FCP 5.1.2 import problems

[dougspice]

This is a repost from elsewhere but I'm under an extremely tight deadline so I hope no one will mind...

THE FOOTAGE: shot to P2. SD, DVCPRO50, squeeze mode, 24pa.

I copy the footage first of all to the hard drive. Then I go through Import->Panasonic P2 in FCP and find it. I go into settings and "Remove Advanced Pulldown" is checked. Okay. I log and name some footage. I click Add to Queue and watch it go wheeeeeeee!

Now. I open the footage in FCP and discover duplicate frames! I discover that it is 29.97! I discover the occasional extremely evident interlacing! I become concerned.

I open the same footage in Quicktime and confirm the same problem. What to do?

I open the same footage in After Effects and, when I try to automatically Guess 24pa Pulldown, it gives me a suggestion! However, it ALSO gives me a suggestion if I ask it to Guess 3:2 Pulldown. Okay, so maybe it's possible this footage was shot 24p, and not 24pa (although I really don't think so. Is there a surefire way to tell?)

Even if that WERE true, I shouldn't be seeing this horrible interlacing, should I? And why can AE deduce that maybe there are frames to be removed, but FCP can't? Note that there is zero difference between the footage I get from FCP's P2 importer if "Remove Advanced Pulldown" is checked or if it isn't.

90% of the time I feel like I really understand this camera and this workflow. The other 10%, though, I'm just absolutely drowning.

[ozduc]

Now. I open the footage in FCP and discover duplicate frames! I discover that it is 29.97! I discover the occasional extremely evident interlacing! I become concerned.
Okay, so maybe it's possible this footage was shot 24p, and not 24pa (although I really don't think so. Is there a surefire way to tell?)


It sounds to me like it was shot 24p and NOT 24pa but there is a sure fire way to tell.
Open your import P2 window. While holding down "control", click in the area at the top of the columns where it says "name" and a drop down window will come up with a lot of available columns that can be added. Scroll down to the one that says "format" and this will add a column that will tell you what format the clips were shot at.

[dougspice]

Well, that's nice... I hadn't even thought that those options might exist, even though I use them all the time in the logging bin. Thanks. Looks like it was indeed shot with 2:3. Grrrr. Oh well.

[BenB]

There are two peices of info in a QuickTime clip you need to specify for us. One, the one we want to know, is the frame rate. The second, which gets folks confused, is the Compressor, which will read as 30p. Just making sure, as I've never seen FCP's import not remove frames properly. If it did, I'd be very interested to know about it.

You may have also shot 24p rather than 24pA, which is a mistake I've made several times.

The columns to show in the P2 Import window that would be useful to verify your imports would be, IMHO:
Format
Compressor
Pulldown
Vid Rate
Shooting Rate

Aside from these, I add Media Duration and saved that as my own custom Heading Layout. I can now take that to any FCP system with me anywhere, just like window layouts, Browser heading layouts, keyboard shortcuts, and button bar layouts. I have a USB flash stick that has all this stuff on it, plus some other goodies. And when I go to consult or work on other FCP systems, two mintues to copy these files, and I have my familiar layouts and cusomizing right there in place.

I guess it's a rambling rant day for me...

[jhvid]

Here's an issue that I've never encountered until now. Footage shot 480i, 24P to tape. Captured with normal DV-NTSC capture settings in FCP (newest version). When the footage is put into a normal 29.97 sequence, there are frames that are split on motion. Okay sounds like flagged frames that weren't removed (even though I checked the camera and it is set to 480i/24P, not 24PA). Did the advanced pulldown removal, fcp processes, set up a 23.98 sequence, footage still has split frames. I captured one clip with the pulldown removal during capture and it plays fine in a 23.98 sequence. Any ideas what could be happening here?

[BenB]

You need to set the camera to 24pA, first of all. Capture with the pulldown removal enabled. Are you setting up progressive or interlaced Sequences? Sounds like they're interlaced.

[jhvid]

I was trying to shoot 24P because I didn't want to deal with the pulldown; does the hvx have problems with 24P to tape? I tried both kinds of sequences, interlaced and progressive. After the pulldown I would think progressive is what I would want, but I was still having issues. Any idea why the remove advanced pulldown tool would not work and why I would have pulldown issues when I shot regular 24P?

[THoff]

24P still requires you to remove the duplicate frames. The only modes that do not include them are the PN modes.

You can record 480i/24P to tape, but again, you'll need to handle the pulldown yourself.

[jhvid]

So it's different from the DVX100a where the difference between 24P and 24PA was the pulldown?

[THoff]

Both 24P and 24PA require you (or your NLE) to remove the duplicate frames. 24PA uses a different pulldown sequence -- instead of a 2:3:2:3, it uses 2:3:3:2. If your editor doesn't support 24PA, you'll get weird results.