[Erin Casper]

Yes, you can use Compressor to convert from PAL to NTSC. I use the Traditional Method outlined in this article: https://www.macworld.com/article/49306/2006/02/marchcreate.html and it yields decent results as far as software conversions go.

As for the aspect ratio, it looks like the person sending it [probably manually] set the pixel aspect ratio to square pixels (ie: 568×576) so it would display properly online at 4:3. If you use the Compressor settings from the Macworld article I don’t think you will have to change the aspect ratio before converting to NTSC.

Good luck!

[Erin Casper]

Hi Mark,

I’m in the same boat as you, and I’d be curious to know if you ended up figuring out a solution to creating a high quality NTSC DVD with crisp subtitles.

I’m editing in DVCAM PAL and used the same traditional PAL to NTSC conversion method mentioned from the same MacWorld article. The image is fine when I’m done converting, but the area around and behind the text looks highly compressed/fuzzy and the text flickers when there’s motion in the footage behind it.

The best workaround I’ve come up with so far is to duplicate the PAL sequence, disable all the subtitles (be careful that you don’t have any already-disable subtitles when you do this or they will switch on when you disable the rest), and then convert to NTSC using the traditional method from the MacWorld article.

After that, I import the NTSC version into an NTSC timeline in FCP and paste the subtitles from the PAL sequence into the NTSC timeline. The real time-suck is having to manually readjust all the in and out points of each subtitle to match up with the NTSC version. The resulting NTSC DVD is decent, but the subtitles still have compression fuzziness around them and tend to flicker ever so slightly.

So that’s my stop-gap measure for now, but I’m still looking for more inventive, time-saving ways to get better results. I’d love to know if you ended up figuring out a solution and if you wouldn’t mind sharing it.

All the best,

Erin

[Erin Casper]

Hi Shane,

That’s what I was afraid of. I know you can program it in Avid somehow but looked and looked to see if it was possible in FCP, to no avail. Well, figured it was worth a shot to ask the fine folks here.

Thanks!

[Erin Casper]

Thanks Bill!

I’ll see about breaking it into several projects and decreasing the frequency and amount of autosaves. Right now we have it saving every 5 minutes (paranoid much? 😉 ) and keeping a max of 40 copies per project.

[Erin Casper]

In the Help Manual in Volume I, Chapter 9, Page 115:

“The number of available Source controls corresponds to the number of clip items of the source clip currently open in the Viewer. For example, a typical DV clip has one video track and two audio tracks. In this case, one video and two audio Source controls appear in the Timeline. If, instead, you open a clip in the Viewer that has one video item
and four audio items, then one video and four audio Source controls appear in the Timeline.”

Right clicking in the source control area of the timeline and choosing “Reset Panel” will not do anything. Instead, try match framing anywhere on the timeline (hit the F key) and that will reset your source tracks.

[Erin Casper]

Update: I just stumbled upon the Show Through Edits option, so that mystery is solved. But now I notice that the sequences where the indicators stopped appearing do nothing when I toggle off and on. Additionally, the new sequences where I pasted the subtitles in from the old sequence are only showing through edits from where I’m starting to cut the subtitles in after pasting.

The ‘v’ shortcut problem still eludes me, too.

Thanks!

[Erin Casper]

Steven,

Thank you for the concise and helpful answer! I had the same question and TitleExchange Pro is exactly what I was looking for in a program.

[Erin Casper]

Excellent. Thank you, Bill! I’ll look into adding this to our workflow.

[Erin Casper]

Good to know! Thank you very much, Walter!

[Erin Casper]

Thanks for the quick reply! I thought it did, too. Does it do it by default or is there a Preference I need to set? I’ve exported some OMFs to my re-recording mixer, and he says the info is NOT coming over. He’s pretty experienced with his side of the equation and, frankly, his set-up (software, hardware) is much more professional than where I’m coming from. I’m inclined to think I’m doing something wrong or there’s something I need to set in FCP or in a sequence preset. Can anybody shed some light on this?