upconverting to 720p30 with MXO2 for FCP…

[Nicholas Natteau]

Please see this image screen grab here for MXO2 upconvert choices:
https://gallery.me.com/nicholasnatteau#100331/Screen%20shot%202010-03-27%20at%201.43.24%20AM&bgcolor=black

[Nicholas Natteau]

https://gallery.me.com/nicholasnatteau#100331/Screen%20shot%202010-03-27%20at%201.43.24%20AM&bgcolor=black

[Steve Eisen]

I have the option to select Matrox MXO2-Apple ProRes 422 720p 29.97 48 kHZ or Matrox MXO2-Apple ProRes 422 720p 59.94 48 kHZ.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Shane Ross]

[Nicholas Natteau] “Has anyone used either of these two Matrox MXO2 settings to upconvert and if so does it allow you to keep the same frame rate as your original SD source? “

Yes. And it ONLY allows you to keep the same frame rate. Just like the Kona LHi and Kona 3. You can’t convert that on input, only output.

[Nicholas Natteau] “The reason I ask is because I am currently upconverting with Kona LHi (which only has 72059.94 or 1080i29.97 as choices (I wanted to stay at 720 size wise)) and my problem is that my upconverted footage is now 720p59.94 which means I have twice as many frames, or duplicate frames. “

720p is a 60 frame format. I don’t know why Matrox has a 720p 29.97 setting, you can’t capture to that. And trying to edit 720p 29.97…well, it’s unnatural. THat isn’t the proper frame rate for that format. 23.98 and 59.94, yes. All tape formats of 720p run at 60fps, and the 24p is embedded in that. Just like all 1080i tape formats are 29.97. So if you want to go to 720p, you should be working either 23.98 or 59.94.

What format do you need to upconvert for? What is your final deliverable? You need to know what that is, then base everything on that deliverable.

[Nicholas Natteau] “I would rather have 720p30 or 720p29.97 as an upconvert option as it would not alter my timeline.”

Again, why 720p 29.97? There is no deliverable with that frame rate.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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[Jeremy Garchow]

If you shoot with a Varicam or other 720p VFR enabled tape based camera, you can shoot 30p, but it’s embedded in a 60p stream. Within that stream there are flags that tell devices (like capture cards) which frames to keep and which frame to remove, leaving you with 30p media after capture. But once you start watching that captured footage on a monitor, that pulldown is added right back in to the output stream, so that you are actually watching 720p60 media on your broadcast monitor. THis saves on disk space while capturing and also allows for over/under cranking if your camera can support it. I am sure that’s what the 29.97 settings is there for.

BUt if you are capturing/up converting NON VFR material, you will capture 720p60 as that’s the SMPTE spec and there’s no VFR data to tell the capture card which frames to remove or keep. One of the really nice things of FCP is that it handles the 720p format in the timeline very well. So, you will up convert your 29.97 material to 60p which will result in duplicate frames. Once you add that 720p60 movie to your 720p30 timeline, FCP will drop every other frame and in essence you will be left with 30p media in your timeline only.

Hope that makes sense.

Jeremy

PS

[Shane Ross] “And trying to edit 720p 29.97…well, it’s unnatural.”

No, it’s not. you can shoot 720pN30 on P2 cameras, for example.

[Nicholas Natteau]

Hi Shane,

If I remember correctly, the HVX200 can shoot at 720p30 (as well as 720p24 and 720p60).
Though all the HD shooting I did was with the HVX200 at 720PN24 (native progressive).

I’m afraid that if I up convert my 480i SD stock footage to 720p59.94, I will then have duplicate frames. And a reverse telecine and conform to 24p via Compressor will take ages with the more than 100 stock footage clips I have.

That’s why as a workflow, I’m wondering whether I should not instead be using Matrox MXO2 to upconvert which allows me to select 720p29.97 or 720p30 like that I stay in the same frame rate.

My final deliverable for this film at least would be DVD (blu-ray and standard) and broadcast.
For my next doc-film, I would be using some of the same footage but aiming for theatrical distribution.

[Nicholas Natteau]

[Jeremy Garchow] “So, you will up convert your 29.97 material to 60p which will result in duplicate frames. Once you add that 720p60 movie to your 720p30 timeline, FCP will drop every other frame and in essence you will be left with 30p media in your timeline only. “

Hi Jeremy,

When I try this, I always get the FCP question: “Change sequences settings to match the clip settings?

If I click “no”, will I not be inviting rendering problems later?

Am I not better off just recapturing and up converting my clips to “720p30” so that my upconverted clips would then match my desired 30fps timeline?

If on the other hand, I click “yes” am I not causing myself problems by working in a 59.94 timeline if 90% my source footage was 480i 29.97 (stock footage) and 720pn24 (HVX200)???

[Jeremy Garchow]

You’ll be fine. Fcp will add the necessary progrssive 3:2 pulldown to your 24pN material.

[Nicholas Natteau]

Hi Steve,

Is MXO2’s “Pro Res 720p29.97” in fact 720p30?

If it’s progressive why don’t they refer to it as 720p30? The Matrox term is confusing. I’ve never heard of 720p29.97.

[Shane Ross]

“Is MXO2’s “Pro Res 720p29.97″ in fact 720p30? ”

Yes, because all 30fps video runs at 29.97. Except for maybe the early stuff from the Canon DSLRs…they were straight 30fps…made things tough.

“If it’s progressive why don’t they refer to it as 720p30?” It IS PROGRESSIVE! And it is 29.97 because 30fps video is 29.97. I think that it is odd, yet cool that Matrox offers 720p 29.97, because that is a non standard format, but one that apparently many people insist on working in.

“The Matrox term is confusing. I’ve never heard of 720p29.97.”

ANd 1080i60 isn’t confusing? People think that means 60fps…it doesn’t. It is 60 FIELDS per second, because the 60 follows an “i”, meaning INTERLACED. 720p60 means 60 FRAMES per second, because it follows a “p,” meaning progressive. Progressive is full frame, so the number that follows is a frames ber second. Interlaced is field based, so the number that follows is FIELDS per second.

That’s confusing.

Shane

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