[Peter Von puttkamer]

We regularly produce award-winning wildlife/nature/travel shows for all the major global TV networks. I’ve just had DIscovery International turn down the EX1/EX3 for A Camera acquisition. Anything under 50mb- they won’t accept. Ex1 can be used for B camera use- 15-20% total of your show only. I’ve tried nano-flash on my 100mb HDX-900 camera, but frankly can’t see the difference at 220mb vs 100mb- even in tight macro, fine detail shooting. I’m told you can only see differences on a scope- once you go over 100mb. Doesn’t seem worth the thousands of dollars for the nano-flash. Tried the Canon 5D for some insert shots and dramatic recreations. It does not work well in bright, outdoor/wide shooting at all- and highlights look very blown out. You need a proper full-sized ENG camera 2/3″, 100mb at least, to meet the demands of the international TV networks- delivery specs.

[Peter Von puttkamer]

SOLUTION FOR CANON 5D into FINAL CUT. There is a SEAMLESS way of importing this material now in FCP. CANON has produced a plug-in for Canon 5D- it works perfectly. Make sure you have a CF card reader (they cost $25.-). Go to this Canon USA link:
https://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_5d_mark_ii

Select Drivers and Software, then select your operating system. Say it’s Mac OS X- the
4th plug-in down is called EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro.
Download onto your editing-system computer. Plug in your CF card into the reader and plug the USB into the computer. Now select Log and Transfer. All your shots come up automaticaly. Just select the clips you want to transfer. This plug in smoothly and quickly transfers all files into apple pro res at full hd. There is no other conversion required. It’s done. And it’s not choppy. Scenes/files play perfectly. Good luck!

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Yes thanks Kevin- I’ve found a great solution online- using compressor as you too suggest: for anyone interested- this is a foolproof method to convert 60i footage into 24p (this was HDCAM footage). Thanks again.

1. import what ever 60i clip into Compressor

2. Add a desired setting to the clip (this will determine the format of the compressed footage, so make sure it’s what you want to work with in you sequence). This can be done by right clicking or drag ‘n drop from the settings pane

3. Make sure the new setting is selected on the clip and look to the Inspector pane. There are six small icons, each indicating options to include in your encode.

4. The second icon from the left is Encoder tab. Click it, and click the “Settings” button beside video

5. In the settings you’ll have the option to change the frame rate. You can select 24 from the drop down menu or you can also select custom and type in 23.976 (this may help for video preview in FCP). You also need to ensure that the footage will become progress rather than interlaced. Once your settings are in order click OK.

6. The next icon over is Frame Controls, which holds the keys to success in frame rate conversion. In this tab, you’ll need to first enable frame controls by clicking the small cog button and selecting “on” in the drop down menu. The options below are now enabled.

7. The first menu only matters if you are resizing the footage. The next option down allows you to decide how you want to reorder the fields (two fields per frame) in your footage. For this method you’ll want to select progressive.

8. The next option is Deinterlace. You’ll want to select “Best (Motion compensation)” This will increase the amount of time it takes to compress, but it’s a very intelligent method and will keep your footage looking sharp.

9.Hop on down to the Rate Conversion drop down menu, and select “Best (High Quality motion compensation)” This will also dramatically increase the compression time, but we’re interested in quality, well worth the wait.

10. Back up to the icons, click the next one over, which is Filters. There are many option that can be enabled and adjusted. Scroll down to Deinterlace, enable it, and choose the “Sharp” Algorithm. You might also want to scroll down and enable “Sharpen Edge.” You can select a frame in the preview window and adjust the “Sharpen Edge” filter to taste.

11. That’s about it. Now if you feel like you’ll use this preset again, go ahead and save it in your custom settings.

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks- that’s great. Yes I just did 3:2 removal for some HDV 108024p footage we captured- got a good description of how to do it through compressor- it looks great. So if I capture at 72060p- then (don’t convert in Cinema motion) go thru COmpressor- up res to 1080 or even just 720 23.98 – it should work…?

