[Kathleen Carman]

A friend and I chatted back and forth about another way to do this and here is what I am trying:

1. Set up a FCP timeline with settings for ProRes 422 @ 1920×1080. Set it to interlaced, 29.97.

2. Import the SD footage into FCP and drag it into the timeline. If it currently exists as a FCP timeline, copy the timeline in the batch window and then paste the timeline into the new prores timeline as an embedded sequence.

3. They’ll say that the footage is in a different format from the timeline- do you want to change your timeline settings to match the footage. Say no.

4. This should create a small image in the center of the screen with black around it. Double click on the clip (if you use an embedded sequence, press enter to put it into the clip window- double clicking will open it as a separate timeline, and you want to make an adjustment that affects the entire clip as a single unit), and select the motion tab on the clip window.

5. Adjust the zoom so the top and bottom fill the screen. There should be black bars on the left and right, but they will be wider than the normal column-boxed format because the dv footage you have does not use square pixels, but the HD ProRes does.

6. Next, on the motion tab, there should be a pulldown called ‘Distort.’ Open the pulldown and work with the ‘Aspect Ratio’ slider to expand the image so it looks correct again. The value may (or may not) be somewhere around 33.

7. If this worked, your footage should look correct in the timeline window. Export a quicktime movie at current settings.

Going to try this today and see if it works!

[Kathleen Carman]

Thanks Tom. I was hoping there would be a no-cost solution i.e. something I could do in the settings, etc. ?

[Kathleen Carman]

Hi Chris,

Another question for you if you have a moment:

Since I can’t get a camera or deck to print the file to to give to the tape house, I’m going to be creating a multi-channel quicktime file with the 4 seperate tracks to put on a HD.

The only problem is that when I select to render to Quicktime, the box where I can select to “create a multi-channel file’ is greyed out and not selectable.

Do you know if there is a specific codec I need installed to be able to render to a multi-channel quicktime file? Or is that just not possible to do in Sony Vegas?

I’m still also struggling to figure out how to get my project which is 16:9 with a custom crop, to be 16:9 anamorphic, but I think that’s something I’ll need to quiz my DP about.

Thanks in advance, and also, do you know of anyone you’d recommend in NYC that freelances on Sony Vegas? If I can’t figure this out, I may need to hire someone to help guide me through the process.
-K

[Kathleen Carman]

Hey Chris!

Thanks again for your help.

To answer your question, yes, the distribution co. wants a digibeta of the film for duplication. A few tapehouses I called here in NYC said they could make the digibeta from a digital file, either quicktime or avi so I just need to make sure to export in the highest quality into one of those formats, with the 4 seperate tracks, to a hard drive.

They also said that if that wasn’t succesful, I could just create the 4 seperate tracks in said formats and have them reassemble in FCP or Avid and then export straight to digibeta. This isn’t as desirable though since it means more labor and higher cost, and I’d guess a loss of quality by it being 2nd generation.

I just got around to downloading the file you posted though and will read through it now…It looks like I have about a month to get this thing ready for duplication so hopefully I can straighten things out by then!

Best,
Katie

[Kathleen Carman]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for responding and explaining the process.
I think I understand now what I need to do with my Vegas project itself, in terms of making sure the elements are on their proper tracks and then bussed down to the 4 tracks needed for the output.

Now to figure out how to properly output it for them to make the digibeta! They seem to want uncompressed .avi or quicktime files made in a four-channel format. Any pointers on saving these types of files to make sure they have all 4 seperate tracks?

Thanks again!
Kathleen