Premiere Pro CS3 for Mac 24p/24pa capture problem using Quicktime?

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corpski

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I've been capturing 24pa footage from an AG-DVX100B into Premiere Pro 2.0 and exporting the output in a variety of formats. I primarily use Premiere to create 24p MPEG2 files which Encore 2.0 easily accepts with no further transcoding necessary (in spite of Encore 2.0 reporting them as 29.976 fps), and creating NTSC DVDs which rely solely on hardware pulldown if necessary.

Having delved recently into Premiere Pro CS3 on the Mac, it appears that when capturing footage, CS3 gives only two capture format options - Quicktime and an "HDV" setting (which is a selectable but apparently unworkable option with my camcorder as the record button is grayed out). No native AVI here obviously.

When following the exact same capture procedure as I do with Premiere Pro 2.0 on the PC, the resulting captured 24pa raw footage with PPro CS3 on the Mac (.mov) shows unacceptable flickering every 4 or so frames. At times, the flickering frames aren't even consistently spaced apart. Tinkering around with the capture settings and frame rate (interpret footage -> uncheck remove pulldown) doesn't help much either, apart from introducing interlaced frames into the video.

I'm not sure if I'm correct in my assumption that the problem can be narrowed to Quicktime 24p capture. When opening the raw .mov file using Quicktime Player and viewing Quicktime Inspector, the reported footage frame rate isn't consistent! I've had source clips reporting frame rates of 29.55 fps, 29.52 fps (??????) and so forth. However, when I open a raw AVI file that was captured using Premiere Pro 2.0 on the PC, the frame rate is reported as a proper 29.97 fps. Importing this PC-captured AVI into Premiere Pro CS3 for Mac works great on a 24p time line. It sure looks like PPro CS3 for Mac is a downgrade from PPro 2.0 on the PC. :undecided

If anyone has an idea or two I could use here (apart from installing Premiere Pro 2.0 to a Fusion or Parallels VM and using it exclusively to capture source videos), I'd really appreciate it.
 
Hey did you ever discover a solution for this? I am having the same problems. I've got CS3 Mac and DVX100B. Really bad interlacing and it's driving me crazy.
 
6 months and no real fix for this issue, it's really disheartening. I'm seriously considering switching entirely to Final Cut Studio 2.

Update 3.1.1 seemed to help a bit though, but I still employ an inconvenient method to get almost-seamless 24 fps video:

1. Make sure Premiere Pro CS3 is updated to 3.1.1 (as of this writing).
2. Film in F6 mode (23.976 fps, 24pa)
3. Capture the footage in Premiere Pro CS3, using quicktime setting, at a specified frame rate of 29.976 fps
4. Run DVFilm Maker (I know some won't agree compromising the source video in some manner, but this works fine for me) and convert the clip to 24 fps (23,976 exact) via removing 3:2 pulldown. You can download the demo for OS X to see if the resulting video is workable.
5. With the video created by DVFilm Maker, insert this into your 24fps timeline in Premiere Pro CS3 and it should display no flicker on a frame-by-frame basis.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone can contribute to simplifying or improving the whole process. PPro CS3 Mac doesn't seem to like the DVX100B.
 
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I think I found a workaround for our problem...

I imported the raw 24pa footage into imovie '08. I then located the raw file (it's easily found somewhere in your home -> movies -> imovie events -> [name of the event you set during the import procedure] folder by default, and uses a ".dv" extension").

You can simply import this into Premiere Pro CS3 Mac's 24p timeline. Seems flawless so far *fingers crossed*
 
I'm having this issue as well. Has anyone figured out a solution that doesn't involve using outside programs?
 
We've been having a similar issue with capturing 24P footage and being unable to get it to playback over firewire to our monitor without intense (although inconsistent) flickering. The 2:3:3:2 and ABBCD settings seem to have no effect.

If you take your 24p timeline into AE, you get interlaced frames strewn amongst progressive ones. However, if you Interpret Footage and autodetect, the footage will then display correctly. This might not be a solution unless you are finishing your project in AE; if so, we've learned the following: don't open the .prproj in AE, as you will have to individually Interpret Footage on almost every single clip. However, if you copy and paste the timeline into an AE composition, you only have to Interpret Footage on the masterclip, and all the subclips are correct as a result.

