[Bryce Whiteside]

How are you capturing the 24PA footage, through the DVX-100A camera or another DV transport (VTR)?

You might want to post in your signature your equipment setup including your ingest (Log & Capture) pipeline, Mac OS X version and FCP version.

Inquiring minds…
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

The number that you are looking for under Viewer ∧ Motion tab > Distort > is -12.5.

This is the number you will find in the Distort field if a correct 720 x 540 .PSD file is imported into FCP to produce 720 x 486 footage. This number also works when odd shaped square pixel graphics are imported that saves you from pasting them inside a square pixel 720 x 540 canvas in Photoshop.

HTH,
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

What else do you have to work with, Adobe After Effects, Apple Motion, Sorenson Media Compression Suite ( https://www.sorensontech.com/ )?

Resizing in FCP 4.5 or less would not be my choosen production pipeline except to capture and output to a program like After Effects which has very good sub-pixel sampling.

It is my understanding if you get him a square pixel QuickTime .mov, Flash MX 2004 will File->Import a Quicktime movie will automatically convert it to Flash format.

My 2

[Bryce Whiteside]

I used to work with someone that would tell the client, “The spot will have to be re-edited because the video is chocolate milk now. It would be like trying to get the chocolate out of the milk.”

Oddly enough, the clients were able to wrap their heads around that one.

Loved it,
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

Discussing it here on Creativecow.net can often cause an epiphany.

Inquiring minds…
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

Some more reading:
adamwilt.com > the DV, DVCAM & DVCPRO Formats

bensyverson.com’s widescreen dv tell-all

Without seeing what you are describing it is a little hard to track down your issues. On one sidebar note I will say that if a QuickTime DV movie doesn’t match the 720 x 480 FCP is expecting it will distort it to fit in a DV timeline. For a DV timeline putting a value of -12.5 in the Distort value under the Motion tab for a clip in the Viewer may result in the correct aspect in FCP for video, but may require some scaling or cropping.

Your mileage my vary…
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

I noticed that FrameThief 2.1.9 is dated April 15, 2003. All the screen shots appear to be Mac Classic OS 8.x, 9.2.x. I think this is less of an issue with FCP and more with FrameThief which according to their web site doesn’t need FrameSplicer anymore.

What special needs do you have with FrameThief in stitching together animation frames that you don’t get from the more QuickTime intelligent program like After Effects.

Are the still shots coming from the SONY PDX-10? If not, digital still cameras have a different aspect ratio than DV video. You would have to use a program like AE to size and crop for output to DV.

I would read this article and perhaps it will give more insight.
https://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/article_widescreen_mode.htm

HTH,
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

Where did the “dvpro/dv-ntsc movie clip” come from, After Effects, QuickTime Pro?

Was the render set for D1 NTSC DV (720 x 480) non-square pixels?

I think we need a little more information here.

HTH,
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

Why are you capturing to 25Mbps from 4:2:2 color sampling Beta?

When you are Log and Capture do you have the scopes displayed?

Are you seeing setup on the Waveform monitor? Digital video black is 0 (zero) so you should see no setup.

Do you have a video board in your FCP 4.5 system like an AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona HD or Cinewave?

What is your final delivery format? If it is DVD and you have setup on your DVD, some DVD players add a second setup.

Your issue is not FCP 4.5, but perhaps your production pipeline.

Inquiring minds…
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Bryce Whiteside]

I thinking you both should read this article Broadcast Engineering Managing Audio Levels.

[Jeff18876] – I keep trying to tell him that our audio in FCP (or any DIGITAL application for that matter) should peak at just below 0db, the very top of the meters in FCP, just before they peak and lite up the red-peak-dot.
The mean level should hover around -12 with excursions above -12 which on an analog BetaSP machine would be 0 VU with excursions above 0 VU.
According to p. 628 of Apple Pro Training Series : Advanced Editing and Finishing Techniques in Final Cut Pro HD (2nd Edition) by by DigitalFilm Tree and Michael Wohl:
Dialogue: Common Average and Peak Levels in Final Cut Pro
Delivery…..|….Average….|….Peak
Format……|….Volume…..|….Volume
Broadcast TV____-12 dB__________-6 dB
VHS tape_______-12 dB__________-3 dB
Theatrical_______-20 dB__________-3 dB
Dolby Digital

He says that if we go above -12db in FCP then the signal sounds distorted.
Well actually when they hit 0 dB they get clipped but if they stay between -12 dB and 0 dB they are fine but that includes all transients in the audio even small ones that are loud but extremely narrow in time.

Short answer is peaking should occur between -3 dB and -6 dB on the audio meters adjacent to the sequence timeline. 1 Khz tone reference should at -12 dB in FCP and 0 VU on the analog BetaSP with peaking occuring in program audio above these values.

I think no one won this bet because the actual answer was in the the middle of both of you arguments.

HTH with my 2¢
Bryce Whiteside

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion