Adobe Encore make DVD from 24p HD source?

[Dennis Hingsberg]

I have a final rendered HD 24p file from a client out of FCP and am going to author Blu-Ray and DVD's for him. The Blu-Ray's will be no problem, but in Encore the DVD project setting default is locked to 29.97i because normally a pull-down is employed.

I burned a test DVD and I observed some strange stuttering and I think it the reason is the file he gave me is 24p.

Anyone know anything about changing the project settings in FCP and if that sounds like the right approach?
Or if there is some other option in Encore I can use? Most of the settings under "DVD" are greyed and locked out.

[Randall Leong]

Dennis,

Have you tried transcoding the original 24p HD file to SD MPEG-2 DVD in Premiere (not Encore) using the 23.976p preset? You see, Encore, when attempting to encode MPEG-2 SD from 24p HD files directly, simply adds duplicate frames without adding a pulldown, so that the end result is a 29.97i file that stutters on playback.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

I haven't tried it through Premiere as I would like to avoid any further transcoding. Also the codec is ProRes MOV and not sure that will drop nicely on a timeline in Premiere.

On another thread someone suggested I apply my own pulldown to 29.97 for it to work, but that again would involve further transcoding.

[Peter Manojlovic]

Hey Dennis....

In the past, i used to run a freeware program called pulldown.exe..
You simply drop the 24FPS .m2v into the program, and it would add the pulldown in the stream.

Encore would accept this..
I simply cannot believe AME needs to do a hard telecine on 24P material. Totally unacceptable.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Problem is the client can not create M2V without the "compressor" $50 add-on which Apple removed after version FCP 7.

I only have his MOV ProRes file but my AE would not open it, so I will probably have to try to transcode using Adobe Media Encoder into something else 24p, then bring back in AE to apply 3:2 pull down to 29.97, then drop in Adobe Encore.

I'm not on workstation PC right now but pretty sure that Adobe Encoder can create AC3 and M2V files.

I also read somewhere there needs to be some flag enabled for 3:2 pulldown material when it goes to 29.97 so that once it is burned to DVD specific players can actually remove the pull-down.

:S

[Peter Manojlovic]

Google pulldown.exe

Donald Graft has been making filters and such since the early days...

[Dennis Hingsberg]

I am playing with FCP X on a macbook I have, and it looks like I can ask my client to use SHARE -> DVD and then select the option to make files to hard disk. This will create AC3 and 24p M2V files.

From that, I am hoping I can convert M2V properly to 29.97 version that has some pulldown flag in it...

I can't believe Encore is so stupid that it can not take 24p video and make 29p from it implementing pulldown..

[Peter Manojlovic]

It's not Encore..It's the fact that AME doesn't have a proper 24 preset that leaves the material progressive.
Encore simply uses AME's encoding engine and presets when making compliant DVD's.

I've had to use external encoders in the past..CCE and Tmpgenc..

[Peter Manojlovic]

Just in case you didn't know...

Frames can be encdoded both as 24progressive, and 29.97 interlaced.
Since TV sets don't have 24 progressive as a viewing format, and since it's not a DVD spec, there are flags in the MPEG stream that tell the DVD player to output the progressive stream, as if it were interlaced. It simply grabs the images, and repeats the fields..Sort of like telecining on the fly.

[Harm Millaard]

The remarkable thing is that all commercial Hollywood DVD's are wrapped in an interlaced format. None are progressive, and that is because many people still have DVD players that can not handle progressive material.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Dennis Hingsberg

I have a final rendered HD 24p file from a client out of FCP and am going to author Blu-Ray and DVD's for him. The Blu-Ray's will be no problem, but in Encore the DVD project setting default is locked to 29.97i because normally a pull-down is employed.

I burned a test DVD and I observed some strange stuttering and I think it the reason is the file he gave me is 24p.

Anyone know anything about changing the project settings in FCP and if that sounds like the right approach?
Or if there is some other option in Encore I can use? Most of the settings under "DVD" are greyed and locked out.

Dennis,

I just double-checked your original post and some later responses from others, and now I have to offer a couple of questions:

1) Are you playing back that DVD in question on the computer? Some computer DVD player software do not support the pulldown, locking the playback of all DVDs (including Hollywood major studio DVDs) to 29.97 fps.

2) If you are playing back that DVD in a standalone home video player, it is likely that the player itself isn't reading the pulldown flags properly.

In addition to the above, AME CS6 does have the occasional habit of producing strange stuttering in MPEG-2 DVD encodes even when presented with 29.97i material.

[Tim Kolb]

When you say "24p" you mean a 23.976 fps file, right?