Footage conversion problems on Mac

W

Walter

Member
I posted about this in the big HMC150 thread, but I figured I'd give this topic its own space as well.

I can't find any way to properly convert HMC150 AVCHD files. I've tried the Final Cut Log and Transfer, the Voltaic converter, and Toast 9, all with similar results. 720p/30 clips show 59.94 fps and play back at 2x speed. The FCP converted clips sometimes have terrible distortion, but that is basically non-existent on the Voltaic and Toast converted clips. I get the same results with the footage I've shot, Barry's rain footage from way back (the speed issue, but no distortion), and shrigg's clips (both the speed issue and lots of distortion) -- so it definitely seems like an issue with the conversion and not with my camera. 24p clips play back at the right speed / framerate, but the distortion is definitely still there in some clips.

I'm on a MacBook Pro, 10.4.11, Final Cut Pro 6.0.4.

I'm not sure where to go from here. . . .
 
Go to log and transfer,

then choose the stream folder

let it wait for a minute or so and it should add the clips to the que
 
Thomas Lew said:
Go to log and transfer,

then choose the stream folder

let it wait for a minute or so and it should add the clips to the que
Click to expand...

I can go through the steps of converting the clips just fine, the problem is they aren't converted properly. See above.
 
There is a bug in the Voltaic converter it seems to screw up the 720/30p clips. I've written to the company (email) and pointed to the links where they can download the files and see for themselves. Last word was that they'll look into it....

Bob Diaz
 
Well I tried converting the 720p/30 clips on a friend's FCP system tonight, and I got the exact same results -- the converted .MOVs play at 2x speed, and some have terrible glitches.

I was able to convert the HMC150 files to Panasonic P2 format MXF files using the Panasonic P2 converter on an old PC I had laying around, then I used FCP's Log and Transfer window to successfully convert the MXF files to Quicktime movies. It worked fine -- the clips played back at the proper speed, and the glitches were gone. However, these files aren't as sharp as clips converted directly to ProRes 422, there's more clipping in the highlights, and the colors are a little different. And that's not a legitimate workflow in the first place.

Is anyone successfully converting the 720p/30 AVCHD footage from the HMC150 in FCP?
 
That's interesting, because when I used Toast 9 to convert some sample footage, they all came in at the correct frame rate when I went to DVCProHD.

It might be in your toast settings.
 
Any solution to this issue. I am having the same problem! 720/30p recorded clips show up as 720/59.94 and play at 2x speed! Help!!
 
Research and no fingerpointing

Research and no fingerpointing

Thomas Lew said:
Apparetly there are several avchd glitches =\
Click to expand...
Thomas, is there any proof of your assumption? Could it not be that the software to transcode was not used properly or whatever other reason might be the real culprit?
The glitch could be in every detail of a complicated process based complex little units.

Would someone please be kind enough to post a 720p30 clip in its native form?
Everyone can transcode that and then report his findings, stating the details of the
transcoding platform involved and the outcome of the transcoding.

Anyone? Pe.
 
PKraft said:
Thomas, is there any proof of your assumption? Could it not be that the software to transcode was not used properly or whatever other reason might be the real culprit?
The glitch could be in every detail of a complicated process based complex little units.

Would someone please be kind enough to post a 720p30 clip in its native form?
Everyone can transcode that and then report his findings, stating the details of the
transcoding platform involved and the outcome of the transcoding.

Anyone? Pe.
Click to expand...
There are raw clips available on this forum already, just search for it. I can also confirm that FCP and Toast 9 both have problems with the available MTS 720p30 footage. Either this boils down to QuickTime or it is a problem with the MTS parsers of FCP/Toast 9. No matter what it is, it can't be very difficult to fix.
 
Hey Walter

Any luck with the footage shot at 720p 30 over 60fps? We're getting the 2x play speed too whether the files came through Toast 9 or FCP6.04.

I also notice that if I shoot at 720P 60 over 60 fps, then play the clip back in QT I don't actually see 60 discrete FPS! Actually there's 30 pairs of duplicate frames per second.... I think this is actually 30 over 60 tagged as 60.

Could there be an screw up in the actual camera settings. If the 30 over 60 setting is actually 60 over 60 tagged as 30 over 60, and duplicate frames get dropped we'd end up with a clip half as long! Which is what I see ... a 2x speed clip with a still last frame for the last half of the clip (the audio still plays to length).

Anyone else?

Lee
 
Well, solved half the issue...

The camera we were testing on was set to a shutter speed of 1/30 sec!! So of course when we recorded 720p 60 over 60 the poor thing had to duplicate frames! Set it to 1/15 sec and you'll get 4 duplicates! If the shutter is turned off, all is well. 60 discrete frames per sec.

But we still get 2x playback on 30 fps recorded over 60fps. I've initialized all settings ... and I get it whether I import using Toast or FCP.

Weird...

Anyone else?

Lee
 
I'm having the same issue. Couldn't figure a workaround out in FCP, so I'm using Toast. Toast has worked great.

I think it's a bug in FCP. Hopefully the next update fixes it (whenever that is).

-bg
 
Hmmm... I just log&transferred some 720p30 footage. In the log and transfer window, the video showed as solid green; but the final transferred video is fine. Not perfect for logging, but seems to work.



EDIT: Sorry, not true... looking through the footage, there seem to be some temporal distortions (jittery looped movement for a secod or tow every once in a while)...
 
Last edited:
To add some more information, I just got my HMC 151E and tried to log & transfer 720p footage with 50 fps and the importer just crashed with a division by zero exception.
 
ltf3 said:
Well, solved half the issue...


But we still get 2x playback on 30 fps recorded over 60fps. I've initialized all settings ... and I get it whether I import using Toast or FCP.

Weird...

Anyone else?

Lee
Click to expand...

Here's word from Panasonic Broadcast:
"The problem you are having with the HMC150 [720 60p PH mode] is an apple
issue. Apple only supports the 1080 formats in the PH bit rate mode. The
symptoms your are experiencing ,[double speed playback in 720 60
mode]are common to both final cut and IDVD since they both use the
QuickTime format. You would probably be better off directing your
efforts to apple."

Oh well....

Lee
 
I think that I might have a possible work around as I'm getting the same thing in FCP. I'm going to.. duplicate the files then I'll bring one set into cinematools and convert the files to 29.97 so it will play normal but then the audio will be slowed down.... so I'll then take the audio from the un conformed clip and marry the two in FCP.. might be the solution there.



BUT either way.. the intensity card works and no double play there..


cheers
 
I'm using FCE (Final Cut Express) and the only 720 mode it supports is 720/30p.

If I take a 720/60p file, transcode it (720/60p), and load it into FCE, every other frame is dropped and it becomes 720/30p.

If I take a 1080/30p file, transcode it to 720/30p, and load it into FCE, this works correctly. The transcoded file is 720/30p and it plays correctly.

If I take a 720/30p file, transcode it, and look at it with Quicktime or FCE, the 30p video is loaded as if it were 60p and the audio plays normal. This seems to be a problem at the transcoding stage.

If VoltacHD or Toast 9 could fix the transcoding issue, that would be great.


Bob Diaz
 
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