Sean Oneil
Forum Replies Created
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I think you should create new 23.98 media then. Put the footage on a 23.98 sequence (like discussed before) and make the sequence’s timecode match that of the clip. So if the clip starts at 01:00:00:00, make the sequence start at the same. Don’t worry if the timebase is different (one is 24 the other 60). The seconds will still match up and that’s fine.
Then export Quicktime Movie, self-contained. Import that new file back into Final Cut. You now have 23.98 footage. Problem solved.
Sean
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[rose glandfield] “The sequence has a timebase of 23.98, and the bulk of the footage is shot at that rate, the problematic stuff is the extra footage I’ve captured at 59.94 and the Pal / 25 P footage.
At the moment, I’ve just captured both the Pal and HDCam as DV Pal and am able to edit them straight into my sequence at that frame rate – do these and the 59.94 need converting before I transfer the project or will the frame rate be converted simply by dropping them into the sequence?
“Putting the PAL footage in a 23.98 sequence is fine. FCP 6 automatically will slow it down for you. You’ll know this is happening if you see a green bar within the audio clips. Personally I like to conform it first in Cinema Tools, but it doesn’t really matter.
I’m a little unclear about the 59.94. Was that footage actually shot at 59.94, or was it shot at 23.98 like the other stuff but you accidentally captured at 59.94? I’m assuming it’s the latter, right?
Sean
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[rose glandfield] “I was imagining reconforming at a facility with all the equipment would be the best plan. Would a better idea perhaps be to transfer the project with media to a FCP set up in a facility”
I think that would be a good idea. An EDL/Avid online is going to take longer and be more expensive. The online editor would have to re-create all your effects.
I didn’t realize you had so many tape formats and didn’t have the decks for them. Regardless, 23.98 footage needs to be edited at 23.98. Regardless of whether or not you will end up outputting a 60p tape or EDL.
As for your PAL footage. That can be a much more complicated situation. Are you capturing it at 25fps and slowing it down from 25 to 23.98 in Cinema Tools? Or did you have the tapes converted to NTSC? The latter option could cause problems.
Sean
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[rose glandfield] “The timebase for the sequence is set to 23.98. It’s greyed out and wouldn’t allow me to change it even if I wanted to! Is that right? “
You can only change the timebase when the sequence is empty.
[rose glandfield] “So that being the case, is it safe to edit the 59.94 footage straight into this timeline unconverted without causing any horrible repercussions when the conform happens?”
What are you conforming to? Are you going to send an EDL to an online facility and have them re-capture it all? That’s not the way to do a DVCProHD workflow. That’s old-school. Total waste of time and money. You’ve already captured it at the highest quality possible.
[rose glandfield] “that the source timecode of the 23.98 clips within the sequence are in a 60fps format with numbers skipped in 2/3 frame “
This is normal behavoir. It’s a good thing. It lets you work with 23.98 while maintaining the original timecode format that exists on the tape.
Sean
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It’s not just a matter of being 64-bit. My (small) understanding of it is that FCP is based on an old programming language called Carbon. While Compressor, Motion, etc. all use the newer one called Cocoa.
Other than “under the hood” changes to make it run faster, I can’t think of a whole lot more they can do with it. Only little things (which can be really important to some) like a ProRes 4:4:4 codec for example. Or a ProRes Extreme which is a true lossless codec. Automatic pulldown detection/removal would be great (seamlessly edit 29.97 film footage on a 23.98 sequence). Apple did file a patent for this kind of technology.
Quicktime needs to be updated so that it can render RGB in 10-bit.
Scaling quality in the Motion tab should be 2nd to none, not 2nd to everything else.
As for FCS as whole, I’m very disappointed in the lack of integration. I find myself avoiding the other apps (Soundtrack, Motion, Color) like the plague. If I can do it in FCP, I will just for the simplicity and non-destructive media managing aspects.
Sean
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[rose glandfield] “Also, I’ve noticed that in sequence settings, your choice in terms of DVCPRO HD 720p compressor is limited to 50 / 60 fps, no 23.98”
You need to make one then. Duplicate a 60fps one, change the timebase to 23.98. When you paste your clips into this new timeline, do not have it automatically change settings to match the media (the new feature in FCP6).[rose glandfield] “even though the editing timebase is set to 23.98, all the 23.98 footage currently in my timeline when you look at frame by frame is actually 59.94 with pulldown anyway! “
That’s not possible. If the timebase of a sequence is 23.98, you will only have 24 frames per second when you jog through frame by frame in the timeline. If you are looking at source timecode, the TC format will still be 60. But notice how numbers are being skipped as you jog through it.
I can’t say for certain whether or not FCP will choose the proper frames to remove (if not than this won’t work), but the video will without a doubt be 24 not 60.
Sean
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Copy and paste your sequence on to a new sequence that is set for 23.98 Varicam. Final Cut should recognize the duplicate frames and give you a clean 23.98 frame rate.
You could also try the Panasonic frame rate converter tool.
Sean
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One other thing. With OSX Tiger, having persistently mounted network drives was a total pain in the ass. With Leopard you don’t that problem anymore. So if you go into “System Prefs -> Accounts -> Login Items” you just drag your mounted network drive into that list and it will automatically mount it every time you restart your machine.
Also, should a network drive become unavailable, on Tiger it would cause all the connected machines to freeze up for like a minute. Leopard fixed that problem too.
Sean
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Jason,
I hate to rain on everyone’s parade, but I can assure you that purchasing a SAN, given your situation, is a bad idea and probably a big waste of money at this point in time.
You have 3 people, working with a compressed format (DVCProHD). You don’t need a SAN, nor do you want the hassles of a SAN.
This is what you do. Get a used Mac G5 and buy a quad-port ethernet card for it from Small Tree and install it:
https://www.small-tree.com/login_sendpass.aspThen buy a regular SATA array, like from one of the vendors you see advertised here, and set it up on the G5. Connect each of your 3 client Macs, giving each one it’s own ethernet port. Give them IP address, and make sure all 3 have different subnets (192.168.XXX.0 – “XXX” is the subnet) so they can’t see each other. Anyone with minor networking skills can help you with this.
Make sure filesharing is on, and you’ll find that all 3 clients have a very fast connection to the same SATA array all at the same time.
I promise you, that is all you need and it will cost you less than $5k. People will tell you the problems with regular file sharing vs. a SAN. However, a setup like what I described addresses these problems by having such drastically higher specs than what you require. A single ethernet port provides 10-times as much bandwith required for a DVCProHD stream. And by not using a switch, you get an even cleaner path. You can also improve performance by turning on Jumbo Frames.
Sean
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[Dominik Bochenski] “If I use your method, won’t that mean that my scenes play back faster and show more of each shot?”
No it doesn’t. “Modify-Timecode” doesn’t change the frame rate or the playback speed. All it does is change the timecode format. It’s just like changing drop-frame to non-drop frame. The video is not altered at all.
This isn’t some weird theory. I do this all the time.
I understand your confusion on how this works. It tough to explain. Trying it out is the best way. Take a 23.98 clip that came from Cinema Tools. Use “Modify Timecode” and change the timecode format from 24 to 30. Now jog through the clip in the viewer or a timeline and watch the source TC numbers. You will then understand 100% what I’m talking about, and you will then realize how you can now reconnect to your 29.97 sequence while using 23.98 footage and everything will match up and your edited piece will now playback at 23.98 (after you copy and paste it to a 23.98 sequence that is).
Sean