[Brian Whitton]

Jeremy,

Sorry for the late reply. SXSW came out of nowhere!

Anyway, it looks perfect in VLC. 720×512 is the listed frame size! Amazing.

Thanks for all the help, and I’m sure I’ll be back.

Case CLOSED.

[Brian Whitton]

Thank you!

I set the compressor settings as you said, exporting using the IMX 50mb/s preset in XDCAM transfer, and when the IMX opens in XDCAM, the dimensions still say 720×480. Is the 512 implied?

How tired are you of my nonsense by now?

[Brian Whitton]

Hey Jeremy,

I’ve almost figured this out. I exported my 24fps file to a 1920×1080 quicktime, and in compressor figured out how to accomplish a 3:2 pulldown (lower field interlacing, fast rate conversion, etc.), but the part where I’m lost is the PAR and padding to achieve a 720×512 frame size.

I thought I would choose the 720×480 frame size, and since I’m going for letterbox, I thought a PAR of NTSC CCIR 601/DV (16:9) (PAR of .8438) would be it. But then do I choose the 16×9 option again under Padding? When I do that, there’s nothing added to any of the fields (they’re all 0). I did a test export, but the size came out to 720×486.

Can you shed some light on this PAR thing, and how to get the frame height to 512?

mxf4mac is really starting to look good right about now.

[Brian Whitton]

Ok, so it looks like I’ll be delivering in letterboxed 4:3. The spec doc doesn’t specify and we decided to deliver a full image.

[Jeremy Garchow] “Take that to compressor, down convert, adjust PAR and add pulldown there (I have posted how to do this many many times in the past on the cow).”
SO. Understood everything, and will check the CC archives for directions to make the necessary compressor adjustments. I assume I won’t need to downconvert, as we’re going letterbox. Also, I assume the frame size going into compressor will be 1920×1080, but I will be adjusting it therein to 720×480.

[Jeremy Garchow] “Oh wait! You don’t have MXF4mac. My bad! You should really get the MXF file checked on a proper monitor.”

By proper monitor, you mean standard crt TV? Checking for issues like color and gamma? How would I check the MXF file on a proper monitor if it only plays in XDCAM?

[Brian Whitton]

Yes, this is what I’ve been talking about the entire time. Music video shot in HD full 1920×1080.

We are delivering a digital file in SD. According to the full spec doc they don’t accept digital HD files, only tape. They don’t seem to specify letterbox v cropped, full-frame 16×9. So I guess it’s a question for the artist/manager/producer.

Anyway, here’s where I’m at:

I followed your instructions and made both sequences 720×480 (pre 29.97 export and pre xdcam export). Played the final MXF in xdcam and it looks good to me. Nicely 4:3 with no noticeable distortion.

They’ve also asked for it as a playable DVD. I assume they mean they want a data dvd with the MXF as well as a dvd that plays the video in the 29.97 frame rate at the SD frame size.

To do this, I “exported” (though XDCAM transfer calls it an import) the IMX file as a .mov, and dropped that into compressor to make DVD SP files (m2v and ac3). Just checked it in DVD SP and both files import well and simulate well.

Submissions must be made by Thursday at 3 pm to be in their acquisitions mtg on Monday, so I have a little time to have a few more catastrophes.

Let me know if you see anything glaringly uninformed here.

Thanks again Jeremy!

Brian

[Brian Whitton]

Looks like it’s 4:3 center cut. No letterboxing.

[Brian Whitton]

Not 100%. My producer only gave me an excerpt of the delivery specs, but he is sending along the full doc shortly.

I’ll let you know ASAP. Thanks for walking me through this Jeremy.

[Brian Whitton]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Be careful here. With DG Fastchannel, the 512 requires a certain amount of blanking and it doesn’t necessarily mean the image is centered in the middle. As a matter of fact, the extra 32 pixels usually reside on the top of the screen so the moving image is weighted towards the bottom with the blanking (both letterbox and 32 pixel black) towards the top and the rest of the letterbox on the bottom. Don’t know if your delivery requires something similar. Best to check.”

I’m delivering a music video to MTV, so I don’t think we’re going through Fastchannel.

If I got back to FCP, change the pre-Compressor delivery sequence to 720×480, and scale the images fill the space, I’m lead to believe that the xdcam transfer will add the extra 32 pixels, right? Will that be correct ?

I don’t entirely understand what we’re talking about there. What should I ask the client? As you can tell, I’m very new to MXF.

[Brian Whitton]

Jeremy and Bouke–

Thanks very much for your replies. With your guidance I was able to export according to specs provided. Here’s what I did:

1. Created a 720×512 sequence in my FCP project, kept all other settings the same (23.98 fps, ProRes HQ).

2. Dropped timeline from the native 1920×1080 “editing” sequence into the new 720×512 sequence.

3. Scaled down all the clips to fit the smaller SD frame size. Now there’s a small letterbox.

4. Exported a ProRes HQ .mov at 29.97 fps 720×512. Didn’t take too long b/c it was the native codec.

5. Imported that clip into FCP and dropped it into a new sequence with these settings
– ProRes HQ 422
– 29.97 fps
– 720×512
– 24 bit 48 khz discrete channel audio
– 4 dual mono output channels
– 6 add’l audio tracks added to the timeline (for a total of 8), a pair checked off for each of the 4 output channels (right click on left side of timeline>audio output>1… 2.. 3… 4..).

6. Exported using XDCAM (finally!). Used the IMX 565/50mbs setting. Quick!

Plays great in XDCAM app. All the settings are visible and match up. 🙂

Jeremy, thanks for the 29.97 heads up, but I kind of learned that one on my own after exporting a 23.98 thru XDCAM and witnessing the dropped frames.

Bouke, yes, 499 EU is expensive right now. XDCAM export seems to work fine though. I wonder how many people buy mxf4mac out of ignorance?

Thanks again guys. Yet another heart attack prevented by CC forums!

Brian