fcp 6.0 1080pa editing help! its interlaced! Help! And reads 1280 not 1920!

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Well-known member
I may have mentioned everything in the title already, but,

I shot in 1080pa mode on the hvx200, transfer the files to my system, etc.

I setup my new project with an easy setup option, hd, 23.98 fps, dvcpro hd - 10pA24.

I then do the log and capture option. and there, under the import preferences, I click the little box that appears "remove advanced pulldown and duplicate frames", which will do my 2:3:3:2 pulldown automatically correct.

Here is where things get tricky, and unclear, and interlaced for me.

So I drag my footage to a new sequence, and it automatically asks me to change the sequence settings to match the clip. Why would it do this? I thought easy setup creates default sequences that are 1920x1080 with 23.976 fps with the codec I specified. Also I though my clip is 1920x1080 @ 23.976 anyways.

So for the purpose of trying to figure this out, I created 2 test sequences, where I said yes on one instance, and no on another. Here are the results in the sequence settings.

Yes; 1280 x 1080 HD 16:9, 29.97 - every 5 frames in the timeline I get interlacing

No; 1280 x 1080 16:9, 23.98, every 4 frames in the timeline i get interlacing

So what should I pick, I get interlaced footage either way, what is the proper method to do this? Thanks.

Also what is a good way to flip footage without having to re-render, Im sure this flipping question has been talked about but I could not find it anywhere.
 
I hope you get some answers on this. I have the same question, and you've laid out things nicely.
 
hvx200 records 1080i not 1080p and it records with a reduced horizontal resolution so its 1440x1080 interlaced and i cant remember the exact number but its something like 960x720 for 720p and i. you or your program just stretches the files to the correct res and everything will look correct. And by the way you are describing you need a frame pulldown. Hope it helps..
 
So once I import the footage into fcp, it says it's 1280 x 1980, but under the sequence settings is where I would resize the comp, am I supposed to do a custom size 1920x1080 then? And whey do I have to do a frame pulldown, I thought the log and transfer option (p2 import) does it when I checked the box? \

To add onto and further clarify my question above, does anyone know a workflow to ensure I am editing my 1920x1080pa footage correctly at 1920x1080 23.976 in fcp 6.0? This is the main question, if someone can layout the steps of after the footage is log and transfered that would be great. I really dont want to micky mouse my editing workflow for my feature film, thanks.
 
emmoaga said:
hvx200 records 1080i not 1080p and it records with a reduced horizontal resolution so its 1440x1080 interlaced and i cant remember the exact number but its something like 960x720 for 720p and i. you or your program just stretches the files to the correct res and everything will look correct. And by the way you are describing you need a frame pulldown. Hope it helps..
Click to expand...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the HVX records 1080p, but just records it as 1080i(two fields that together form a progressive frame. Like how the DVX records 480p as 480i. And I thought everything is recorded at 1080, then downrezzed, not recorded at 720 and uprezzed.
 
What you shot is totally normal:

The HVX records 1080 footage at these pixel dimensions: 1280 X 1080. For playback, the horizontal is stretched to make 16X9. HDV (1080) and HDCAM are 1440 in the horizontal; playback must also be stretched for those, but not quite as much. The digital video world is full of non-square pixels; NTSC is 720 X 480 (or 720 X 486 for Digital Beta), so the horizontal must be squeezed instead of stretched to get true 4X3.

The HVX records 720 footage as true progressive, no matter the frame rate. For 1080, it's recorded in 1080i, even though the actual frames might be progressive. Advanced pulldown for 24 allows for the pulldown (interlaced) frame to be removed completely, easily and quickly upon import. You have to go into Preferences in the Log and Transfer window in FCP (for Avid, I don't know what their implementation is), and choose "Remove Advanced Pulldown and Duplicate Frames". This will remove the interlaced frame and leave you with true 24P (no i whatsoever). When recording 24 in non-advanced mode, it applies a standard 3:2 pulldown, same as film footage for playback in NTSC 29.97. It's much harder to remove.

I don't know why you aren't getting the 24p to work properly. Very strange. Sounds like you did the right steps on import; allowing the sequence to set itself for the footage you drop in should be perfect. Was this footage transfered through some other program when saving off of the P2 cards? Was it shot on P2 card or direct to some kind of disk? It sounds like somehow the advanced pulldown flag is missing in the footage or FCP is not reading it.

