[Michael Gissing]

25fps in many Australian cinemas caused problems. Many cinemas were only reliable with interop 24fps.

The freeware I found is on my PC and I’m online on my Linux laptop at the moment. I’ll check it tomorrow when I’m in the studio.

EDIT. I’m pretty sure it’s the one Bouke linked – Ext2Fsd

[Michael Gissing]

Bill I suspect you got lucky. I went through the same situation with lots of cinemas across Australia and offered to email them freeware to be able to read ext2/3 disks on their PCs. Not one took up the offer or fixed their problem.

In the end I just sent two drives – ext and NTFS. Oh and the other thing is if you get the drive back they nearly always failed to return the cable so I ended up sending 128gig thumb drives. Honestly cinemas are not fulfilling their end of the technical bargain that is promised in having a DCP specification both with drive formats and frame rate compliance. And their capacity to offer tech support is poor hence the simple message “It didn’t work” when they can’t meet spec and you have to fix it without any proper tech feedback. Frankly if a cinema needs to be told not only are they failing to comply but are also failing to respond and fix their problem then I have little faith that this will get easier.

[Michael Gissing]

All your files are actually 24 not 23.976 (or 23.98 as FCP calls it)? And your timeline is also exactly 24 too?

If any files are flagged as 23.98 by Cinema Tools you can change their metadata to 24 if that is the issue.

[Michael Gissing]

[Nick Ryan] “It is just the first node causing the softening.”

You will have to check everything to see what is the cause. Personally I would rather not have too many adjustments per node so sorting out issues like this is easier. Check an OFX plugin like gaussian blur has not been accidentally applied. The blur settings also have sharpen and mist as options so toggle through them just in case you have applied mist but not blur. Check that you are not resizing in that node as well.

Timelines are not codec based. They are pixel aspect based so you are correct. Only your final exports are codec based.

[Michael Gissing]

Are you turning all nodes off and then turning each one on by itself? Is it just one node (first node) that is causing softening?

Can you also post the sequence settings including pixel aspect, file codec settings including frame size & frame rate and also where does it appear soft? Only on the computer screen or the external monitor?

[Michael Gissing]

[Marc Wielage] “…I also generally ask clients to give us the stills as ProRes 444 files..”

I’ve used this approach before. Working on docos, I very often get the director asking to change speed or target on these shots so I also ask for the original still on a lower layer with their keyframes just in case.

[Michael Gissing]

The FCPX forum is here – https://forums.creativecow.net/fcpx

You are more likely to find answers there as this forum deals with FCP7 and earlier legacy versions.

[Michael Gissing]

Pre import the stills before loading the xml. Stills can be loaded either as an image sequence or as individual frames. On the Media page you can select which option by clicking on the three dots (top right) of the file source viewer.

I try to avoid the problem by asking editors not to use numbers on stills. If necessary rename them to get rid of numbers before editing. It is only the files with numerals in the name that are treated as image sequences by default. For people using image sequences the default behaviour is very important so it makes sense that loading stills as individuals should not be the default. But it does require pre planning or some management to import that way.

[Michael Gissing]

I’ve tried ext2 and 3. Most cinemas I have dealt with in Australia cannot read either. The DCP spec says ext3 but some say ext2 is compatible and more reliable. Either way in almost every case I dealt with NTFS was the only reliable drive format.

Considering how simple it is to read ext2 or 3 drive on a WIndows machine, I even offered to email the tiny free util that does this but the other problem is there are not real techs running the show. Usually kids who can sell tickets & popcorn and the tech people visit infrequently. So they are scared to install or just don’t know how to install a simple drive read utility.

[Michael Gissing]

[Max Hoffmann] “I ended up formatting a drive into DOD FAT and hope for the best.”

Everyone running on a Mac should do what all us PC users routinely do. Buy software that gives us the ability to read and write the other formats. On my PC I run MacDrive as many editors just bring drives in HFS+ and don’t really understand drive formatting. On Mac, as Joseph said, use Paragon to enable the Mac to read and write NTFS for Windows. This will also make life easier for editing and finishing work in Resolve anyway, even if you never make another DCP.

Hoping for the best means you are highly likely to have to get Paragon and redo it, costing time and postage. The cinema won’t change or buy the software they need so it falls to the DCP maker to manage them.