[Daryl K davis]

If you shot anamorphic why not at least consider outputting anamorphic D-Beta Master. At least you have a future proof master for down the road. From that master you can dub to deliver letterbox 4:3 tapes for viewing or broadcast or whatever.

I’ve always done that otherwise you don’t have a suitable master to bump up to HD in the future.

[Daryl K davis]

Are you attempting to do reverse-pulldown and experience the cadence error? Did you capture each clip on the A-frame?

[Daryl K davis]

SONY PVW-2800 BetacamSP has 3 switchable positions on the INPUT SELECT: Y-R,B (which is component analog), COMPOSITE and S-VIDEO.

I seen dozens of these machines over the years and never heard of or seen ‘SFI’.

[Daryl K davis]

I have miniDV tapes come all the time shot in DVCAM mode – for years. The only problem that I ever saw was when the tape came from a particular camera that needed to be cleaned if a head was clogged. Never heard of ‘stretched’ tape before.

[Daryl K davis]

I’ve found that it isn’t so much the firewire timecode is the concern, but more so the firewire deck control.

We now always capture off the DV deck using RS-422 deck control becuase we were finding a 1 or 2 frame discrepancy when we used firewire deck control. Then if a project is to be re-captured uncompressed in on-line from original DV tapes using SDI and a capture card, or even if you were off-lining with DV clones of the original D-beta or Beta SP camera tapes and now need to conform from the camera originals, we’ve found it critical to use RS-422 deck control for sake of frame accuracy. Also that 1 or 2 frames off drives audio post people nuts.

[Daryl K davis]

I wouldn’t know what to suggest because if you have no Telecine Log from the lab, it is very difficult to reference the edge code on the 16mm negative short of properly retyransfering everythin and starting over. You don’t want to go handling negative film to physically read the numbers by hand.

Further to that, the proper way to reverse telecine your footage is you have to log and capture your clips on the A-frame (frames that end on the digit 00, 05,10,15.20 – every 5 frames as you see) from your 29.97 NDF DV tape. That way the proper cadence is deteremined for a reverse telecine in Cinema Tools. Telecine logs reflect this when you get them but as you didn’t get them there is little to do now.

Strange that the lab doesn’t know about this or advice you on how to properly proceed with your project, if they know your deliverable format. You also don’t mention why the lab needs a 24fps EDL – sure you can generate an edl but what is the purpose.

I don’t know what to suggest now, other than cut your show and take the output file in DV and somehow blow it up to HD and there are lots of posts discussing that on the forum. Not the best route to take but…

We did not receive a telecine file from the lab, and the lab doesn’t seem to know what format they need the file in… All they keep saying is that it has to be in 24fps. When I reverse telecine it through final cut pro, it seems to remove too many frames and the footage moves rapidly in what we’ve termed the “key stone cops effect.”

If the lab didn’t give us a flex file or telecine file, does that mean we have to generate it ourselves? Is it not possible to create a 24fps EDL from a 29.97 timeline?

[Daryl K davis]

It’s not compatible with Tiger

[Daryl K davis]

I’ve never had a problem whatsoever with a FCP edit suite and simultaneous internet connection – and that is on my own suite at home, and also the 10 or so other suites I have worked free-lance on.

[Daryl K davis]

If you shot on 16mm the film can’t be processed to DVC-PRO25. It is filmstock so the 16mm negative is processed and then transferred via telecine to videotape. Did the lab you mentioned also do the telecine transfer and if so, sis they create a Telecine Log (FLX or ALE file – plus other formats as well). That file will give you a refernec list of the film’s edge code numbers.

If you shot your film at 24 frames per second you can transfer to DVC_PRO25 at 29.97 NDF and – provided you used the Telecine Log (FLX or ALE) to create a cinema tools database, and captured your footage using a batch capture list generated from the Cinema Tools database. The Cinema tools database also allows you to do batch reverse telecine which is what you would edit your program with in a 23.98 timeline.

A proper 23.98 edl can then be created and your 16mm lab rolls can be set up to re-transfer your negative filmstock to HDCAM 23.98 master. You can also create OMF from the FCP timeline for audio post and also and audio edl for your location sound recorded on time-code DAT.

I think you do need a Telecine log for this process to flow correctly though. This is the way I’ve it before and there were no problems.

Good Luck

[Daryl K davis]

Generally I always get flex files when the lab transfers film to video. Are you doing a film-out or is the post house re-transfering your negative to HD or something?

You didn’t state your deliverables.