Tj Ingrassia
Forum Replies Created
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I understand the limitations of the C100’s 60i wrapper. My question is about the way that FCPX is handling that 60i footage when I bring it in.
It seems there are two ways to deal with pulldown. Option 1 is to remove it on the fly as it’s being recorded, which is what the Atomos Ninja 2 does. Option 2 is to record the video as 60i then use some kind of software to do a “reverse pulldown” and extract the original 24p clip. None of BlackMagic’s hardware will do the reverse pulldown on the fly, so I’m stuck with Option 2.
If you refer to my original post, I included two screenshots of identical clips in FCPX…one of the clips came from the footage recorded internally to the SD card (as AVCHD 4:2:0) and the other came from the same clip recorded simultaneously via HDMI with the Mini Recorder (as ProRes 422). You can see that FCPX did a perfect job of “reverse pulldown” in the sense that it removed the interlacing so that the two frames are essentially identical.
My problem is that clip from the Mini Recorder seems to be at much lower quality. If you didn’t know which clip was which you’d probably get them reversed…the lower quality image looks like 4:2:0 material while the other looks like 4:2:2. So why the quality loss? I thought reverse pulldown just reorganized the fields/frames back into their original order and positions.
The 60i clip from the Mini Recorder looks very similar to the quality loss I get when I record 60i internally for the purpose of de-interlacing for slomo (the C100 doesn’t have a 720p60 mode, so I have to use the 60i work around). In the case of shooting 60i for slomo, I know to expect quality loss because each field is interpolated for purpose of creating double the frames.
So all that is really just a long way of asking this…Is there a way of doing reverse pulldown in post that maintains the same exact quality as the reverse pulldown being done on the fly by the Ninja 2?
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The BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder is a much more cost-effective solution, if I was able to get the 24p issue figured out. I’m primarily using the direct capture for green screen recordings, so I like the idea of using my MBP as a monitor. Plus I have a bunch of USB3 and Thunderbolt external drives, which I could capture directly to.
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You’re not crazy. I’ve experienced the same issue ever since switching to FCPX. When highlighting a clip or range of clips, sometimes the status bar at the bottom of the screen shows the length of that selection, other times it stays stuck on the length of the entire Project. Very annoying.
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Shotput Pro seems like a pretty good solution for backing up tapeless cards. They have a companion app called HD-VU which lets you view all the clips on a given card. However, it appears that it just shows you the raw MTS files, and doesn’t necessarily need the whole directory structure like Final Cut does.
My problem is that I need a way for our field producers to not only backup their tapeless media (that they later send to me), but also verify that the backups copied perfectly. Again, looks like Shotput Pro would solve that.
For your issue of FCP not liking the AVCHD, are you having trouble just playing back the clips in Log and Transfer, or will not even convert them to ProRes?
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I’ve tried Disk Utility, but I’m looking for a solution that works for Mac and PC. I know you can make ISO images on a PC, but I’m trying to get away from that method, it just doesn’t quite fit my workflow.
Also, on the Mac, Ive been experimenting with Automator to streamline the backup process, and Disk Utility doesn’t quite fit in that workflow.
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No, do NOT format the card. That could further impede your access to the files.
If I remember correctly, Photorescue is designed to read the card, even when your computer won\’t recognize it.
Open up Photorescue and select the card you want to recover. Depending on the size of the card, it may take several hours to run the scan. I think I did mine overnight, but I was using a 32GB card.
Once it\’s done, it should give you the option to select which files you want to save. There will be a ton of JPEGs (at least one for every clip), but you\’re looking for the .MTS files. Those are what you want to save.
Now since the AVCHD directory structure has been destroyed, you\’ll need another program to read the raw .MTS files, if you\’re on a system that can\’t read them directly (like Final Cut Pro on a Mac). I highly recommend Clip Wrap. It allows you to transcode directly to ProRes, or just re-wrap the .MTS files into a format that is readable by the system (rewrapping doesn\’t transcode or change the raw file, so you\’ve still got all your raw data).
I think that covers it. Let me know how it goes.
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After much trial and error I was able to recover the files using Photo Rescue.
I then used ClipWrap to transcode the raw MTS files into ProRes. Back in business.
I sent both my 32GB cards back to Transcend, and they sent me two new ones. We’ll see how that works out.
I love the HMC150. It’s. Been really awesome so far. Wish I could afford 3 of them.
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I have the same worries. I bought my new camera (Panasonic HMC150) and cards (2 – 32GB cards) just over a month ago. And I’ve had little issues pretty much the whole time I’ve had them. Having never really used a tapeless workflow, I wasn’t sure if that was normal, or if my equipment was faulty.
I talked with Transcend, and my cards are under warranty. I can’t send them back just yet, because I have some dance recitals I have to shoot this weekend. But come Monday morning I’m shipping both cards straight back to Transcend for new ones. Hopefully that will take care of the issue.
I’ve also noticed that every now and then, while shooting, my screen will sort of “jump,” almost as if someone bumped the tripod momentarily. The “jump” does appear in actual footage, but I haven’t been able to nail it down to a cause yet. I’m hoping that new cards will take care of the issue, but if not I’m going to have to take it up with Panasonic.
After waiting so long for the transition to a tapeless workflow, and upgrading to a really great HD camera, it’s been a pretty crappy experience thus far. I’m really hoping that that changes soon, and I can get back to business (instead of dealing with all of this nonsense).
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The name of the company is DriveSavers. I spoke with Tony, who was very helpful.
He said that they have a guarantee on their recovery…if they aren’t able to recover the files, you don’t pay (which makes sense).
So you said that the other programs weren’t able to recover the files. Was it that the programs (PhotoResuce specifically) weren’t able to find any of the MTS files, or did it find them but the files weren’t usable?
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Version 3 of PhotoRescue has managed to recover the entirety of the files (sort of). While it does allow you to increase the maximum size of a recovered file, it has taken the larger files and broken them into smaller pieces (with small pauses and gaps in between).
I re-running the program again a different way to see if I can get a different result. If not, I’m going to contact the PhotoRescue support (again) to see if they have any suggestions.
I’m at a point now where I have enough of the original footage to complete the video without having to offer it to them for free (which I would feel obligated to do if I lost most of their footage). From here forward I’m simply trying to take the recovery from “Excellent” to “Perfect.”
Also keep in mind that after the recovery, you’ll need a program to convert the MTS files into a format that the editor can read (if you’re on a Mac. I’ve heard that certain PC editors can read the MTS files natively). I downloaded a program called “Wondershare Video Convertor Pro” to convert the videos, but the program has proved to be a major disappointment. I’m pursuing a refund, and will instead purchase a program called “ClipWrap” that takes the MTS files and simply re-wraps them into MOV containers without any transcoding (thus preserving the original quality).