I would leave the sequence settings at 1280 X 1080 for mastering; I like the DVCPRO HD codec - it can handle generations pretty well. If you want to master in 1920 X 1080, you'll need to go to the ProRes codec, uncompressed, or something like that.
 
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and

and

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305833

That is why my videos were looking interlaced, do not used spanned cliips when shooting 1080pa, it will give you interlaced footage, and this is not good and was my problem the whole time!

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/193/863824
That was also a good read, on just simply explaining that fcp reads 1920 x 1080 as 1280 x 1080, even though it is really 1920 x 1080,

And I proved this right when I exported a test clip and it was indeed 1920x1080,

Hey you mentioned for me to master in 1920x1080 with an uncompressed codec, well I am mastering in 1920x1080 even though fcp is reading it as 1920x1280. Also I am using the default dvcpro hd 1080p30 codec simply because it is the default on the easy setup for 1080pa and I hope it is the best quality yet still perfect for the job.
 
Clint,
your link to the apple docs deals with AVCHD which is a GOP type compression scheme developed by Panasonic/Sony which is available as a codec for some consumer cameras as well as the upcoming 150 camera by panasonic. This is not a DVCPro HD article and has nothign to do with the issues you seem to be having.

DVCProHD compresses each frame individually and so the issues that you are reading about are non existant. I have never ran into a problem using spanned 1080 24pa clips with my HVX.

I couldnt test your workflow yesterday since I don't have FCP 6.0 in my computer at home, but here at work I just tested some 1080p24a footage and found the following: what seems to be happening is that FCP is not removing pulldown upon capture like it should even when that option is selected in the log and transfer window.

Select the clip(s) on your browser, NOT on the timeline, go into Tools and select remove puldown.

You should now be able to drop the clip into the sequence timeline and not have to render.

If you are having issues
Ctrl-Click (or right click) on your sequence and go into settings.
From top to bottom it should look like this:
1280x1080 (this is the DVCProHD codec NOT final cut pro, DVCProHD at 1080 uses a 1.5 pixel aspect ratio, meaning they use rectangular pixels instead of square pixels.)
The editing timebase should read 23.98
Make sure it is set correctly: DVCProHD 1080 30p as the compressor.
 
VenezuelanD said:
Clint,
your link to the apple docs deals with AVCHD which is a GOP type compression scheme developed by Panasonic/Sony which is available as a codec for some consumer cameras as well as the upcoming 150 camera by panasonic. This is not a DVCPro HD article and has nothign to do with the issues you seem to be having.

DVCProHD compresses each frame individually and so the issues that you are reading about are non existant. I have never ran into a problem using spanned 1080 24pa clips with my HVX.

I couldnt test your workflow yesterday since I don't have FCP 6.0 in my computer at home, but here at work I just tested some 1080p24a footage and found the following: what seems to be happening is that FCP is not removing pulldown upon capture like it should even when that option is selected in the log and transfer window.

Select the clip(s) on your browser, NOT on the timeline, go into Tools and select remove puldown.

You should now be able to drop the clip into the sequence timeline and not have to render.

If you are having issues
Ctrl-Click (or right click) on your sequence and go into settings.
From top to bottom it should look like this:
1280x1080 (this is the DVCProHD codec NOT final cut pro, DVCProHD at 1080 uses a 1.5 pixel aspect ratio, meaning they use rectangular pixels instead of square pixels.)
The editing timebase should read 23.98
Make sure it is set correctly: DVCProHD 1080 30p as the compressor.
Click to expand...

Okay so I did the select clip, then tools, remove pulldown, then it said it is removing the pulldown, so I got a progress bar, took about 1 minute for 5 minutes of footage, then my footage went offline! And I got the red stripe through my clip, and the preview screen went red and said media offline, so I put it in a new sequence, and it went in fine, and the video was good, no missing footage, no interlacing¡¡¡ yay, but, the red stripe is still through the clip in the bin, and the timeline bar is red, need to render, and I cant import the original quicktime anymore from the capture scratch folder, I cant bring that in anymore, but I just brought in in before performing the tools, remove pulldown option, this is weird!
 
I'll check back to you at work today and see if I can figure out what is happening there...Sounds like somehow cinematools is moving the correctly cadenced file out of the capture scratch folder hmm...
 
So to narrow down the issue, the button to select the "remove pulldown" upon log and transfer, is simply not working? I need to manually do this tools, remove pulldown on each individual clip?

Is this a fcp bug? I am using 6.0
 
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