[_adam_]

Hmmm… you can try having them wrap their audio in Quicktime and use this: https://www.dharmafilm.com/sebskytools/ to force the timecode track to 24fps.

[_adam_]

Thanks so much for the idea! I really really really hate to say this, but this task actually got turfed (no one’s more annoyed at it than me), but if I’m ever in this situation again, that’s what I’ll try!

Thanks again (everybody!)

Adam

[_adam_]

Thanks for the idea! I tried, and… well… it didn’t work, but I was more than happy to give it a shot.

Adam

I’ve run into this same problem (even with SD footage) on FCP 5.1.x when my process involves first exporting the native QuickTime, then importing that into Compressor. I can offer no reason as to why, but I can take the same sequence and export through FCP “using Compressor” and while it ties up Final Cut, the end result looks right.

[_adam_]

Okay! I will! I promise.

Man, have I ever learned my lesson the hard way this time.

Thanks 🙂

Adam

In the future, if you shoot, edit, and encode your MPEG2 at 23.98, keeping the entire project progressive, you won’t see interlacing.

David

[_adam_]

Hi Sean,

Yeah, we shot at 24p, and then ingested from a Firestore, which came in at 60fps (which makes sense according to this: https://images.apple.com/pro/pdf/L317074A_FCP_Wkflw.pdf) where it says “720p 24/30 ingests at 60 fps” (or 59.94). Okay, so far so good.

I didn’t think it was a cadence issue because the scan lines don’t seem to follow pattern, they just seem to appear whenever there’s a great deal of motion in the frame.

Okay, the 59.94 thing… in Compressor I’m selecting 29.97 as the frame rate… doesn’t Compressor compensate for the interlacing? For whatever reason (ie. I’m an idiot) I thought that it would recognize that 59.94 is a 29.97 derivative.

Well, as for the good news, well, that’s good! I’m currently previewing this in Quicktime & DVD Studio Pro and freaking out, but when I submit this stuff to festivals hopefully they’ll be looking at them on NTSC TVs.

I think it’s weird that the FCP white paper doesn’t mention you require a third-party solution to properly get your footage down to an mpeg2 stream.

Do some Googling and read up on 3:2 pulldown.

This is a very complicated issue. I can’t see your MPEG footage, and I don’t know what you are using to monitor it. What I can say is that any footage containing 3:2 pulldown will show “scan lines” when played back a certain way. This is normal to a degree. But there is a continuous field pattern, called 3:2 cadence, that needs to remain intact in order for basic software like Compressor to properly deinterlace it.

I’m gonna guess that your HVX200 was set to record 23.98 frames per second – but you captured and edited at 59.94. This means that you have duplicate frames in your footage, so when you edit this footage the 3:2 cadence is destroyed. This is not good and it will cause the exact problem you described. Programs like Compressor are not capable of fixing it. You need a Teranex or something similar to do that.

The only good news is that when played back on a DVD player, the problem will not be visible on a regular Standard Def tube television set. Because CRT sets are interlaced, it will mask these artifacts.

The solution to avoid this problem is to edit at the actual framerate you shoot at. So you should have captured the HVX footage at 23.98 or used the Panasonic framerate converter plugin prior to editing anything.

Again, this is a complicated issue that most people don’t understand. But it’s important to know it if you are working with equipment like the HVX200.

Sean

[_adam_]

Nah, Steve Jobs didn’t really do much for timecode, but Al Gore did an awful lot for the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore#Internet_and_technology

[_adam_]

Compressor doesn’t use FCP’s render files. It goes straight to the media referenced in the timeline itself and builds from there. Along with the obvious time-saving benefit, you also don’t have to worry about a bad render making it into your newly compressed file.

[_adam_]

Steve,

Just make sure they understand that ultimately, if they want the project to look like it was shot on film, then they should investigate shooting on film.

The worst position you can be in is for the producers to turn around and say all their time, effort and money doesn’t look “filmy” enough.

If you can show them some samples, like the stuff Chris linked to and whatever else you can find off the net, you’re showing them right up front what they can expect the finished product to look like.

You may even want to see if you can find examples of shows or movies that were shot with your equipment. Right off the top of my head, I know that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was shot using DVXs https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472954/

Good luck!

[_adam_]

There already is an ad. Forward your IT geniuses here:

https://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac_ads1/viruses_480x376.mov

It contains all the relevant information they need to know about viruses and Macs.

If they can’t get it to work, download Quicktime 7 for them and they will forever be in awe of you.

[_adam_]

JPGs are a very weird file format in general… try using PNGs or TIFs. See if that helps.