Pvp

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks Sean- that’s great advice. Yes we are using apple pro res 422 HQ codec- it’s 10 bit, so I’ve heard it referred to as a “lossless” codec. I’ve done some tests using compressor- up-res to 1080 for the slo mo shots and didn’t notice a huge quality difference. So your advice to let FCP do the scaling- sounds like the one to go with.

So the main issue now- is best solution for running 720 60p shots at “normal” speed- in 1080 23.98;
An up-res through the Aja Kona 3 Card- selecting 72060p Primary Videoformat in, then which one of the 1080 formats? They have 1080p23.98 and 1080 sf23.98 (there’s also 1080p24) and 1080sf24)- which one would give the smoothest results for up-rezing and converting from 72060p, please….

Thanks again.

Peter

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Ok thanks a lot Sean. Just got back online- and saw your message.

So we are producing a show shot on HDX-900 Panasonic cameras(DVCPRO HD) at 1080 24p.
We are delivering an uncompressed sequence- 1080 23.98psf, on HDCAM to the tv network.
We have mastered in Apple Pro Res 422 HQ- and this codec has now even been accepted by
Discovery HD- who are very very fussy about what they accept.

We shot some scenes- designed for Slo-mo- at 72060p- I originally captured those at 720p
-figuring I needed to be in that mode to engage the Cinema Tools conform to 23.98 feature- to
get perfect slo-mo. It looks very good. It’s just when I went into the sequence, I noticed it had
blown up everything in the timeline- to 150%- that can’t be ideal. Ideally, we should be able to
up-res to 1080 first, then do the conversion to 23.98- in Cinema Tools conform. Shouldn’t we?
In the AJA/kona 3 control – I only see 72060- to 108023.98 psf- but I don’t think that will create the slo-mo, we’re looking for…just an up-convert. So how do we handle this?

Also, as I said, a few shots need to be running at normal speed (without weird jumpy look)- at 1080 23.98 (from the 72060p original). How do we do this- for best results.

Is there a optimum setting in the Panasonic 1400 deck- that allows the deck to actually do the up-convert? thanks.

Peter

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks Sean. I take it you’re referring to – getting my 72060p- to play at a normal looking speed at 1080 23.98. Do you know which is the best one to select on the AJA control panel?

Also, if I do ingest that way- how about the shots that I do want to slomo? I used to use Cinema tools conform from 72060p to 1080 23.98- perfect slo mo. But it still requires a blow up on the sequence by 150%- how do you handle this, please?

Thanks
Peter

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks for the information. Well, I’ve been having trouble coming up with a clean- effective workflow for the Sony V1U camera footage shot at 1080 24p (not pA)- which we are using as a “C” Cam on our HD broadcast production. We are editing on an HD 1980 x 1080 23.98 sequence on FCP. All the VIU footage comes in looking jerky on the timeline- so we have not perfected a way to use CINEMA Tools to remove the pulldown from the camera. It seems to be trial and error to come up with the perfect setup to do the Reverse Telecine. We are even tryiing to load using a convergent design box- HDMI to SDI- thru the Kona Card to achieve the best picture- which has not been looking all that great either. It looks best on an HD monitor straight out of the camera via the analogue component to SDI cable; but we have not been able to reproduce that smooth look on the FCP time line.

Douglas on this HDV forum suggested, I use Sony Vegas to import – 1080 24p off the V1U- as it’s SONY- I figured they may have a better handle on this codec. Now I just have to get this .mxf footage back into FCP- which apparently can be done. Thought it was worth a try…

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Cool…that’s a very detailed and helpful answer; I will definitely give either or both of these methods a test run- thanks.

Just curious- how long do find it’s taking to actually burn a one hour DVD- from the HD quicktime-
thanks

Peter

[Peter Von puttkamer]

Thanks that sounds like a great way to go. So just to confirm- it will convert my 23.98 into a 29.97 for DVD- and letterbox? I”ve avoided the DVD software- because I thought it would take even longer to “cook” in the system- then say- laying a quicktime file onto the sequence and outputting via firewire deck- into a DVD recorder; I do have to output TC burn as well.

Peter