FCP Setup for Footage shot HD, But Downconverting to Standard

I have a G5 (no Intel chip) with a Sony Digital HD Videocassette Recorder that will downconvert to standard on input of footage into the computer. For edit purposes, should I be changing my FCP setup to HD or keep it as standard?
Last time I did that (standard setting), it tripled the input time as the box could not keep up. Any tricks I should know about?

What camera? Specific model type and type of media it records. Without that, we can't offer any substantial advice.
G5s are getting long in the tooth. Laptops now run circles around them. It was good for a few formats of HD, but not all, and not the newer formats.
Now, the question about keeping it HD or going SD is all up to you. What is the deliverable? What is the final product going to be? DVD? BluRay? HD tape? That dictates what your working conditions are.
Shane

Similar Messages

How do you prepare FCP for footage shot on HD 1080i x 720?

Hi,
I have HD footage shot on a JVC camera 1080i x 720 that was saved to Quicklime on a DVD disc. I dragged and dropped the footage onto the timeline and, of course, the image doesn't know if it wants to look like 16:9 of 4:3.
I switched anamorphic on and off but that only increased the warp look.
1. Are there settings that need to be set before dropping the footage on the timeline?
2. Are there tutorials on this subject?
I'm using OS X 10.4.11 Mac 5
Thanks for your time.

No, I am not sure.
And the footage is a FCP file and not QuickTime as I originally thought. My bad
This is what I was told by the person that gave me the DVD. I did tell her to talk to the videographer and ask him various questions...what frame rate and aspect ratio was the footage shot at.
I'm still waiting for her response.
But I can not seem to get a normal visual with the footage I have as it appears on the timeline. Shouldn't I still be able to control or remedy that without any other information?
Thanks for your time.

What's the best FCP6 easy setup for HD shot on Canon XHA1?

Hi, I'm sorry to ask such a novice question, but I want to make sure I'm starting correctly. Anyone have advice on the best easy setup to use for a project that will be predominantly footage shot in HD at 30P on the Canon XH-A1? It will also include a little bit of HD footage shot through a Canon 5D markii, but I think I understand how to bring those clips in later using log and transfer and the appropriate Canon EOS codec deal.
I'm just still not sure of the difference between HDV, DVCPRO HD, and all those other easy presets that are listed out...
thanks much!
-Sarah

I tried to search through other threads before posting my question, but I guess I didn't come across yours.
It was in response to your other question on the forums... So it was an answer directly to you.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2486111&tstart=0
As for your other question, that I also answered...use the camera if you want to shoot 30F or 24F, or shoot 60i and use the deck. Those are your choices. There is no deck that deals with Canon's F format...and they don't make decks. Silly stupid.
Shane

After "send to FCP" my HD footage are jittery but Pal is ok. Why?

Hi i hope you all can help me.
I edited is sequence with DVCPRO HD 1080i/50 mixed with Anamorphic PAL clips and all was fine. Every clip played back smoothly.
I then graded the sequence in color/rendered and then sent back to FCP. Then all the HD clips plays back jittery. It look like a shift field problem but it is not. All the Pall clips are fine.
I tried copying the color sequence to my original sequence but still the same problem.
Thanks
Andre

I never mix formats, frame rates, frame sizes or codecs when I send to Color. Also, I don't work in PAL so I haven't kept on this problem but Color used to have some problems working w/PAL and w/working w/DVCPro HD that ran at 50hz. I don't know if the most current version of Color still has these problems, but the first thing I would do is make on timeline in FCP that's only PAL footage and another thats only DVCPro HD footage and Color them separately. Color is not good at handling interlaced footage so it might be getting hung up because the field order of those two formats isn't the same.
-A

Removing pulldown for footage shot in 24p

I just got a canon hf10 camcorder and I was using the 24p mode, but then I was told that my camera does not record true 24p. In order to get true 24p from that, I need to remove pulldown.
How does one remove pulldown using final cut pro?

Well I read your reponse and then got excited, but then I read this, and now Im even more lost. I am looking for a way that "just works", and the manuals dont help much.
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue33/HF10WKTH.html
Final Cut Pro and Cinema Tools
Don’t try to remove the pull-down in Final Cut Pro or in Cinema Tools. Final Cut Pro actually passes the frames through to Cinema Tools to perform the pull-down removal, and Cinema Tools cannot remove the pull-down from this footage because it cannot deal with temporally-compressed video. If you try this you will get footage that looks like it is 24p, but will have peculiar interlaced frames where Cinema Tools has incorrectly removed a good frame and left a pull-down frame in place. Also, Cinema Tools will replace the original MOV file, not create a separate file. So it is destructive. And if you have Reverse Telecine operating in Final Cut Pro during Log and Transfer, it will result in an incorrect and unusable file.
Message was edited by: piff aroni

Is it possible to convert footage shot in widescreen mode to standard ?

