[Tim Mclaughlin]

Thanks Paul, I’ll give that a shot tomorrow…

Tim McLaughlin
Final Cut and Avid Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Jeremy – I don’t want to edit the clips on the card, I just want to select specific clips to export.

Let’s say there’s 150 clips on a P2 card image, but I only need to give someone 50 of them.

That is what I want to do – but leave the files in their original P2 (mxf?) format, with the original metadata and timecode, etc. Not a quicktime.

The last time someone gave me clips from PCMS, every clip they gave me was a separate P2 card! If I had been doing this in Avid, I would have shot someone.

So, am I missing something? Can PCMS select individual P2 clips and build a new P2 card image?

Tim McLaughlin
Final Cut and Avid Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Yeah – that’s kind of what it’s looking like.

I’m just sending them the P2 card images for now…

I’m truly surprised that no one has come up with software to do this.

—
Tim McLaughlin
Final Cut and Avid Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Individual clips are required, as is retaining the original timecode.

Not an option for me.

Tim

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Stay away from Compressor for deinterlacing. It’s not a very good job and takes FOREVER.

My best conversions have been with JES deinterlacer.

Take your 29.97 interlaced footage, dump it into JES, and blend the fields. Goes in as 30i, comes out as 30p.

Now take the new 30p footage and run that through Compressor (with Frame controls set to better or best) to make the 29.97 to 23.98 conversion.

A bit of a workaround but looks great in the end.

Only downside – totally destroys your timecode from the original source.

[Tim Mclaughlin]

FWIW – Audacity did a fairly good job. But I’ll have to check on those plug ins.

And yeah – if you don’t pitch-shift, everyone sounds like Alvin-chipmunk’s little step-cousin. Slightly faster, and the music is a much quicker tempo.

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Okay folks – here’s what I’ve learned:

Step 1:
Dupe the file in question and label as “25fps”.
Otherwise, Cinema Tools will “conform” over your existing 23.98 file.

Step 2:
Use Cinema Tools to conform the file to 25fps. This will translate the file to 25fps, slightly speeding up the file (roughly 4 %). A slight change in pitch can be noticeable, depending on content.

Step 3: (not required, but I recommend it)
Use QT Pro to export a 48k AIFF of the newly conformed file. Load the AIFF into Audacity (or your choice of audio editor) and pitch-shift the file to play 4% slower. Export this new file with a “pitch” tag in the file name for the sake of sanity. Audacity did a surprisingly clean conversion, I was very happy.

Step 4:
Run the conformed QT (and pitch-shifted AIFF) through Compressor. Load ’em into DVDSP and make your new PAL DVD.

Now admittedly, this is not the work flow for everyone. Many would argue that it would be best to pitch-shift the audio file before conforming, etc. And in checking with some of my European resources, I’ve been told that many programs aren’t adjusted for pitch, they simply run with the 23.98 to 25 conversion and are done with it.

Also, conforming this way does speed up your video about 4% (ie: a 100 min program is only 96 min log after conforming).

However, with this method, a frame is mapped to a frame. You are making a true 25p DVD, no frame-blending, no interlacing. And by adjusting the pitch of the audio AFTER the conform, you won’t need to worry about audio sync issues – the file duration is still the same, you’re merely pitching it a bit.

Conforming is near-instantaneous. And exporting and pitching the audio takes only a couple of minutes.

Without jumping through a bunch of hoops, this is a very quick an easy way to get your HD content to PAL-land.

Tim McLaughlin
Avid and Final Cut Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

So what is the “poor man’s” version of the best processors available?

Tried both Soundtrack Pro and Audacity. Both were able to adjust “tempo” without adjusting pitch, but fell out of sync quickly – so something is off with the math there.

Anyone have a “tried-and-true” percentage for fixing this?

And do PAL viewers really watch “The Dark Knight” 4% faster than the rest of the world? I think the director would be kinda ticked about that.

Tim McLaughlin
Avid and Final Cut Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Gary smacked Tim with:
Where did you get that rubbish?

Tim rubs back of head and replies:
From the rubbish bin?

Seriously, on the AJA site, if you look at the Kona 3 page – Final Cut Studio 2 is mentioned everywhere.

(Snip)
Most users run multiple applications to create their video projects. So, in addition to Final Cut Pro support, the KONA Desktop feature allows broadcast design elements to be viewed with the proper aspect ratio and color depth on a broadcast monitor via the KONA card. KONA Desktop supports Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Motion, Apple Shake, Discreet Combustion and more.
(End snip)

I’m very glad to be wrong, but you would think that they would be making a bigger deal out of Premiere Pro support. Like on the main splash page. Right under the jpeg of the Kona 3 would be a nice place.

Again – glad to be wrong! I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with PP!

Thanks Gary!

Tim McLaughlin
FinalCut and Avid Editor

[Tim Mclaughlin]

Thanks Shane, Jeremy.

Still adjusting to the new workflows…

Good to know that there’s a way out.

Shane – when digitizing SD (with pulldown) and converting to HD in Compressor (DVCProHD 24p) – are you using the reverse telecine, or just a straight deinterlace?

Thanks again guys!

Tim McLaughlin
Avid and Final Cut Editor