[Raju Bhai]

OK, i am using MPEG Streamclip for this. And all footage shot on Canon 5D with 23.98 frame rate. I’m not looking to conserve hard disk space. Instead, I’m looking for best quality. That being said, I am transcoding to regular “apple prores 422”

i have 3 specific questions:

1- How do i know if it is progressive or not? If progressive, then i deselect all the interlacing options on the right in MPEG streamclip, but what is the difference between progressive and non-progressive?

2 – Also, in item properties for my raw footage it shows all my files as 23.98, so i imagine i should type 23.98 for frame rate rather than 24 in MPEG Streamclip, is that correct? also i guess i will keep “Better Downscaling” deselected since i don’t even know what that means and it’s probably something i don’t want.

3- The field dominance in my FCP7 sequence is set to “none.” But on MPEG Streamclip it gives me only two options, either “upper” or “lower field first.” Which one should i select?

Awaiting your replies, thanks again!

[Raju Bhai]

thanks Rafael!

can i just chuck out my renders folder, since i will be re-rendering everything over again anyway?

[Raju Bhai]

OK i checked the properties of every clip on the timeline and there are about 4 clips with a 25 fps vid rate!
The rest are all 23.98. So i can delete the offending clips and import the corresponding prores files and place them where those clips were. I will have to re-select the edit points but for just 4 clips, that won’t be so hard. But then i will probably still have the gaps in my video and have to extend each clip a frame. But if i instead start with my old timeline where everything is h264 and i delete just these 4 clips and then reconnect the remaining clips to their coressponding prores files, is it possible that i won’t get any gaps?
Please let me know.

Also, i’m not sure if i have the best sequence settings for apple prores edit. My setting currently are:
1920 x 1080 (as are the original raw files)
aspect ratio: HDTV 1080i (16:9)
pixel aspect ratio: square
field dominance: none
editing timebase: 23.98 (the original raw files are all 23.98)

video processing: Render in 8-bit YUV

[Raju Bhai]

well, the problem with the 1 frame gaps is that this is a music video and it needs to sync perfectly with the audio track. Also, the in and out points on each clip are very precise and alot of thought and time went into it, so if i have to change the in an out points of each clip on the timeline, if even by one frame, it changes the edit.

I was hoping there would be a way that i wouldn’t have to close the gaps, that if i just remove any trace of h264 clips in the timeline as well as browser and rectified the settings the right way, then the gaps would disappear and i wouldn’t have to go in and close them manually and thereby mess with the edit.

[Raju Bhai]

yeah i think you may be right, thanks.
I’m not sure how i am going to do this. i spent several months editing this with the clips as h.264. I don’t want to have to recut this whole thing again. It definitely looks far better with apple prores.
If i create a new fresh sequence, how do i import my old timeline into it? In other words, the h.264 timeline is perfect. But now the apple prores timeline is messed up with the gaps inbetween. When i delete the few h.264 clips from the prores timeline, the gaps still remain.
Any ideas?

[Raju Bhai]

yes i checked and the transcoded files are all at the same 23.98 frame rate.

The only difference between the original raw files and the prores files besides the originals being h.264 is that the data rate on the originals are smaller mbits/sec while the PRORES files are bigger mbits/sec. I don’t know what the data rate means, but perhaps that is normal? Each clip by the way has a different data rate.

PLease let mw know what else I can check to see why the single blank frame insertions between clips on the timeline is happening, thanks.

[Raju Bhai]

OK thanks for troubleshooting this with me Spencer, i reposted the question, hopefully someone will be able to identify the problem.

[Raju Bhai]

Yes they are both 23.98, raw as well.
What else could possibly cause this insertion of a blank frame between clips?

[Raju Bhai]

Hi Spencer, it seems like that would be the case. However, the original footage is in 23.98. And when i check my sequence settings, it shows the timebase as 23.98 as well. So in that respect it should line up, no?

[Raju Bhai]

ok thanks!

i would much prefer to keep editing and not break my creative flow, and save the media conversion of all the clips in my timeline until the end. My only concern was that I keep editing and then find when i’m done that reconnecting creates more problems than it solves and then i end up having to edit my entire video from scratch again. But hopefully that won’t happen.
So, just to make sure i understand how to do this, when i’m done editing, i will batch convert all my source clips to apple high quality prores. Then I will goto my timeline in FCP and reconnect all the clips, locating the folder in which all the prores files are at.
Should I change the sequence settings to match the prores codec before or after reconnecting to the prores format?
And will this order of things give me the best possible image quality? there should be no degradation of the video from the original Canon 5d footage.
please let me know
thanks in advance,
-raju