Compressing from 720p24 to DV NTSC in FCP - glitch???

B

bufaba

Member
So I'm editing an indie feature on FCP 5.0.4. We shot on the HVX in the 720p24 native mode. We wanted to create an offline workflow and down compress (or "transcode" as FCP calls it) our HD footage to DV onto seperate drives, and reconnect media when we're ready to online after picture lock.

It appears the DV (at 23.98 fps) repeats the first frame of the footage, even though the timecode continues to advance. When you reconnect an edited sequence to your HD files, the sequence is one frame off from what you were looking at in DV. The work around I have found is to slip picture by one frame, and it appears that then your ins and outs will match your offline sequence.

But this worries me despite the work around!!! Has anyone encountered this? Is this a glitch in FCP 5.0.4? Any other codec I try to transcode to has the same problem. Will this be a problem for an EDL? (It doesn't seem it would be, cause the EDL will spit out the timecode of the HD, and if we correct it with the slip, then we should be okay... right?)

Any help is greatly appreciated! And if you're not aware of this issue, let it be a warning....
 
I'm wondering why you are off-lineing DVCPRO-HD footage to begin with? Since I started with the HVX200 and DVCPRO-HD, I've totally quit the off-line process and do everything on-line. I just don't see the reason to off-line edit DVCPRO-HD, unless you have an older Mac and don't have the horsepower for the RT you need. Just my opinion, and just asking, trying to learn what other folks are doing with the format.
 
Totally agree -- the offline/online workflow is more hassle than it's worth with DVCPRO-HD, where you can get multiple streams of HD realtime from the internal hard disk, there's just no reason to bother with offlining.

As for the issue you're having, there's a known bug in 5.0.4 that causes duplicate frames at the beginning and end of transitions. Upgrade to 5.1.1 to get rid of it.
 
Is there a site that lists the known issues for each edition for FCP? I knew I should have upgraded, but Apple makes go through this process to verify that you own FCP before they give yout he update CD (good thing I do own it, so now I'll just do it). If anyone has any ideas about this specific problem, please post!

BenB: I get asked that question a lot, and while editing natively in HD is the wave of the future, there are several reasons why we're offling:

--It's a low budget feature and there is a TON of footage, nearly or just over two terabytes worth. Since this is a tapeless workflow, we want to protect the HD footage as much as possible, so working off of a Standard Def copy (even after backing up our media twice before) is just more insurance (cause drives WILL crash). We're running on a Dual 2 Ghz G5 with 1.5 GB of RAM (not the latest and greatest, but not bad either) so I don't know how it will handle day-to-day HD editing, but I do know it will handle standard def just fine.

--There's no room in the budget for an HD monitor - or any equipment to play back the HD - so my director can't watch the footage on a monitor if it's in HD.

--We're are going to be sending cuts to festivals and having screenings. While you can use DVD Studio Pro to make HD DVDs, it's just faster and easier for rough cut screenings if we're in standard def.

Until the additional equipment needed to play back and output HD becomes more affordable, I think an offline-online workflow is still sound - at least if the media manager would do it's job, heh heh...

Plus I've seen some glitches in slipping while in HD. Hopefully, 5.1 will correct that...

Thanks for the posts. Keep em coming if you have more info!!!!
 
Oh one more thing: If there are adapter devices to adapt an HD signal to go standard that are reasonably priced, let me know....
 
bufaba said:
Is there a site that lists the known issues for each edition for FCP?
Click to expand...

No NLE really has this. Basically its just forums where people give detailed descriptions of their workflow and their problem and then you find the 'known issues.'

However, for the confirmed bugs, Apple does post them through various white pages and the like. The FCP 5.0.4 issue w/ P2 files is listed on one of the white pages on their site.

Cheers.
 
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