captured at 30 frames from DVCAM downconversions of DVCPRO 100/24P Varicam originals. We are now having to conform the original DVCPRO 100/24p material for a preview screening. We would like to recapture enough material to be able to continue to fine cut and online the film in the DVCPRO 100/24p format, but not recapture all original media (about 40 hours’ worth). We generated an EDL (CMX 3600 format) of the 30 frame timeline and conformed it in Cinema Tools to a 24 frame EDL, imported it into a new FCP project with the correct settings for DVCPRO 100/24p, and recaptured the clips over Firewire from an A1200 deck. We generally specified 10 second handles, but frequently had error messages involving timecode breaks and pulldown cadence. We had the fewest error messages when we captured just the exact media specified by the EDL without handles. Is there a way to manually edit either the EDL or the resulting FCP batch list in order to capture entire takes, similar to what the Media Manager allows one to do? (We understand we cannot use the Media Manager for this conform since it involves a frame rate conversion.) Also, since complex sound editing has already been done in the 30 frame project, we wish to copy the edited audio tracks into the 24 frame project, and not use the recaptured audio (other than as a guide for shifting the previously edited audio to compensate for Cinema Tools’ 1 frame additions and deletions). Should the audio clips “stay put” in the 24 frame project if we just copy and paste them from the 30 frame project (which refers to 30-frame quicktime media), or do we need to perform a separate audio conversion on the audio clips as well? Can OMF help with this? Any advice on this, or suggestions of an alternate workflow, would be much appreciated. Thank you.
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4 Replies
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Well, the alternate workflow I’d suggest is too late, and that is to work with DVCPRO HD at full resolution. At 23.98 fps the storage requirements are really quite low. 23GB/hour, and you can edit using firewire drives. I initially used G-Raids via firewire 800 and could get 3 streams of DVCPRO HD. Now I use CalDigit S2VR Duo units.
This is a quandry, as you did what you were supposed to…export the EDL and convert it, then recapture. Not sure about the handle issue and timecode breaks and cadence issues. 10-sec is quite a lot, and yes, if you hit the point where a tape started and stopped you can encounter those errors. When I do EDLs I never go above 1 second handles. Never had the need.
As for the audio, unless you captured audio and video separately, audio is tied to your DV res clips. So you can copy the audio only over to a new timeline and see if it works, but you cannot toss the DV res clips…just FYI. Every time I send audio to my mixer, he asks if it is a 29.97 or 23.98 project (or 59.94)…so you might have an issue crop up there.
You can tell FCP to capture as separate audio and video files if you want. But again, since I work at full res, I never had the need. Captured over 63 hours of footage and they all fit on 2TB.
Sorry I can’t offer more.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Shane, Thank you so so much for taking the time to respond. Best regards,
Russell -
russell
are you using FCP for the batch list? do not.
Cinema tools has a 29.97 -to-23.98 EDL conforming function that also may help ease the process.Open 29.97 EDL and tell CT to do an EDL conform to 23.98 and the EDL should correctly modify, but know that your offline in SD will have to be re-conformed due to the editing over the cadence errors.
“We generally specified 10 second handles, but frequently had error messages involving timecode breaks and pulldown cadence. We had the fewest error messages when we captured just the exact media specified by the EDL without handles.”
10 sec handles are 3 x longer than most pre-roll needs- my guess is that you were working across timecode breaks or on the bars. (varicam bars are not at the same frame rate you shoot at)
FYI
I had to read the post twice so that I could understand what format you were working in — for the record DVCPROHD is both 1080 and 720 so defining the frame size helps.gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
Hi Gary,
I think we’ve solved the problem by just not doing the handles.
Thank you very very much for your help.
Russell
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