[Matt Campbell]

Tried that already. The key pulls too much white out of the subject. And would then mask out the face to leave that area alone but there’s a bunch of movement and I’d have to track it.

forgot to mention that this is people dancing in front of white cyc and will be set to music.

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Andy, been doing a little research and this appears to be a work around. Your thoughts?

Import the XDCAM EX footage via log and transfer, then use Batch Export, change settings to ProRes 422 matching frame rate and size, making self contained files and Use Item In/Out. Export files and boom, you have your ProRes files with original metadata. I’ve but these side by side in my FCP browser and it looks like all the OG timecode has been maintain. So I’m guessing you would then be able to generate a proper EDL from the edit with the ProRes files, correct? And I’m assuming that this method transcodes properly from the XDCAM interframe codec to ProRes Intraframe codec not just a rewrap.

If you use Compressor, and that does eliminate timecode like you said, thus eliminating all the metadata with it. So the XD clip that started at 1:10 and ended 1:20, now starts at 0:00 and ends at :10? Is that right or am I mixed up.

I’m hoping this method works because we’re working on an edit with other material and its all been transcoded to ProRes and finished. Now we have this XDCAM footage and want to make sure it gets trancoded properly.

Thoughts?

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Caldigit makes really nice drives and RAID set ups. Check out the RAID 5 an 6 solutions.

https://www.caldigit.com/products.asp

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Jeremy, FCP will not add in the proper pulldown unless your going to a 720p59.94 sequence. Then it adds in proper 3:2. Otherwise it adds a 4:2 cadence. AE is the best way to handle adding in pulldown. Although here is another method that Jeremy Garchow has informed me of by using Compressor. I’ve tried it and it works nicely. Especially for batching.

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1089959#1143440

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Rafael/John, thanks a bunch. I’ll stick to the Software method than and plan on using the Compressor method. But I’m guessing you would only want the Frame Controls On Best for Scaling. Because Best under Rate Conversion would redraw every frame and would not look right? Does that sound right? Using Fast would pull out the proper frames.

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

I can tell by looking at my video monitor: in a section of even fairly quick action, I step through frame by frame, and see jitter between fields if it’s interlaced. I don’t if it’s progressive.

Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind.

It CAN’T be progressive if it’s 29.97. As long as the pulldown was added AFTER editing, you can remove it using Compressor.

And, I thought so. Just wasn’t sure. Had a co-worker try and tell me otherwise. But know I showed them. haha

Compressor is a good way to create progressive from interlaced. There are better ways, such as taking the footage to a post house for hardware conversion, but be prepared to open that ol’ wallet and pull out a big wad of cash.

Cool. We also have a Content Agent, hardware encoder at my new place so I’ll try that as well. But all-in-all, Compressor has been yielding pretty good results.

you da man Dave. Thx

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Jeremy, does this hold true for 1080 23.98 footage into a 1080 29.97 sequence? And how about for SD? I know FCP/Compressor handles it correctly for 720p material, but will it not for SD and 1080?

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

You could transcode to ProRes and make them NTSC 720×480 and NTSC 720×480 Anamorphic (16:9, just like the 853×480 file). Best bet would be to re-capture if you have the tapes. Transcoding will loose a generation in quality.

Do the 640×480 files look squeezed or do they look ok? If squeezed, then there 16:9 and you can have all your footage match NTSC anamorphic. In FCP browser, import the new ProRes files, select them all, navigate to the Anamorphic column and check it.

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Sorry, another point to that is that ProRes 422 files in 1080 29.97, FCP interprets them as field dom, None. Do I trust it, or is it wrong and its interlaced material.

Just read things in the past the ProRes doesn’t always carry the correct metadata like this.

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Matt Campbell]

Thanks. Wasn’t sure if things like Media Info were any good. I do use FCP for all that, but sometimes, especially using ProRes, the metadata is wrong. More specifically the progressive vs. interlaced game.

For example, almost all 1080p 29.97 footage says it’s progressive, but it’s actually progressive segmented frame. I understand there are tiny differences between psf and interlaced footage, but it still behaves like interlaced footage. So: is it interlaced, or is it progressive? Tough call.

I hear that. thx. Is there a way to tell by stepping through if its 29.97psf or 29.97i (23.98 with 3:2 pulldown) Or can that be progressive as well. All in terms of broadcast of course.

My issue is that when pulling 1080 broadcast spots from our library (only the 29.97 ones), we want to use progressive stuff for web. I can’t tell if its 29.97 interlaced or PSF. So do I remove the pulldown and conform to 23.98 with AE or Cinema Tools or just try and deinterlace with Compressor? Or simply encode as 29.97 and pray it looks good?

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD