Shot in 24p, needs to end up in 30i for broadcast

[Alan Okey]

There are definite advantages to capturing and working in native 24p and only converting to 60i if and when necessary:

1. Space savings of 20% in local storage
2. Slightly lower data rate for playback
3. Faster rendering (due to 20% reduction of frames needing when processing relative to 60i)
4. Better chromakey results (if applicable)
5. Better compression results when authoring DVD/Blu-Ray
6. Space savings of 20% when authoring DVD/Blu-Ray
7. Better results if compressing for web (no deinterlacing needed)

In short, if you shot 24pA, there’s really no drawbacks to capturing and working in native 24p, but there are definitely drawbacks to capturing and working in 60i.

[Jim Eckes]

Thanks. Great info!
My question is this, if I work in 24p, is the conversion to 60i a difficult one? How do you make that transition.
I know I can work with 24p easily and have no problem with that,
but how do I deliver the required 30 frames per second to PBS.

Thanks again!

Jim Eckes
MacPro 8 core
1 NVidia Gforce G120 card
1 Blackmagic Intensity Video card
16 gb Ram
FCP 6.0.5

[Alan Okey]

What has PBS requested as a deliverable? Tape? File? You don\’t have HDSDI out on your Intensity card, so you won\’t be able to connect to an HDCAM deck. If PBS requires you to deliver on tape, you\’ll need to have your project outut to tape by a post house. If PBS will accept a file, get the exact specs they need and use Compressor to convert a Quicktime reference movie exported from FCP.

[Jim Eckes]

I do have a DVCPro HD deck that will output through firewire.
That is how I plan to acquire the footage. When I’m finished, I’m going to take it to a post house, which I have access to and export out.
I have to look closely at the PBS Red Book which has all the required deliverables, but in brief they want it delivered in 30fps. My question is can you successfully convert a 24p sequence to 30fps?
It seems to me that if I digitize my footage at 60i, i will be where I need to be from the start. I’m assuming that FCP adds the pulldown to the 24p footage on digitize and leaves you with 30fps clips.

Am I right?

Jim Eckes
MacPro 8 core
1 NVidia Gforce G120 card
1 Blackmagic Intensity Video card
16 gb Ram
FCP 6.0.6

[Shane Ross]

[Jim Eckes] “I do have a DVCPro HD deck that will output through firewire. “

YOu cannot convert 23.98 to 29.97 via firewire. And if your footage is 720p, those decks don’t do 29.97…they record 59.94. What you need to do is either get a capture card that can output to the proper tape format, or take the files to a post house that can do it.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Alan Okey]

If none of the 24p workflow advantages that I outlined above are applicable to your project, it might be simpler and faster for you capture and work in 1080i60 (29.97) for the project. Just know that there are advantages to the 24p workflow in certain situations.

[Jim Eckes]

Great Shane,
Thanks!

Jim Eckes
MacPro 8 core
1 NVidia Gforce G120 card
1 Blackmagic Intensity Video card
16 gb Ram
FCP 6.0.6

[Jim Eckes]

This stuff was shot 1080i 24p, but apparently the hvx camera he shot it on adds the pull down or something as it shoots. You end up with a 29.97 on tape and that’s what is going into my system. So I’m guessing it’s ok.

Jim Eckes
MacPro 8 core
1 NVidia Gforce G120 card
1 Blackmagic Intensity Video card
16 gb Ram
FCP 6.0.6

[Alan Okey]

[Jim Eckes] “This stuff was shot 1080i 24p, but apparently the hvx camera he shot it on adds the pull down or something as it shoots. You end up with a 29.97 on tape and that’s what is going into my system. So I’m guessing it’s ok. “

Check to see if the footage was shot in 24p or 24pA (Advanced Pulldown). If it was shot in 24pA, you’ll have to capture it as 24p, removing the pulldown, then have the post house add pulldown when dubbing to HDCAM.

24pA is not meant to be viewed as 29.97 – it has a pulldown cadence that looks very jerky when played back. It’s designed for optimal results when removing pulldown for a 24p workflow. If your footage was shot in regular 24p (not 24pA), then you don’t need to worry about it.

If you can’t contact the DP to find out what mode the footage was shot in, simply step through the footage frame by frame to determine the pulldown cadence.

Here’s a must-read article on the subject of 24p/24pA. It applies to HD as well as SD.

https://www.adamwilt.com/24p/index.html#24pRecording