How to get 720 24pn HVX footage into a 30i timeline

Noah

Noah

Well-known member
Don't ask me why I want/need to do this - I know it seems stupid and unncessary, but its a long story and it just has to be done. ANYWAY, I have footage shot with the HVX at 720 24p native. I have the original MXF files as well as the files after I imported to Final Cut Pro 5 in a 24 fps HD timeline. Now I have to bring my footage into the AVID in a 30i project/timeline. What is the best way to do this without messing everything up?
 
You might consider the Nattress plug-ins which will convert the frame rate of the footage.

Always glad to see NYU in print (my daughter is a 2005 graduate and won't leave the Village-- in fact, she says she gets withdrawal symptoms if she has to venture north of 14th St).

Ned Soltz
 
If avid only supports 24p in 720 mode, can I downconvert my footage to SD and 30fps using cinema tools? The client needs the footage to be able to be brought into Avid Xpress Pro in a 30i timeline - it's a load of bull, and I've tried telling them its nonsense, but it's at the point where it just has to be done.

Also, I've never used cinematools, will it allow me to pick a setting and batch capture all of the clips? Otherwise I'm going to be in for a hell of a night.
 
Noah,

I think you have several complexities here. First, if indeed your client wants interlaced footage, you have the issue of adding interlacing to progressive footage. That would require high-quality interlacing such as you would get from the ReelSmart Fields Toolkit plug-in for FCP or AE. I honestly do not see what difference 30p or 30i would make (and, in fact, I don't think I've heard of 720 30i.... only 30p). You should be able to transcode 24fps footage to 30 fps footage using Compressor; I just think that for $100 the Nattress plug-ins will do a better job for you.

Ned
 
DavidBeier said:
You can't as far as I know. As far as I know, Avid only supports 24p in 720 mode.
Click to expand...


I disagree...I just put some 720p 24pn on an Avid 720p 23.976 timeline and 720p 30pn on a 720p 29.97 timeline last night as a test. I even varied the framerates in the camera and laid it on the timeline as well. It wasn't an entire project but a few test clips...It worked quite well.

Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.2.2 on an old PC
 
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Wait.. it sounds like what your client wants is the footage to be cine-expanded from 24p to 30i - like the old film telecine workflow. In the Avid do they want HD or NTSC?

I think in dub mode you can convert the footage from 24PN to 30i.

I don't have the camera yet.. so I'm just going off the manual at this point.
 
720p24pN to 30i is confusing and ambiguous. You need to get the exact destination format. The "i" implies interlaced, which is either 1080i HD or 480i SD, and not 720 which is a progressive format. Then it can either be a progressive 30p or an interlaced 60i frame rate inside that format. Once you know the destination format Compressor can probably do the conversion for you.

Launch Compressor and take a look at [Settings]->[Advanced Format Conversions] to see the available options. Hopefully one of these will be what you are looking for.

You should take a short clip through the process and verify it on the Avid. If you are changing the frame rate or interlacing, make sure you single-step through the frames at the destination and verify that the process is working and has not produced artifacts.


After you are certain you have the right process, you can use Compressor in batch mode. You drag and drop all the files onto the Compressor interface. Then make sure they are all selected, and set the conversion through the pull-down menus and it will work on all of them.

One thing, though. There is a bug in earlier versions of Compressor. And if you set the destination folder to "Other" and put it in a different location, it seems only to effect the last file. The rest of them will be converted, renamed, and placed in the same directory where the original files were.
 
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