We used two cameras. One with standard settings and the other with accidental wide-screen settings and now need to have them look similar in a project. Please help.When we expand the wide-screen footage it blurs a bit. Thanks!

Fire the shooter.
You must scale up the letterboxed shot or you must scale down and letterbox the correct shot. If you scale the letterboxed shot, you're making the pixels bigger so, of course, the shot will get blurry. IUf you scale down and crop the correct shot, you are throwing away a bunch of pixels and it will look blurry, too, but in a different way.
You can hide your screwup by applying a similar amount of pixelation and blurriness to your correctly shot footage.
This is a painful lesson in double checking your shooters' abilities to use their tools. Happens. Don't let it happen again.
bogiesan

Paying for HD programming but only have standard STB's.

I mistakenly posted this message in the internet forum so am reposting it here.
In Jan. I was persuaded to lock in an upgraded FIOS plan with 25/25 with HBO & movie package. I was looking at my bill yesterday & realized I was paying for HD on the movie package. I've had FIOS for 3 years now & still have all my old original equipment. The STB's are QIP2500-1 & the modem is a Motorola NIM100. Do I have to pay even more money to be able to see what I am already paying for?
Thanks
Al
P.S. As of a few months ago, I can also can not get the weather widget on my sets.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

If you subscribe to the movie package(s) you get both HD and SD versions (there is no pricing difference for SD only). If you want to be able to watch the movie channels in HD then you will need to upgrade your STB to an HD model. Unless you live in the NY metro area that will be a change in monthly rental to $9.99.
If a forum member gives an answer you like, give them the Kudos they deserve. If a member gives you the answer to your question, mark the answer as Accepted Solution so others can see the solution to the problem.

Easy Setup for MiniDV/CAM PD150

what is the appropriate preset to choose/use in easy setup for footage shot on a PD150 ( 16:9 WIDE and Audio FS48K ) ? So many preset to choose from ?
Thank you for your help.
N

thank you so much Tom . N

FCP settings for HDCAM 1080 @ 50i

Hello people,
This is my 1st (of many I'm sure) posts..
I have a bunch of tapes shot on a HDCAM 750 and 1080/50i. I've poppped them into FCP at DVCPRO50 for the rough cut.
What settings do I use witin FCP to capture the HDCAM uncompressed.. I have a Kona LHe and 3Tb of storage on a fibre channel, 8 gig RAM so we're ready to cook.. just not sure which setting to go.. I'm confused with the 50i thing.. there's not an 'easy setup' for this.. Is there?
Help me people!

Welcome to the forums.
Yes, I have the Kona LH as well and I note that there isn't an Easy Setup for 1080i50. 1080i25, but not 50. Could it be as simple as duplicating a 1080i25 setup, and changing the frame rate from 25 to 50? I dunno...that is an AWEFULLY high rate. There isn't a 1080i60 either. The highest it goes is 29.97. And when I deliver 1080 masters, they are 23.98.
I only mention the duplicating option as I see that Decklink HD codecs offer that option.
What happens if you capture at uncompressed 10-bit HD 1080i25?
Shane

E72 but with a standard mobile keypad

Are there any plans for an E72 phone but with a standard mobile keypad (ie not qwerty but ABC/DEF/GHI etc)?

Does it have to be an E series model?
Have you considered any of nokia's other 5MP smartphones that have the same (or newer OS)?
For example:
6720classic (standard keypad)
6700slide (standard keypad)
N79 (standard keypad)
N97/mini (on screen standard keypad + slide out qwerty)
C6 (on screen standard keypad + slide out qwerty)
Unfortunately other than that all you can do is wait and hope that a future model will have the features you need.

What Compressor codec should I use for footage recorded on a Canon T3i, edited on FCP 6, and intended for Vimeo?