Still... seems a dealbreaking bug to me. If Premiere Pro can't handle a task as simple as capturing and previewing 24p correctly, it speaks volumes about Adobe's commitment to legitimately competing with FCP above the prosumer level.
 
I'm also dealing with this issue, as two of my cams are still HDV (Sony V1U, Canon HV20) and I shoot a lot of 24P on my XDCams and would like to be able to shoot 24p across the board when I do four-camera shoots using a mix of XDCam and HDV.

Premiere is so disappointing that in a $2500 suite they don't handle basic HDV 24pA pulldown. I've tried nine ways to Sunday to get it to work and it's hit and miss--2 out of 5 clips actually render out correctly.

I read in another forum that the HV20 doesn't output flags for pulldown, and Canon won't fix the problem because it's a consumer camera. Well why bother having 24p on the camera at all? Oh, I see.. it's a selling point. They can technically say it shoots 24p, but it matters not that no one can edit the stream it creates. :(
 
Any progress?

Any progress?

Has anyone made any progress with this issue? I am still dealing with it with CS3 on my Mac. Not sure if CS4 takes care of this problem, but it'd be great to be able to use CS3 on my mac. I've been working around the problem by importing on a PC and then using my mac to edit.

I brought this issue to Adobe's attention and they took note of it, but did nothing to solve it. Very disappointing...

I hope someone has had luck solving it though!
 
The only information I have on this is that Canon's professional cameras properly flag the 24pA footage, whereas the consumer cams like HV20 do not. Without the flags, Adobe cannot figure out the cadence of frames. Canon's attitude seemed to be that if you want 24P, use their pro equipment. So why bother putting 24P on a HV20? It's a marketing scam designed to suck in more buyers who hope to use it for 24p shooting. It's making a number of very unhappy people.

I still wait for Sony to develope a tiny version of XDCam that is sized like the HV20, but records in XDCam format that CS3 can recognise as it does with XDCam now.
 
Thank you for the reply. I'm actually more interested in the initial post about a DVX though. I am getting the every 4 frames, deinterlacing/flicker effect and it makes it impossible for me to capture with my mac. This can be a real hassle and I'd love to get it solved.

At the least, I'd love to know if CS4 solves the problem...
 
It looks like the DVX processes it's footage into a 60i DV stream just like the HV20 processes to a 60i HDV stream. Both share the common problem of pulldown needed to recover the progressive frames. It's annoying.
Just to be sure, when you right click the footage asset in Premiere, and choose Interpret Footage, is the 24p detection box grayed out? Canon claims that works if you shoot with Canon's pro gear, but not with the consumer gear. Maybe the same thing with the DVX?
 
Still no 24p on Mac

Still no 24p on Mac

Sorry for the delayed response. I downloaded a trial of CS4 and I tried what you mentioned - right clicked asset and intepreted footage for 24p pull-down. Still face the same problem. Every fourth frame is the same before I do interpret footage, and after I do that interpret pull-down every fourth or so frame looks interlaced and really crappy.

I just can't understand why this all works perfectly on a PC but like crap on a mac. Is there any way to capture 24p DVX footage onto a mac? I'm desperate because I am going oversees shooting with my camera and my macbook pro - need to be able to use them both together.

Thanks for any help out there!
 
There should be a checkbox that reads something like "remove 24P pulldown" or something, right under the frame rate selector. Trouble is, with the Canon footage, that checkbox is greyed out. Your's too? I'm on the Windows version, BTW, so I think it's universal to both platforms.
 
No, the pull-down option is not grayed out and I have used it. Still doesn't help. However, I think I have FINALLY found a workaround. I captured the footage using iMovie - it still has the extra frame in iMovie - then I import the captured clips into a 24p Premier CS3 project. And they look good - no interlacing and no extra frames.

Don't know how it's happening, but seems to be right. Hope this helps some people out there. Although I'd love to find an easier way to capture directly into Premiere...
 
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