NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2007

[Elmer Lang]

I've been reading posts but still have some questions.

I want to export my 16:9 project out of Final Cut Pro to Compressor.
As suggested for use elsewhere, Compressor's QT7 (fast download) H.264 LAN option gives me this, I changed the size to 640x360 (16:9):

Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 640
Height: 360
Pixel aspect ratio: 0.75
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Key frame interval: 15

This is different from Youtube's recommended specs (320x240, MP3, 30fps, MPEG4).

Should I strictly adhere to their specs OR:

Will the greater size (640x360) yield a better looking vid after they recompress?

Do they really want 4:3 even if the movie is 16x9?

They say 30fps. Is 29.97 not close enough?

On the next to last tab (Geometry) I changed the "Pixel aspect ratio" to HDV 1080i (16:9) and the "Constrain to display aspect" to 16:9. Wrong move both times?

MP3 is not an option in the H.264 LAN choice. Is AAC @ 48khz good enough or what is best?

Hope this post is not too convoluted but I'd appreciate some comments.

thanks
elmer

[Ryan P. Green]

Hey all. I've got a couple of editing stations at my college's TV station, and they're all set up essentially identically (different screen sizes, but essentially the same). They all have Sony DSR-1500A's as decks, running FCP 5.1.4. Normally we can view audio and video from the deck as it is playing out in FCP, along with Print to Tape. However, on our main machine we can only sometimes view video, specifically when there isn't any tape in the deck, and there is never any audio.

Also, yes I have ensured that my Audio/Video settings are set properly, and that "all frames" is set.

[Larry Vaughn]

An hdv tape shot in Canon XH-A1 HDV 60i format was loaded into a lapmac with FCP. The quick time files were then burned to dvd. When transferred to another mac, they can't be viewed with I-Movie or the latest version of quick time.

Also, widescreen still frame j-pegs from the same tape via FCP look squished when viewed in another program.

They do look fine in FCP on the original laptop.

Ideas?

[Sharon Pieczenik]

So, I shot on my JVC GYHD110U in 24fps HDV. I made it a m2t file through DVHSCap - then a quicktime file in MPEGStreamclip. I imported the quicktime movie file into FCP. I made a sequence that was HDV 24p. I did Apple+Zero to make sure everything about my sequence matched its compression and frame rates.

All is good (aka video and audio is there) BUT the audio is a slight bit off. I think it might be ahead of the video. Any ideas what went wrong and how to fix it?

Thanks,
Sharon

[Joe Goldsberry]

Hey,

I just edited a 1080i video using FCP 5.1.4 using the Apple AIC codec. I exported to Compressor using SD 16x9 Best settings (letterbox). The SD DVD's video is jaggy. Is it a field order issue or should I deinterlace.

Funny, I used the same settings when I did 720p and the DVD looked great.

Thanks,
Joe

[Ryan Flesher]

I need some advice. I am shooting a documentary with a Canon xh-A1 using the 24f setting. I have captured 20 hours of footage and have a nice 24p HDV timeline that flies on my Dual Mac.
I just bought the Canon HV20 and am using it as a 'POV' camera. I have found that you can't capture the 24p footage the HV20 shoots onto a 24p timeline (it captures as 60i only).
What would be the best solution for me?
1) Shoot as 60i and then convert it to 24p using Magic bullet? ($$$)
2) Shoot as 24p and remove the pulldown using Cinema Tools? (If I do this, will it then be able to edit right into a 24p timeline?)
3) Wait for A FCP update (6.0?) that hopefully will remove the 24p pulldown on the fly when capturing?
Thanks for any help.
Ryan

[Martin Saxer]

I can‘t test it out as I presently have no HDV camera at hand: Is the time and date information preserved when captured as HDV in FCP? If not, is there a way to preserve the original date and time stamp?

Martin

[Mathew Jones]

I'm looking for feedback from people who are shooting 30p with the V1U, cutting (in FCP or Avid), and outputting to tape -- do you have a workflow that you're happy with? If so, do you mind sharing it and the config of your edit system?

Thanks for the help,
MJ

[Steve Whitlow]

Ok, I've got 2 hours of video that I shot with an HC5 (borrowed for the weekend) and I only have iMovieHD to work with it. The laptop is a MacBook Pro Dual Core (2.13) with 2GB of ram.

When I try to export the video using expert settings, most of the options I come up with look terrible. What would be a good method to simply take the clips I want and export so that I can view the files on my Mac (mp4? mov?) at native resolution?

[Scott Di Lalla]

Hey Everyone,
I've still got some tech questions coming up as we begin editing our new feature brit bike doc "Brittown". Here goes...

We shot the entire project on our XL2 in 24pA anamorphic and then mistakenly captured footage for our first teaser in 24p Standard and edited it in a 29.97 timeline and output to Quicktime and then Flash... jeez Louise... The Flash is just for the web, but thankfully it alerted us to the problems before we captured for the full edit... (see teaser here)

1. If I captured some footage in 24p standard, do I need to recature the footage in 24pA or is there a way to convert the files we already catured?

2. I read that editing in a 24p timeline and ending up with a 24p NTSC DVD can look much better than a 24p project edited and finished to a 29.97NTSC DVD; do people agree with this assessment?

2b. Also, we sell about half of our DVDs overseas and thus far have had no problem with the international DVD players and TVs playing our 29.97 NTSC discs...will the players still be OK playing 24p NTSC discs?

Thanks and happy Monday...

[Jeff Nelson]

I made an important discovery -- if you have your BNC cable plugged into the Composite OUT plug, it's going to do funky things! So I corrected, and plugged into the Composite IN plug in the Sony...and it's an entirely different picture!

Operator error!

[Matthew Rogers]

So I have a bunch of shots of food that I did today that I am trying to work with in After Effects. I captured the clips with DVHS, transcoded to Sheer video with MPEGStremclip, and then conformed the 30P files to 23.98 in cinema tools. The only problem is when I conform them to 23.98, they drop in resolution. Therefore, when I bring them into After Effects, they are 480P sized, not 720P. If I don't run them through cinema tools, then rez is fine. I've also checked to make sure it's not the Sheer codec that's the problem. I'm starting to think the problem is with AE since when I open the conformed files in QT player, they are the correct size.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks,

Matthew Rogers

[Roberto Bellini]

Okay two questions: (I use Final Cut 5.1.4 and a Can on XH-A1)

- I recently tried to log and capture a tape of HDV 108024p using the on camera downconvert, thinking I would edit the sd offline and then reconnect by batch capturing from the HDV with native compression. To do this I simply told Final Cut to take the clips offline, exported the batch list into a clean project with all the capture settings set to 108024p HDV.
Turns out it didn't work... for some reason Final Cut acts very irrational with the timecode. Is this simply not possible? Or am I doing something wrong!?

-Another problem I have had is capturing this same 108024p HDV footage while doing the realtime AIC conversion... The clips show up as 29.97fps and with audio out of sync. Any Ideas? FCP won't let me edit the capture preset to change the framerate...

I would appreciate any help!!

[Steven Galvano]

Just loaded FCP v5.1 -- I was surprised not to see a Sequence Setting for HDV 1080p30.
What preset do I use for 30f footage shot with a a1?

[Joe Main]

Anyon know of any books or tutorials on Compressor? I bought the apple pro training series book but was wondering if there was anything else out there that went in-depth into the different features and what they all mean and do. Thanks!