MAJOR 24p Capturing/Timeline Issues

M

Marty Martin

Member
Hey everyone,

I have read as much as I can through forums and other online resources about how to work with 24p, and I still can't figure out what is going on.

I just shot a music video on a XL2 using 24p (NOT 24pA).

I work in FCP HD 4.5.

I captured some of my footage as a test with a capture setting of 24p and did not use pulldown as this was not shot on 24pA. When I double click the clip I just captured, the footage looks fine. But when I put it on the timeline, I get this weird interlaced/strobing effect. It's most noticeable with things that move quickly on screen. Now, my sequence/timeline has the same settings as the footage I captured, which is simply 24p.

So then I tried a 23.98fps timeline and plopped my 24fps footage onto there. Just about the same effect. And same goes for a 29.97fps timeline.

So then I captured at 23.98fps as well as 29.97fps and tried them on 24, 23.98, and 29.97 timelines. And if I didn't get that interlacing effect, I got a jolty effect where the footage would obviously skip several frames.

I have to have a rough cut of a scene by tonight! Please help me if you can! I can't imagen what I have done wrong! I've tried about everything I can think of.

Marty Martin
Director
IMAGEN Films
www.imagenfilms.com
 
I'm just guessing here, but I think you need to capture your footage at 29.97, and remove the pulldown later. Or, you can forget about removing pulldown, and edit it 29.97 if you don't need to ever go back out to film. All "24p" DV cameras add pulldown and record at 29.97.
 
You will get a jolty effect from what I understand. Unless you remove (And reencode) the frames which spread over 3 fields, you will get an extra field of info effectively, every 2 frames.

I haven't ever edited in 24p so I can't be certain. I would have thought that FCP understands 24p standard and just ditches fields, and reencodes the frame.

Aaron
 
Heya:

If you can put a very short clip up somewhere (5 seconds or so) that I can download I might be able to tell you what the right "combination" of settings is, or offer an alternative!
 
So I just did another test.

Captured footage in 23.98, 24 and 29.97.

I then layed all 3 of these clips into a 23.98 timeline, a 24 timeline and a 29.97.

The result is the same across the board... some weird interlacing crap. But when I watch the 23.98 footage outside of the timeline, it is the clearest and smoothest out of all of the captures. But why won't it play clearly in a 23.98 timeline? in fact, I even have to render it.

Here is a pic of the weird interlacing. And by the way, it only does it every 4 frames.

Picture-1.jpg
 
OK.
Read this http://www.squiresstudios.com/dvx100/dvx100fcp.html

You shot in 24p mode. This in fact has pulldown added in the camera and has interlaced frames but that's all fine. Just capture and edit normally , 29.97 and edit in a 29.97 sequence.
It will look fine when playing back. If you stop on a frame you may see interlacing but that is correct. Make sure everything in your sequence settings matches your orginal footage settings (size, fps, aspect ratio, etc)

if you place it directly in a 24fps sequence it will do the wrong thing.

IF you do need to go to film or create a pure 24fps DVD then use CInema Tools to remove pulldown. The resulting footage will be 23.98fps (not 24). Create a sequence that is 23.98 (not 24) and place your footage in the sequence. Set playback prefs to add 2:3:2:3 on playback.
 
Well, a couple O things.

First, the "Log & Capture" window will always show 29.97 regardless of what you're actually capturing because that's what's on the tape: 29.97.

What happens during or after capture is what's important. You need to tell FCP to get rid of the pulldown while you're capturing or after you capture.
 
I tried capturing at 29.97, then editing in a 29.97 sequence, but I get the same interlacing effect.

When I watch the original clip back in Quicktime every capture setting is somewhat choppy except for the 23.98 captured footage. Which leads me to believe that capturing at 23.98 is the way to go. But I can't edit it if I have huge interlacing issues.
 
I shoot most of my movies 24p normal on my dvx. Don't know if that makes any difference because you shot xl2, but saying there is no difference:

capture just plain old 29.97. sequence set at plain old 29.97.

Now, these are common solutions, that may not work because you may have an uncommon problem. But here's a few things I'd check:

1) clicking the RT tab, see what quality your sequence is set at. If it is low, it probably looks like junk on your screen. Change it to high and see if that makes a difference.
2) set up an external monitor, ie tv. If it looks bad on the tv as well as on the timeline you have a prob.
3) throw one of your tapes into your cam or deck and play it back whilest hooked up to a tv. See if any of the same footage that looks like junk on the computer has the same prob on the actual footage.

If 1&2 don't make a difference and the footage looks fine when you do the 3rd step, then we'll all have to rack our brains for ways to fix the prob.
 
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