[Peter Hadfield]

Ok. Good. I’m getting somewhere.

Now, is it necessary to convert my 24.0 clips to 29.97 first with the 2:2:2:4 pulldown, and then change the pulldown to 3:2, or can I go straight from 24.0 with no pulldown to 29.97fps with the 3:2?

I’ve been following these steps to get a 3:2 pulldown:
1. In FCP, select your sequence then choose FILE > SEND TO > COMPRESSOR. Or you can export your sequence to a video or reference video then open that in Compressor.

2. In Compressor, select your video then right click and choose NEW TARGET WITH SETTING > APPLE > FORMATS > QUICKTIME > APPLE PRORES 422 (HQ). Or pick whatever codec you like to work with.

3. Click on that newly created compression setting to open it in the Inspector window. Click the Encoder tab. Click the Video: (Settings…) button. Make the frame rate 29.97. Check the interlaced box. Set it’s drop down menu to Bottom field first. Click OK.

4. Click the Frame Controls tab. Set Frame Controls to On. Set Output Fields to Bottom first. Leave Deinterlace on Fast. Leave Adaptive Details checked. Leave Rate Conversion set to Fast. Leave the Set Duration to: on 100% and make sure it’s radio button is selected and NOT the “so source frames play at 29.97 fps” button.

5. Make changes to the Filters or Geometry sections as needed. Those settings listed above are the ones critical to getting the proper 3:2 pulldown added.

6. Submit the compression, then bring the resulting video back into Final Cut Pro. Place it in a 29.97 timeline and make sure you watch it on an NTSC monitor to verify that it looks good. If you step through it frame-by-frame you should see the familiar pattern of 2 split/interlaced frames followed by 3 whole frames. This is a very important step. I tried many solutions that looked OK playing back on the computer monitor, but looked terrible on the NTSC monitor.

I saw you had commented on this thread and said that compressor can do a good job “if you set it up correctly”. Are those steps correct for a 3:2 pulldown?

Jeremy, you’ve been a HUGE help.
Thank you very much,
Peter

[Peter Hadfield]

“Your 24.0 clips should NOT have any pulldown. ”
Oh, ok.

So, converting my 24.0 clip to 29.97 gave it a 2:2:2:4 pulldown, because that’s default for FCP. So that’s why I have to change the pulldown on the 29.97 clip to 3:2 in Compressor, correct?

[Peter Hadfield]

Hi Jeremy,

Forgive me if I’m a little slow to catch on to this, but I think I’m beginning to grasp the concept.

My 24.0 clips had a 2:2:2:4 pulldown (I could tell because the 4th and 5th frame were the same), and changing the frame rate to 29.97 didn’t change the pulldown, so when I put the 29.97 clip into a 1080i29.97 sequence (which is the same frame rate) and exported a same as source quicktime, I got a quicktime with a 29.97 frame rate and a 2224 pulldown. So the reason there are synch issues with the audio is because I’m delivering a 1080i29.97 clip with a 2:2:2:4 pulldown when the pulldown should be 3:2. Correct?

I’ve followed the steps I found in another forum to convert my 24.0 clip to 29.97 with a 3:2 pulldown, so I’m going to do some tests to see if that will solve the issue.

Thanks,
Peter

[Peter Hadfield]

Hi Jeremy,

I searched 3:2 pulldown in Compressor and found a thread that provided some information about 3:2 pulldowns on 24p video.

So, if I follow these steps, I can give my 24.0 clips a 3:2 pulldown, correct?

– import 24p footage to Compressor
– apply Quicktime encoding profile (usually ProRes 422 or Uncompressed)
– in Encoder tab of inspector, click Settings button and under Motion, change frame rate to 29.97
– in Frame Controls tab of inspector, turn frame controls ON, set output fields to lower, select “Fast (Nearest Frame)” for rate conversion, duration is 100% of source
– render

But once I put that converted 29.97 clip into a 1080i29.97 sequence and export it, I won’t be doing a proper conform, so will Final Cut give the 1080i29.97 clip a 2:2:2:4 pulldown again? Would I have to put the 29.97 clip into compressor and follow the same steps as above but set the frame rate to 59.94? Or maybe I could just do that in the first place?

Thanks for the help. I’m learning a lot!
Peter

[Peter Hadfield]

Will converting a 24.0 quicktime to a 29.97 quicktime in compressor give it the 3:2 pulldown? Or are there different settings I have to give compressor to make that happen?

I got my 24.0 version and my 1080i29.97 version to synch up by converting the 24.0 version to 29.97 first, then exporting it as 1080i29.97. Does that step give the video a 3:2 pulldown?

The people I’m delivering to say that the way to tell I have the wrong pulldown is every 5th frame will be a still. Does that still mean I have a 2:2:2:4 pulldown?

Thanks for your attention Jeremy. I appreciate the help very much.

Peter

[Peter Hadfield]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for helping with some of my questions.

If it’s a frequency problem, how do I go about fixing that? All I really need to do is make sure that my 59.94i version synchs up to my 29.97 version.

I’m editing in 24.0 because I’m editing animation, and it seems the animators can only do 24.0, and I don’t really have the time to convert hundreds of 24.0 animation clips to 23.98fps.

Why does Final Cut do a 2224 pulldown? How can I make it do a proper 3:2?

The first thing I tried to do was export a same as source quicktime from my 24.0 sequence, then I put that in my 1080i29.97 sequence and did another same as source quicktime. I’m cutting the whole show in 24.0 on my end, it’s just the audio post guys want 29.97.

I got the 1080i29.97 version and PhotoJPG 29.97 version to synch up, but if Final Cut is doing a 2224 that won’t help me.

[Peter Hadfield]

I had a 3:2 pulldown at first, but there was a synch issue between the mixed audio that was done off of a 29.97 PhotoJPG version of the show and the 1080i29.97 3:2 pulldown I gave them of the locked visual. The guys at the post house seem to think a 2:3:3:2 pulldown would fix that problem.

The broadcaster needs a 59.94fps version, and I guess they want 29.97 versions to mix off of because 29.97 is easily compatible with 59.94i? I didn’t know that Final Cut’s 59.94i is shown as 1080i29.97 at first, but I got over that hurdle.

I think if I set FCP to 2:3:3:2 in the system settings, convert the 24p video to 23.98fps, then put it into a 1080i29.97 sequence and export a same as source quicktime that might do the trick. What do you think?

[Peter Hadfield]

Hi Jerry,

I discovered yesterday if I render 4-5 clips (quicktimes from flash 8) at a time I don’t get the general error. I thought at first that the quicktimes were corrupt due to the downgrade in flash versions, but the fact that they can render that leads me to believe that the exports from Flash 8 aren’t the problem.

I’m running FCP on a G4 that is running Tiger with 1GB of ram. Could the lack of processing power be part of the problem?

Thanks,
Peter