I am looking for help!
My planned workflow is as follows:
Footage recorded on Canon Rebel T3i ---> Edited on Final Cut Pro 6 (sequence compression is apparently H.264 according to the browser) ---> Compressed with Compressor (ver 3.0.5) in original 1920 x 1080, 24p format ---> Uploaded to Vimeo
I am now at the point where I am trying to find a Compressor setting that will create a compressed movie that looks somewhat similar to what I see in the canvas in Final Cut Pro 6. I have tried using the H.264, Apple ProRes 422(HQ), HD Uncompressed 8-bit, and XDCAM HD 1080p24 settings and in all cases, my movie plays back fine, however, the brightness/exposure seems to be hiked up a few stops and there is a substantial amount of noise in both the blacks and midtones that doesn't appear in FCP's canvas.
My compressed movie I wish to export is only intended for Vimeo (similar to Youtube). Is there a different setting I should be trying, or perhaps a way of downloading a more effective or current codec?? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated as it is very disappointing to see my movie degraded so much from its orginal quality.
Shaun M

H.264. But the FCP Legacy (FCP 7 and earlier) Canvas and Viewer aren't color accurate. Not designed to be. Their purpose is to show you what you are doing, show you the footage so you can make editing decisions. For color accuracy, the ideal way, since this was designed with television and feature editing in mind, is to have an IO device like those AJA.com and DECKLINK.com make, and send the signal to an HDTV or broadcast monitor.
Apple has realized that more and more people are editing for the web and computers only, so they made it so that FCX's viewer IS color accurate. So...what that means is that currently, using what you have, you won't get things to match....they aren't designed to. So you can adjust for what happens when you export.
But a big issue is that you are editing H.264 in FCP native. FCP doesn't work with H.264 native well, all sorts of potential issues can arise. Sync issues, quality issues, the correct shot be exported, all sorts of things. FCP works best with the FCP editing codecs. What are they? They are found in the EASY SETUP list. But for HD, the most commonly used option is ProRes 422. There is a BIG problem that FCP Legacy will SEEM like it'll work with H.264 natively just fine...it doens't throw up any warnings. That is bad. Also something Apple fixed with FCX.
The fact that you are editing H.264, and trying to export H.264, might also lead to the footage being more off that it would if you edited ProREs 422, and exported H.264. Note...H.264 is a higher data rate codec, and easier for FCP to work with...but because it has a higher data rate, the file sizes are much higher than the original H.264. 5-6x larger. FCP 7 did have a way to import Canon 5D, 7D and T2i (needed a hack with the T2i) via Log and Transfer. But it doesn't work with the T3i...not even with that hack. Because FCP 7 was no longer updated after the T3i came out. It's 4 year old software, discontinued 2 years ago.
If you want to edit native, you need to look at Adobe Premiere Pro CC. It's interface is more accurate too.

No bars for 16:9 footage shots using XL2

I'm using FCS 2 (FCP 6), recently have completed my shooting using XL2 (Cine Gamma, Cine Matrix) 25p, 16:9.
Now, when imported footage and placed in the timeline (settings: PAL 48 kzh) I don't see top and bottom bars.
Even tried with PAL 48 kzh Anamorphic.
Its quite urgent to complete the project, hence I look forward to see your valued inputs and suggestions.
Regards
Roy

Santu Roy wrote:
You mean it does not show bars in the Canvas? then why I see gray bars sometime?
Hi Roy,
Yes I mean you are not supposed to see black bars in the Canvas!!
My guess is that the grey bars you are seeing are part of the Viewer or Canvas because you have changed the aspect ratio of your footage as you described above. They are not part of your footage! so you can ignore them. They are part of the FCP User Interface.
Here is a way to verify this...
Create a project in FCP Make sure that it is DV PAL 48 KHz with a 4:3 aspect ratio, i.e. Anamorphic is off.
Create a sequence in the project and make sure the Sequence settings are the same as the project settings.
Reset the View in FCP by selecting Window> Arrange> Standard.
You should now have 4:3 aspect Viewer and Canvas.
Now import some footage into the project. Doesn't matter what it is.
In the Bin Ctrl>Click on the imported footage and choose Item Properties> Format... from the Menu.
Scroll through the format properties until you see Anamorphic and make sure it is NOT ticked. This indicates that the footage will display as 4:3 which is what we want for the purpose of this test.
Click OK to exit the format properties.
In the BIn double click on the footage to load it into the viewer. The footage should fill the Viewer with no bars on top bottom or sides.
Drag the footage to the Canvas to insert it into the sequence. The footage should fill the Canvas with no bars on top bottom or sides.
Now go back to the bin. Ctrl>Click on the footage again and choose Item Properties> Format... again.
Scroll to the Anamorphic field again but this time turn on Anamorphic by clicking in the Clip column. A tick should appear next to Anamorphic and...
Grey bars will appear above and below the footage in the Viewer.
The same thing will happen in the Canvas if you select Sequence> Settings and click the Anamorphic check box in the General Tab.
Now... If these are the grey bars you are referring to then as you can see they are nothing to do with your footage. They belong to FCP. So you can ignore them. If you want to get rid of them Here's how...
Resize the Viewer and Canvas windows so that the grey bars dissappear, (drag the windows from the bottom right corner to resize). This will also free up more workspace area for you which is a bonus.
If you want to avoid seeing the grey bars again then save a custom window layout in Window> Arrange> Save Window Layout...
I think that should solve that one... Happy days!
Now for the second part of your question...
Santu Roy wrote:
Else how do I get bars while exporting as MPEG2?
There is more confusion here...
Why do you want the Bars in your MPEG2?
The only reason reason to create an MPEG2 with black bars from your source footage, (which is 16:9 FHA) is if you intend your master to be viewed or displayed only on 4:3 devices or frames. i.e. 4:3 TV's, 4:3 Computer Monitors, 4:3 Studio Monitors, 4:3 Projecters, or on a website in a 4:3 frame such as YouTube. Most of those just mentioned are "old technology" now.
All 16:9 devices will automatically display the footage correctly if set to do so.
If you really need to do this then it is something that can be easily done in Compressor using the letterbox filter. However, be sure you need it to do it. Remember that you are basically reducing the size of your original footage and also, if people view it on a 16:9 display it will look strange.
I've always referred to this process as "Deep letterbox 16:9 for 4:3 output" but I'm sure it is called other things as well.
Whether you decide to add the bars to your MPEG or not, remember it is something you would do on your edit master so you can go ahead with the edit without the bars for now anyway.
Hope this helps you,
Best regards.

