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Pulldown wrong in Final Cut
I haven’t seen this discussed much on the forums in awhile (or I’m just terrible at searching) but I was curious as to how everyone who edits HD 23.98 footage natively in Final Cut deals with its in correct pulldown when going to 29.97 for broadcast (editing 23.98 footage in a 29.97 timeline). Has anything changed with this in like the past 5 years? Do some networks still refuse Masters if the pulldown is added in Final Cut? If I’m not going to tape with the Kona, I still export out my native 23.98 sequence and add the pulldown in After Effects as that works great everytime.
I’ve also been dealing with a lot of projects lately that have 23.98, 29.97 and 59.94 footage. I’ve chosen to edit in 720p 59.94 as that is a happy medium for me but I’ve never had to go to broadcast with one of these 59.94 projects. That is about to change and am curious if I’m going to have issues for networks accepting my 720p 59.94 edit from Final Cut because of the wrong pulldown. Is the only option to get all my footage into the same frame rate and add pulldown outside of Final Cut or through a Kona to HD tape? Just wish I had a Teranex laying around to conform all the footage to the same frame rate.
tony
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16 Replies
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I’ve done a lot of HD 23.98 non-broadcast content to tape (film festivals etc…) through a kona card and not had one complaint.
what’s the exact issue?
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[Tony Silanskas] ” I’ve chosen to edit in 720p 59.94 as that is a happy medium for me but I’ve never had to go to broadcast with one of these 59.94 projects. That is about to change and am curious if I’m going to have issues for networks accepting my 720p 59.94 edit from Final Cut because of the wrong pulldown.”
In 720p, FCP correctly adds the PROGRESSIVE 3:2 pulldown, so you’re all good. In 1080i/SD project, FCP will not add interlaced pulldown.
I use Compressor to add interlaced 3:2 pulldown if not doing it with hardware (kona).
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I guess the issue is the pulldown in Final Cut. Is it still considered “wrong” and is it unacceptable for broadcast? It’s mostly for cases where I don’t have access to an HD deck and need to make a self-contained export for broadcast. And it would be much more convenient in some cases to just edit the 23.98 footage in a 29.97 timeline since that’s the final frame rate I need. Saves exporting to After Effects.
Another issue would be the multiple frame rates in one 59.94 sequence for broadcast. Once again, is the Final Cut pulldown OK (I still see cadence issues)? And if not, what’s the best way to deal with it.
tony
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[Tony Silanskas] “Another issue would be the multiple frame rates in one 59.94 sequence for broadcast. Once again, is the Final Cut pulldown OK (I still see cadence issues)?”
If you are using interlaced footage in a progressive timeline, then you will have to adjust your footage to match the progressive sequence (de-interlace or what have you).
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] “In 720p, FCP correctly adds the PROGRESSIVE 3:2 pulldown, so you’re all good. In 1080i/SD project, FCP will not add interlaced pulldown.”
How about 1080p 59.94 if we want to keep everything at 1080 resolution? Sorry, I’m not in front of my Final Cut system to test it and didn’t think to test 1080p 59.94 until now.
tony
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1080p 59.94 is kind of anomaly at this point. It’s reserved for higher end dual link workflows (usually) and there’s no real good way to deliver 1080p59.94 unless you spend serious amounts of cash.
how much of each frame rate do you have?
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First off, thanks for chiming in and taking time to discuss. As far as footage goes, we have a bunch… about 3TB of 23.98, 2TB of 29.97 and a little 720p 59.94. When you have to, do you deinterlace in Final Cut with a plug-in or take the clip through compressor?
tony
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And you make a good point about the 1080p 59.94. The very reason I haven’t made that leap is the fact that it’s a huge jump in space, renders, and we’d need a new reference monitor just to preview it. It would be down-converted to 29.97 for broadcast.
So for those of you editing Discovery channel type shows with different frame rates and delivering in 1080i 29.97, are you converting all your footage to 29.97 first so you can easily deliver in 29.97? Or are you editing in 1080p 59.94 so you have the correct size and pull-down and then convert to 29.97 at the end through After Effects or compressor?
tony
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[Tony Silanskas] “about 3TB of 23.98, 2TB of 29.97 and a little 720p 59.94”
Wow. Well then it’s safe to say that conforming everything to a common format before editing is pretty much useless unless your storage is limitless.
I would edit in the timeline of your choice (23.98/29.97) and then conform only the shots you need at the very end to the appropriate frame rate. It will be easier to take the 23.98 to 29.97 then try and take the 29.97 to 23.98.
That being said, I’d edit in a 29.97 timeline, and just do a conform on the clips you need at the end of your edit but before color correction.
Avoid 1080p59.94.
[Tony Silanskas] “When you have to, do you deinterlace in Final Cut with a plug-in or take the clip through compressor?”
I use Compressor most of the time.
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Thanks for the input. Maybe the next version of Final Cut will finally resolve this pulldown issue.
tony
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