New project in Avid Xpress Pro
- Thread starter ajax3503
- Start date
I am using PC, Xpress Pro version 4.6. I guess what is throwing me off is that I don't see the green/blue dot next to the AVID symbol above the timeline. When I export timeline as AVI or other file it looks like crap. Previously, I've edited everthing in 30i even if I used the F5 setting on the DVX 100 with no problems - output looks like image in project. A friend told me to edit my project in 23.976p since I shot at F5 and now I can't I am using PC, Xpress Pro version 4.6. I guess what is throwing me off is that I don't see the green/blue dot next to the AVID symbol above the timeline. When I export timeline as AVI or other file it looks like crap. Previously, I've edited everthing in 30i even if I used the F5 setting on the DVX 100 with no problems - output looks like image in project. A friend told me to edit my project in 23.976p since I shot at F5 and now I can't output an useable project, at least without an expensive mojo now it seems. I want to burn a DVD. Thanks for your help.
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
OK, here are a couple of things to consider.
If you're working in a 30i project you should be shooting F5. F5 is Normal pulldown, which translates much more smoothly to interlaced video. F6 is Advanced pulldown which is all about reconstructing whole frames. You should be in a 23.976 project if you shot F6.
That's a hard and fast rule, but it's not set in stone. You can edit F6 stuff in a 30i timeline and it will still look pretty decent, and vice versa. Xpress Pro HD 5.2.something introduced the ability to capture Normal pulldown (F5) over firewire without Mojo, meaning a 23.976 project.
So, now the question becomes is it important to you to have your footage as 24 physical frames per second or are you OK with a 30i interlaced product that now has a film-look because it was shot with a DVX? If you absolutely have to have 24 frames, then pony up $50 and upgrade to Xpress Pro HD. Then you can capture Normal pulldown over firewire without Mojo. If it doesn't matter, then stay in a 30i project for F5 material.
Xpress Pro 4.6 can capture Advanced pulldown without Mojo, so if you need 24 frames in the future, just shoot F6 mode.
Blue dot / Green dot doesn't have anything to do with pulldown, so I'm not really sure where that came into the conversation. When you say your export doesn't look good then if you captured F5 material in a 23.976 project then Avid removed the wrong frames because it's looking for Advanced pulldown and you gave it normal pulldown. For a solution there, re-read this post. :laugh:
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Chris
If you're working in a 30i project you should be shooting F5. F5 is Normal pulldown, which translates much more smoothly to interlaced video. F6 is Advanced pulldown which is all about reconstructing whole frames. You should be in a 23.976 project if you shot F6.
That's a hard and fast rule, but it's not set in stone. You can edit F6 stuff in a 30i timeline and it will still look pretty decent, and vice versa. Xpress Pro HD 5.2.something introduced the ability to capture Normal pulldown (F5) over firewire without Mojo, meaning a 23.976 project.
So, now the question becomes is it important to you to have your footage as 24 physical frames per second or are you OK with a 30i interlaced product that now has a film-look because it was shot with a DVX? If you absolutely have to have 24 frames, then pony up $50 and upgrade to Xpress Pro HD. Then you can capture Normal pulldown over firewire without Mojo. If it doesn't matter, then stay in a 30i project for F5 material.
Xpress Pro 4.6 can capture Advanced pulldown without Mojo, so if you need 24 frames in the future, just shoot F6 mode.
Blue dot / Green dot doesn't have anything to do with pulldown, so I'm not really sure where that came into the conversation. When you say your export doesn't look good then if you captured F5 material in a 23.976 project then Avid removed the wrong frames because it's looking for Advanced pulldown and you gave it normal pulldown. For a solution there, re-read this post. :laugh:
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Chris
Thanks Chris. I did indeed capture F5 material in a 23.976 project. Now I have an edited 90 min project that looks great in AVID timeline, but awful on export. I am not married to 24p, but project is done and I just need to export it so that it looks the same on output. So, if I understand you correctly, I should be able to upgrade to Xpress Pro HD and maintain the integrity of the video on output?? Looks like I should have edited as 30i project. Too late now, but lesson learned
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
No, the footage is, for lack of a better term, damaged. It's been captured with the wrong pulldown and it needs to be recaptured with the correct pulldown. Unfortunatly I'm not sure the best way to handle this. Perhaps someone else will chime in. I wonder if you could take an EDL of your current timeline, upgrade to Xpress Pro HD, then recapture based on that EDL with Normal Pulldown. You may end up with some off frames, but it could be better than starting over. I really don't know, that's a guess. MichaelP?
