[Dana Strom]

Well we’re keeping our eye on it.

It may be superstition but the issue really seems to coincide with weather we’re continuing to use Final Cut while importing… If I leave the system alone for the transfer, we’ve been getting fewer or no errors. Most of our stuff is P2- which doesn’t have this problem, so the fact that the 5D is the one that locks down our entire system, it’s really a wrench in our very time- workflow.

This is unfortunate because we were very excited to be able to integrate the 5D as a B camera. More and more it’s looking like the weakest link. : (

[Dana Strom]

Also to mention; when compressing the clips to my native settings (ProRes 422 HQ 1080i 29.97) via Compressor, it takes FOREVER but comes across properly.

[Dana Strom]

EDIT: I’m very familiar with the P2 DVCProHD, Varicam formats- but not so much the cameras… are there any camera operators that are willing to just explain the settings they have to go through to achieve a 30 frame rate, and any theories as to how an improper pulldown flag might be introduced? It would be greatly appreciated.

[Dana Strom]

Well- for one thing… that’s just not the workflow.

This is for broadcast, final delivery is a 1808i 29.97 HDCam SR and the footage in question is only 2 days worth from what’ll ultimately be something like a 12 day shoot. I’m not about to break the field cadence by letting the editor cut in 60p (i’m the post supervisor) when letting the sequence remove a 2:2 pulldown is totally fine anyway.

Secondly, that wasn’t my question.
My question is; why is there an 11% speed change when I allow FCP to remove the 2:2 pulldown? Why does it seem like it’s trying to remove a 3:2 pulldown? My question is about what either appears to be a glitch or an incorrect camera setting and since I’ve already got the solution, I’m now just interested in finding the root of the problem.

[Dana Strom]

I’m in almost the same boat except; I have a PowerPC G5 with FCS 2 and an Intel MacBook Pro with FCS 2. Since my G5 is capped at FCS2 because it’s not an Intel, my only current upgrade option is the MacBook.

I need to upgrade ASAP, but need the freedom to share some projects between the two machines. Also, I do a lot of on site work with different clients who use both versions.

I do have a 500 GB internal drive in my MacBook w/ plenty of space and I was wondering if anybody had any experience or insight to partitioning my existing system drive to create a new bootable volume…? If someone can create a Windows partition with Boot Camp, why not a new Snow Leopard partition?

I’m pretty sure that creating a boot disk out of a FireWire hard drive isn’t a good idea overall – specifically for a laptop setup… right? Can’t imagine accidentally disconnecting your system drive isn’t a big problem.

Any insight whatsoever is appreciated! Thanks!

[Dana Strom]

Yes, you’re correct about a 2:2:2:4 pulldown when going from 24p to 60i. When I drop 24 into 60p there is clearly a 3:2 cadence. My understanding is this; since FCP operates in frame-based editing (not field based) it does us the “favor” of keeping field issues out of the equation and using a 2:2:2:4 cadence which IS essentially un-acceptable for most (or all IMO) mastering standards.

However – these limits are gone when we’re dealing in 60p because each frame of 24p can be assigned to it’s own dedicated full frame (not any fields) in a 3:2 pattern without excessive rendering and editing in a base 60 rather then 30 there are none of those “untouchable” single field flash frames as result. When stepping through, there is clearly a 3:2 count throughout.

The problem we are finding is that if we were to copy paste the contents of our edited sequence- some clips are a frame short… meaning that at some edits there ends up being a 1 frame hole in the timeline: I understand that this to be because the XML data for a sequence holds each clip’s source ‘in’ TC and ‘out; TC but only the timeline’s ‘in’ TC (not the “program” ‘out’) therefore, for the purposes of just making annotations (for footage licensing purposes) on paper with refrence to the final tape’s timecode should be reliable within a frame or two (which is good enough).

Basically, as I research I’m finding that dropping a self-contained 24p Quicktime into a 60p sequence will be accurate and suitable for output for any standard broadcast purposes – so if there’s not any drifting, slipping or other time accuracy issues with this, I SHOULD then be able to rely on the TC in the sequence as an accurate (within a frame or two) representation of what will be on tape (provided that there are no other issues) … my logic is telling me this is true – I’m looking for that thing that one thing behind the scenes that is going to screw up our delivery.

If there are no issues, this will actually open up some fantastic versatility and workflow options with the Varicam format/FCP for us that thus far I haven’t heard of anybody championing so I’m cautiously optimistic.