Help on FCP workflow for a shortform project shot on EX-1 with mixed media

I am about to start the editing process on a project shot with the EX-1. It will be a recruiting video for students aimed primarily at DVD distribution and web video.
It is a shortform project...about 15-20 minutes in duration. About 90% of the footage I am editing will be off the EX-1 (1080 24p). The other 10% is some HDV footage shot at 1080i at 29.97 and some NTSC 4:3 footage 29.97.
I wanted to ask the best way to approach the project and get some forum input.
There will no heavy duty video filters or manipulation. Some lower thirds to identify, etc.
What would users suggest as the sequence settings for the editing timeline in FCP? (If it's a 24p XDCAM EX timeline (no transcoding for the EX-1 footage), then I worry about how FCP will drop frames on the HDV footage and the NTSC footage to make it 24fps). Would it be better to have a XDCAM timeline that is 1080 29.97i (and maybe that setting will better integrate all the footage? Drop everything into that timeline?
Or should I convert all the raw footage to ProRes 422 before editing begins? If so, at what frame rate/format for the three types of material I have?
This is my first foray into mixed media on the timeline...and that's why I am asking assistance on the best way to approach it. Trying to make for the least number of headaches!
Thanks for any help you can offer...
John

NO no no no no no no no no no no no!!!!
DO NOT USE ProRes 4444! Just because it has a higher number and higher data rate does NOT mean that it is appropriate for editing. What is it with people going "it is bigger, therefore it MUST be better." It isn't.
Regular ProRes 422. Not HQ, NOT 444. 4444 is meant as an ANIMATION codec replacement for embedded alpha channel work, and HQ is for 10-bit and 2K workflows. The EX is an 8-bit codec, so ProRes 422 is the way to go.
Lordy....
Shane

I already have a valid payment method for my iTunes account, but can't get past the Family Sharing setup prompt telling me to add a payment method . What to do?

I already have a valid payment method for my iTunes account, but can't get past the Family Sharing setup prompt telling me to add a payment method . What to do?

I had the same problem and found a bunch of others did, too. Unfortunately all the posts had no responses! Anyway, I previously had my payment method linked to my paypal. I tried changing it to my credit card and it worked. Don't know if there's a bug with using paypal but that seemed to be the culprit for me. Good luck!

I'm editing a wedding that I shot for a family member but when I play it in the viewing window the top of it is cropped off but I can see the whole image in the project strip. will the whole image transfer when I make a dvd or will it crop the top ?

I'm editing a wedding that I shot for a family member, But when I play it the top of the image is cropped off in the veiwing window but it shows the whole image in the project strip. When I make a DVD with it transfer the whole image or will it be the chopped off image and how do I make sure it is the whole image ?

What version of iMovie are you using?
For 9.09..
If the image is not 720p, you might have to crop it to have freehand control over which bit gets cut off.
How to crop it...
In the project window hover your cursor over a section of the clip in the bottom right corner as seen below:
Click on the cog and open up Cropping,Ken Burns and Rotation.
Click on Crop and drag and set to where you want it to be cropped, then click Done. (Because mine isn't 720p, iMovie automatically makes it so I cannot include the black border. If you do not mind this click Allow Black.)
Glad if this helped! Please rate up.

FCP Setup for Footage shot HD, But Downconverting to Standard

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