Chris
You can just recapture with Xpress Pro 5.1 or later with the Film/24p settings set to NORMAL instead of ADVANCED.
"A" frames should fall on timecodes ending on 0 and 5, the same as for ADVANCED. 80% of the timeline will be frame accurate, there is a 1 in 5 chance that the remaining 20% has a +/-1 frame difference.
Michael
"A" frames should fall on timecodes ending on 0 and 5, the same as for ADVANCED. 80% of the timeline will be frame accurate, there is a 1 in 5 chance that the remaining 20% has a +/-1 frame difference.
Michael
Do I have to recapture all 40 hrs of footage from my deck again? I have a completed, edited project. If so, the whole project is lost. The existing completed project will not know where to find the newly captured media. Can I just upgrade to 5.1 and import the sequence that I have in 4.6 into a new project? I'm not quite sure I guess what you mean by recapture. How will 5.1 recognize the existing project, bins, footage, etc. Thanks
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
Michael... just using the same project ... right. It was so simple I couldn't see it. 
ajax... Michael means to batch capture the footage from your sequence. You'll only have to re digitize the footage that's in your editing timeline, not all of the footage that you shot.
Hope that helps.
Chris
ajax... Michael means to batch capture the footage from your sequence. You'll only have to re digitize the footage that's in your editing timeline, not all of the footage that you shot.
Hope that helps.
Chris
I truly am a novice at this. What do you mean batch capture footage from my sequence? How do I do it? When I initally captured footage I loaded each mini dv (40+ hrs worth) in the deck and captured. Re-digitizing the footage will throw off timecodes won't it and the project won't know where to find the media...right? I just upgraded to 5.1 HD This site is invaluable as well as everyone's responses. Hopefully this thread will help someone else too. Thanks again.
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
First, look up Batch Capture in the manual or help file, that will give you a good general of the whats and the hows.
Basically Avid will read the timecode of just the clips in your final sequence and only capture those clips. Avid will say "Please insert tape A and click OK" so you'll insert tape A and then Avid will capture from timecode 10:00:00 to 11:23:00 because that's in your sequence. Then it will skip ahead to 46:04:17 to 56:10:18 and capture that. Then it will ask for tape B and start the process over again until it's captured the entire sequence that way. Thus you get a redigitized sequence with the correct pulldown without recaptuing 40 hours of footage.
The way I'd go about it would be to create a new bin in your project, then copy the sequence to that bin. Then right click on that sequence and choose Decompose. That will create new clip files in that bin that represent all of the clips used in your sequence, then you can start the batch capture according to the manual. Re digitizing the footage won't throw the timecode off because it's using the timecode to recapture everything. Now if you originally digitized without timecode, then all of this was for nothing because it won't batch capture. Please tell me you didn't do that.
Hope that helps.
Chris
Basically Avid will read the timecode of just the clips in your final sequence and only capture those clips. Avid will say "Please insert tape A and click OK" so you'll insert tape A and then Avid will capture from timecode 10:00:00 to 11:23:00 because that's in your sequence. Then it will skip ahead to 46:04:17 to 56:10:18 and capture that. Then it will ask for tape B and start the process over again until it's captured the entire sequence that way. Thus you get a redigitized sequence with the correct pulldown without recaptuing 40 hours of footage.
The way I'd go about it would be to create a new bin in your project, then copy the sequence to that bin. Then right click on that sequence and choose Decompose. That will create new clip files in that bin that represent all of the clips used in your sequence, then you can start the batch capture according to the manual. Re digitizing the footage won't throw the timecode off because it's using the timecode to recapture everything. Now if you originally digitized without timecode, then all of this was for nothing because it won't batch capture. Please tell me you didn't do that.
Hope that helps.
Chris
That is not a good thing at all... if you turned off the TC track in order to solve another problem, you are in an even bigger one now. The Avid uses the internal clock when generating timecode so basically it is a "time of day." But it has absolutely no reference to your original master tapes. I have no solution for you other than capture correctly and re-edit...
Michael
Michael