Capturing with DVX100B in 60i.

[Aschu]

I've been having a boatload of trouble with this lately. Most because of my lack of knowledge on the subject.

I shot something in 60i and edited on a 60i timeline but when I try to capture via Print to video it on the DVX 100B, it only gets audio and no video, just a black screen on the DVX.

So I changed the timeline to 29.97 and then it captured, but the aspect ratio was a little messed up. I ended up with space on the left and rights sides of the picture.

Any idea what I am doing wrong here or what am I missing?

Also, what should the timeline settings be in correspondence to the following shot settings: 24p, 24pa, 30p and 60i. That would probably help to know. I assumed for 30p the sequence should be set to 30 and for 60i it should be set to 60. I'm a little confused on the 24p and 24pa.

 

[Alex H.]

You really need to do some reading up on how video works. Do you have Barry's book/DVD?

60i on the DVX is 29.97. It is standard, no-frills, NTSC video. It's called 60i because it is 60 interlaced fields per second. Using 60fps to edit 60i is going to give you some really weird results, and as far as exporting back to tape on the DVX, the DVX will not recognize 60fps video.

Everything the DVX records is recorded to tape at 29.97. Period. And everything the DVX records can be edited on a 29.97 (DV NTSC 48kHz) time line. The only times you need to worry about different frame rates:

- Shooting 24p or 24pA to edit in a 23.976 time line
- Shooting for slow-mo in a 23.976 project

If you're shooting for a 23.976 project in FCP, shoot 24pA. The pull down can be removed from both 24p and 24pA, but FCP has a much easier time with 24pA. There's a sticky in the FCP forum about capturing and removing 24pA pull down.

Regular 24p was designed to be shot and edited at 29.97, to give the look of 24p without the hassle of pull down removal.

If you want slow-mo with your 23.976 (24pA) project, you have two options: 30p or 60i. It takes a little work in CinemaTools (and Compressor, for 60i) to get there. If you shoot 30p, simply use CinemaTools to conform it to 23.976 and you have 80% slow-mo (or, a 20% reduction in speed). If you shoot 60i, you'll need to convert it to 60p, then conform it to 23.976, thus acheiving 40% slow-mo (or, a 60% reduction in speed). There are several posts around the Interwebs about shooting 60i for slow-mo with 24p projects.

As for aspect ratio, if you shoot squeeze, make sure that your capture and sequence settings have "anamorphic" selected. If you don't shoot squeeze (either letterbox or normal aspect ratio), don't use anamorphic. And do not shoot squeeze with 60i, as it will look absolutely terrible.

 

[Aschu]

Thanks a lot, this helped. I'm trying to read up on it as much as I can but I really just needed clarification.

One thing I found interesting. I shot in 60i and ended up editing in 60fps for a bit and the footage was really crisp and smooth. It seemed to look much better than when the timeline was set at 29.97.

And since the dvx100B records everything to tape at 29.97 I don't ever need to change the timeline to 30fps or 60fps? (I only need to change it for what you mentioned is what I understand.)