[Ron Craig]

If you acted on my first advice, please re-read my post. The i.link setting should be OFF. (If it’s on it will convert HDV to DV.)

— Ron

[Ron Craig]

(This post is edited… I changed a bit of incorrect advice that I included in the first post.)

I don’t have the manual or the deck in front of me but, as I recall, it says to turn off the unit and/or unplug the firewire cable after changing the settings. Then plug back in and the new settings will take effect. Try that between your setting changes.

Again, I’m not at the deck now but I believe the settings that work for me are:

HDV 108i
HDV/DV SEL -> HDV
ilink conv -> OFF
A/V -> DV Out -> OFF

[Ron Craig]

It has to do with the invention of color tv, not kidding.

Yeah, I figured it must be essentially the same as 30 vs 29.97 (Caused, as I recall, by the slightly longer time it took to scan a frame or field in color vs B&W, or something like that.)

I’ll just continue treating 60 and 59.94 as the same thing. I guess that’s safe.

Thanks again.

[Ron Craig]

Thanks for taking the time, Jeremy. At least it’s all working!

Now I’ll go research the difference between 60 and 59.94.

Have a good day.

— Ron

[Ron Craig]

Well, it took me a few reads but I think I got it. Here’s one remaining question that I couldn’t figure out from your detailed response:

When my cameraman is shooting his Panasonic HDX 900 camera and recording on Firestore, the readout on the Firestore screen shows the format as 60p. But when I bring that material in to FCP, it shows up in the browser as 29.97. I understand from your explanation HOW that can happen, due to the rp188 frame flagging, interpreted by FCP. But I don’t understand WHY it happens. Since the video is actually recorded at 60p I would expect it to import at that frame rate (or 59.94). I’m doing nothing that I know of to specify that I want a conversion to 29.97 but that’s what is showing in the browser. Can you tell me why? Actually, that frame rate is fine with me but I’d like to understand why it’s happening.

[Ron Craig]

Hi Jeremy,

Your analysis is close. The frame rate is probably the source of this. I shoulda thought of that. The tapeless files are 29.97. By your equation my HDV files should be just 2 times larger than the tapeless. So I guess there is another factor at work, as well.

I’ve never understood why the Kona 3 doesn’t offer an option to import 720p footage at 29.97. What’s the deal with that? Seems strange to me.

[Ron Craig]

If you want to be able to properly log your HDV tapes, you need to use a deck with RS-422 serial control and SDI or HDMI output and connect it to a capture card with SDI or HDMI input.

Well, that’s not the only way to “properly” do it. My way is similar but not exactly the same. I use a small Sony clamshell HDV deck with component out. I convert the component signal to SDI with an AJA mini-converter and import that signal to FCP through an AJA Kona 3 card. Machine control is via firewire, not RS-422. Log and capture with timecode.

[Ron Craig]

I had to wait three minutes for that answer! Can’t you be any faster, Kevin?! Good idea. Thanks very much. Although I have used Streamclip in the past I rarely work with mpeg so I didn’t think of it. And I didn’t know it could do ProRes. Much appreciated!

[Ron Craig]

Final thought on this: The technical, post production aspects of this have been addressed here. But this problem raises the CRITICAL issue of planning a green screen shoot in advance. The on-camera talent must be informed in advance about clothing restrictions. And you have to use a crew who knows how to light and shoot a green screen. There is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Advance preparation for those shoots is a must. Fixing something like this in post is a real time-waster.

[Ron Craig]

I’m sorry that I can’t answer your basic question regarding the garbage matte points because I don’t work with them. But as for your timeline needing rendering, here’s my suggestion:

Make sure that your Easy Setup is accurate for your video material.
Create a new sequence.
Drag one clip of your material onto the sequence. If the Easy Setup is correct (that determines the sequence settings), the clip should go onto the sequence without needing rendering. If the clip and sequence don’t match, FCP will ask you if you want to have the sequence settings adjusted to match your clip. Answer “yes.” Then your footage shouldn’t need rendering in that sequence.

Remember that all projects open with one active sequence. If you change the settings on Easy Setup that will NOT change the settings on that first sequence. You have to delete that one. All succeeding sequences will have settings that match your Easy Setup.