Shooting in Europe – Posting in US

[Steven Rushworth]

Both PAL and NTSC are SD formats. So arguing whether the Varicam is a PAL or an NTSC camera seems a bit strange to me , as it is neither. What seems to get quite a few people confused about is the PAL and NTSC downconversion. The AJ-HD1200A and AJ-HD1700 VTR decks are capable of downconverting to either. But what they downconvert to is dependant on what frequency the Varicam tapes where shot at. If the tapes need to downconverted thru these VTRs to NTSC the camera needs to be set at 59.94hz and if to PAL 60hz. If you shot at a frequency that is not compatiablewith the format you wish to convert to you , ie shooting at 59.94 when you need a PAL downconvert, you will have use a Snell and Wilcox Ukon or similar device to do the downconversion. Unfortunately there is no simple way to shot on Varicam if you want to downconvert to both PAL and NTSC. You can use the universal mastering method suggested by Jeff, but remember that adds the extra cost of D-5 and you have to be willing to live with the speed change.
Also another point to clarify FCP will happily edit 720/25 p just not over firewire. Whether this is an Apple or Panasonic issue is not
clear , as both companies ,in conversations I have had have suggested the other is at fault. Maybe Jeff can answer the question .
Is it true that AJ-HD1200A isn’t capable of 60hz over firewire? And until it is Apple can’t support 720/25p over firewire?

[Matthew Romanis]

[Steven Rushworth] “Also another point to clarify FCP will happily edit 720/25 p just not over firewire. Whether this is an Apple or Panasonic issue is not
clear , as both companies ,in conversations I have had have suggested the other is at fault. Maybe Jeff can answer the question .
Is it true that AJ-HD1200A isn’t capable of 60hz over firewire? And until it is Apple can’t support 720/25p over firewire?”

Good question. Any time I have asked this of our region Panasonic reps they can’t give an answer, or say “I can’t see why not, but we have not been told.”
And yes, 720p@25 HD100 is possible through my BM card, just not FW. FCP offers 25pfps as a sequence option in 720p HD100.
Matt.

[Matthew Romanis]

Gary sorry about the Typo in the above post. I copied some text from TEXT EDIT app and didn’t look at what was hanging on the end.

[Jeff Merritt]

Steven,

Thank you for your input. First of all, I’m not comfortable with the ideas the either Panasonic or Apple is “at fault”. I can not speak for Apple as to their ability to support 25p over firewire, but the decks, both the AJ-HD1200A and AJ-HD1700 support down converted 625 PAL from a tape recorded at 720/25p when outputting via SDI. It is correct that there is no support in either deck for 625 PAL over IEEE 1394 from a tape shot at 25fps and converted. Since there is no “PAL HD”, the only option is down converted 625 PAL (also known as 567i)when using the optional AJ-YA120A board in the HD1200A but is included in the HD1700.

This idea of shooting for PAL is actually quit simple if you know and understand the technical rules. It’s done all the time. Just accept that there may be additional costs involved depending on your workflow in post.

Thanks,

Jeff Merritt
Product Line Business Manager
High Definition Products
Panasonic Broadcast
323-436-3676

[Esra]

“Also another point to clarify FCP will happily edit 720/25 p just not over firewire.”

I am not sure about FCP happily editing 720/25p. The Frame rate converter(AJ-FRC27) outputs only 1080 50i(25psF) or 576(50i) (If your input is 720/25p over 60). I choosed the way 1080 50i and exporting to 720 25p. All the motion are smooth but the image is not as sharp as capturing with the Kona at 25p. No wonder after scaling up to 1080i and then back down to 720p. But the the Kona does not identify the flagged frames. So i have been testing a lot and using different pulldowns from the Kona menu… i could capture mostly smooth motions but it is not perfect at all for me. Actually i will need only short passages so no one wil recognize(hopefully) but it is no solution. Did i do bullshit? Or are these the facts? A fact is definitely that 1080 50i has artifacts

[Steven Rushworth]

Hi Jeff.
Thanks once again for your input. Its always good when a company rep contrbutes to the debate. Yes, I do understand PAL Varicam workflows very well, I do it all the time. As do many other readers of this forum as well. Understandably , you may not be comfortable with the idea with that Apple and Panasonic may be fault. And I know you have to choose you words carefully . But I’m not trying to blame anyone or any company for anything. Blame doesn’t sort out anything. I’m just after straight answers to simple questions. But as both companies seem to constantly evade directly answering the question , it does make one wonder what is going on. So I repeat the question Is it true that AJ-HD1200A isn’t capable of 60hz over firewire? Yes or no? Please Jeff straight answer:)
cheers,
Steve

[Paul From apple]

Both Panasonic and Apple have worked together and delivered the world’s first HD over FireWire solution. At the request of our European customers, we added support for 1080i 50 in Final Cut Pro 5.

Unfortunately we do not support 720p 25 via FireWire at this time. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, there are several workarounds for this; Final Cut Pro 5 works with 720p 25 using PCI capture cards.

We endeavor to build great software for our customers. We review feedback from the FCP feedback page on a regular basis and would love to hear from you:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro.html

Thanks,
Paul Saccone, Product Manager
Final Cut Studio