[Jordan Livingston]

Dear James,

Your assertion is not accurate. Panasonic’s pA mode (stands for “pulldown advanced”) pulls down 24p frames using a known cadence that can be detected and removed by compatible software (i.e. Final Cut Pro) when the “removed advanced pulldown and duplicate frames” option is selected in said software. The result is 29.97i footage out of the camera that can be easily converted in post to “true” 24p (23.98p) files for editing in a 24p (23.98) sequence.

24pN (stands for “pulldown native”) simply ONLY records the original 24p frames with no pulldown involved. The resulting footage will be 24p out of the camera, resulting is slightly longer recording capacities.

The regular “24p” mode uses a different pulldown method is not removable. The image aesthetic will resemble 24p, but the resulting footage will always be 29.97i.

I hope this helps!

Best,

– Jordan

Jordan Livingston
jordan@JLPMOVIES.com
(415) 259-0675

JLP / DIGILOID
https://www.JLPMOVIES.com
https://www.DIGILOID.com

[Jordan Livingston]

Hi Gary,

“Removed Advanced Pulldown” from FCP menu results in 23.98, not 60i.

Cinema Tools Batch Conform leaves the clips set at 30p.

I have not tried the Panasonic VFR tool yet, but I will let you know if I have success with that…

– Jordan

Jordan Livingston
jordan@JLPMOVIES.com
(415) 342-3143

JLP / DIGILOID
https://www.JLPMOVIES.com
https://www.DIGILOID.com

[Jordan Livingston]

Hi Jeremy,

My client loves 24pA because he shoots everything that way and then decides later if he wants to “Log and Transfer” in 60i or in 23.98, depending on the desired output. For example, he may edit a show in 60i because he knows its going straight to broadcast, or, he might edit in 23.98 for all other purposes, such as events and festivals, etc.

In any event, it USED to be that if you shot in 24pA, you would use Final Cut Pro’s “Log And Transfer” and decided to either “Remove Advanced Pulldown and Duplicate Frames” OR not. The former resulted in 23.98 footage, the latter resulted in 60i footage – both from the same 24pA P2 source!

Now, however, something has changed in Final Cut, where it interprets the footage as 30p when you do not select “Remove Advanced Pulldown and Duplicate Frames.” This results in a stuttery “look,” as the footage is clearly not 30p – it is 60i with pulldown inserted.

The workflow, in the good old days, was simply to edit this in a 60i timeline, which could be combined with SD footage, such as DigiBeta and even DV. Now, however, it seems that Final Cut Pro won’t make this possible as it is interpreting the clips incorrectly as 30p, rather than the intended 60i.

Does that help clarify the problem? I hope Apple gets wind of this and fixes the bug ASAP! I do understand that the “Advanced Pulldown” can cause problems with certain playback devices, but my client was enamored by the ability to generate 60i and 23.98 from the same P2 materials – even though he usually needs to be working in 60i.

– Jordan

Jordan Livingston
jordan@JLPMOVIES.com
(415) 342-3143

JLP / DIGILOID
https://www.JLPMOVIES.com
https://www.DIGILOID.com

[Jordan Livingston]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks again for getting back to me…

What would happen in this scenario if 3rd party 29.97 / 60i B-Roll were added onto the timeline? Would that material then need to be rendered to match the “30p compressor?”

– Jordan

Jordan Livingston
jordan@JLPMOVIES.com
(415) 342-3143

JLP / DIGILOID
https://www.JLPMOVIES.com
https://www.DIGILOID.com

[Jordan Livingston]

Dear Jeremy,

Crazy that Apple has a bug which breaks advertised functionality that many were accustomed to!

In any event, how do I change the filed dominance of my “1080p30” clips to “upper?”

Will that allow for editing on a 1080i60 timeline without rendering?

Also, is the pulldown the same as if Final Cut Pro were interpreting the footage as 60i to begin with?

Thanks!

– Jordan

Jordan Livingston
jordan@JLPMOVIES.com
(415) 342-3143

JLP / DIGILOID
https://www.JLPMOVIES.com
https://www.DIGILOID.com

[Jordan Livingston]

So, apparently Apple’s recommended solution is to add an additional step in our workflows in order to utilize a feature that was working perfectly BEFORE we shelled out for their latest “upgrade?” That’s pathetic! Let’s hope enough people complain so that Apple fixes this egregious bug in their next service update – ASAP!

– Jordan

[Jordan Livingston]

I am also having this problem on three different systems in my studio:

– 8-Core Intel
– Dual G5
– PowerBook G4

On all three of these systems, we used to import 1080 24pA footage from P2 cards and FireStores without incident using the old “Import P2” interface in FCP 5.1.4.

Now, after upgrading to 6.0, “Log and Transfer” fails to remove the pulldown, resulting in larger files with 29.97 instead of the 23.98 we want.

Yes, it’s true that manually using “remove advanced pulldown” from the tools menu fixes the files, but it’s bogus that we suddenly have to do this, which adds a lot more time to the workflow.

Yes, my “remove advanced pulldown and duplicate frames” preference is indeed checked. This is definitely a bug in FCP 6.

Has anybody found a solution or received a response from Apple???

[Jordan Livingston]

That’s awesome, I can’t wait to try it… my 5.1.2 crossgrade is in the mail…

– Jordan

[Jordan Livingston]

Thanks for crucial the FS-100 tip! I’m going to be testing one of these units very soon. The bigger question still remains: Can FCP 5.1.2 remove the “advanced pulldown” from 1080 24pA footage recorded to the FireStore?

– Jordan

[Jordan Livingston]

Thanks very much for your help. I look forward to the added options in FCP 5.1.2!

With the respect to the footage that I recorded to the CitiDisk, will FCP 5.1.2 be able to remove the pulldown, or can it only remove pulldown from P2 media?

I will never use a CitiDisk again (for a variety of reasons), but I’m wondering if the FireStore FS-100 is much better (for example, can the FS-100 record in the P2 MXF format the way that the P2 cards do?).

I will indeed dive into the CinemaTools manual. My previous experience with CinemaTools has been with film workflows, where I performed the following steps:

1.) import telecine FLEX file into CinemaTools database
2.) generate batch capture list for Final Cut Pro
3.) capture footage in Final Cut Pro
4.) “connect” clips in CinemaTools database to captured video footage
5.) perform batch reverse telecine, resulting in 24p video

I have never used CinemaTools on video-based 23.98 material before, and I have also never had to manually identify the A-frames. So maybe I’ve been using it incorrectly?

– Jordan