HDCAM 23.98 to 25 fps in FCP
by John Byrne
on
May 7, 2008 at 6:18:12 pm
Hello,
My query is regarding a conform for a 25fps sequence I have cut that contains a lot of 23.98 source material.
I've just learned that a 25fps cross-conversion of this particular source material is not going to be available, only a 23.98 master (everything else is 25fps acquired). But I still have to deliver at 25.
So my question is - will it be possible to ingest the 23.98 natively at 4:2:2 and incorporate it into my 1920/1080 25fps sequence with a 4% speedup. My research conclusion is that in theory this will work but I'm concerned the 23.98 will be all 'wonky' or something similar, or that there will be a quality loss on output.
Re: HDCAM 23.98 to 25 fps in FCP by Jesse Rosen on May 8, 2008 at 1:22:46 am
The 23.98 clips can be conformed to 25 easily in Cinema Tools. No render is necessary, though the audio will now be at the wrong sample rate and need to be rendered.
That said, if you have a fairly small amount of footage (because this process is SLOW) you can do a pretty decent quality frame rate conversion in compressor and not have to change the speed of your piece.
Re: HDCAM 23.98 to 25 fps in FCP by John Byrne on May 8, 2008 at 9:22:12 am
Jesse thanks very much for getting back to me.
I've been reading up on Cinema Tools - which sounds perfect - I didn't even know I had it!
If I understand it correctly, using this I could feasibly create a 23.98 and 25 frame version for layoff and thus deliver at both rates, cross-converting the different segments of material depending on the destination each time.
The piece is 15 minutes and will be distributed in America and the UK, so if I can do this it will keep a lot of people happy.
Re: HDCAM 23.98 to 25 fps in FCP by Jesse Rosen on May 8, 2008 at 11:09:04 am
There are two caveats I would mention. The first you already know, which is that the speed of your clips increases by 4%, so to keep the length of our piece the same you'll have to re-edit.
The second is that the conform procedure in Cinema Tools changes the original clip - it doesn't make a copy. If you want 2 versions of the clip, make a copy first, then do the 25fps conform on the copy.
Actually, there is a third, which is that in some cases the 4% increase in pitch of the audio can be disturbing. Especially if there's dialog, and some clips are changed and some aren't. If this happens to you, the best thing to do is to pitch shift the converted clip back down 4%. This can be done in Soundtrack Pro (which you also have).
With these considerations, then yes, I think it is feasible to deliver 2 versions of the same material.
