Steven Dempsey
June 12th, 2006, 09:13 PM
I posted this over at the Cineform site but I figured I'd post it here also in case any users have encountered the same problem. Sorry for the long windedness of this post but there's no simple way of explaining the problem:
Here's what happens:
Import Canon XLH1 footage via HD Link with remove 3-2 pulldown selected. Check the m2t file in VLC player and Media Player Classic and it looks great.
Import into Premiere via the Cineform project setting for the Canon. Do a little color correction. Render on the timeline, looks great. Next, export again to Cineform m2t file.
Open HD Link again and export footage back to the Canon XLH1.
Simple, right? Should work fine.
When I look at what's going back into the camera, the footage is strobing in a jumpy way like there is some issue with pulldown. I've seen this before where the fields were not interpreted properly and it messes up the motion completely.
What settings should I be using for the m2t to export back to the camera correctly?
I'm sure this problem can be duplicated at your end.
Tim responded to this post by suggesting I capture footage via HDLink with the pulldown option deselected. I followed his advice and here's my response:
I tried what you suggested and the same thing is still happening. It's only if I choose 1080i 29.97 export setting for m2t does the motion look normal. Why is this?
(Premiere still crashes at the end of my m2t export every time).
Are we not dealing with 23.976 files? When I captured as you suggested, with pulldown unselected, I had After Affects interpret the file and it said 29.97. I captured the same file with pulldown selected and After Effects also interpreted the file as 29.97
When I let Premiere Pro 2.0 interpret the file, it reads it at 23.976. Aaargh, this is frustrating and confusing. The files play perfectly on the Premiere timeline so something is going awry in the export process.
No matter how I capture the footage in HDLink (with pulldown unchecked or checked) it seems like HDLink's export to the camera maybe messing up because when I play the created m2t files using VLC or Media Player Classic, the motion looks fine.
Also, I have never been able to get the "scene detect" option to work while capturing using HDLink. Does it have something to do with that not supporting the Canon?
I have the absolute latest version of Aspect HD and I always uninstall the old version before installing the new.
Further tests:
I captured footage via HDLink and then took that same file and exported it back to the camera via HDLink and it played fine.
I then took the two files (one captured in HDLink with pulldown deselected and one captured in HDLink with pulldown selected), imported them into Premiere and rendered each of them as separate m2t files using the Cineform M2T 23.976p/60i option in Premiere Pro 2.0 and sent both of them to tape using Vegas 6.0d and the same stuttering effect happened.
My conclusion is this:
The problem is with the Premiere export selection. Cineform M2T 23.976p/60i export setting does not work with the XLH1 footage even though it really should in my mind. Correct me if I'm wrong Tim. Should I be using the Cineform M2T 1080i 29.97 setting for export instead?
It would really help if you could post a complete workflow for me (including all settings) from capture to output back to tape.
I have Premiere 1.5.1 installed as well as Premiere Pro 2.0 and the latest (build 60) version of Aspect HD.
The reason I am outputting back to the camera right now is because it's the only means I have to watch it on an HD display. Given that there is no settled upon standard for HD DVDs yet, I have no other choice with my current set up. My motherboard does not have a PCI-X slot and I can't afford to upgrade it right now so I don't have the option to watch output on an HD display while editing.
Oh, and one more thing to mention while I have your attention:
Anytime I capture m2t files using HDLink, the first two frames are always, without exception, corrupted. They show huge macro blocks. What causes this?
Here's what happens:
Import Canon XLH1 footage via HD Link with remove 3-2 pulldown selected. Check the m2t file in VLC player and Media Player Classic and it looks great.
Import into Premiere via the Cineform project setting for the Canon. Do a little color correction. Render on the timeline, looks great. Next, export again to Cineform m2t file.
Open HD Link again and export footage back to the Canon XLH1.
Simple, right? Should work fine.
When I look at what's going back into the camera, the footage is strobing in a jumpy way like there is some issue with pulldown. I've seen this before where the fields were not interpreted properly and it messes up the motion completely.
What settings should I be using for the m2t to export back to the camera correctly?
I'm sure this problem can be duplicated at your end.
Tim responded to this post by suggesting I capture footage via HDLink with the pulldown option deselected. I followed his advice and here's my response:
I tried what you suggested and the same thing is still happening. It's only if I choose 1080i 29.97 export setting for m2t does the motion look normal. Why is this?
(Premiere still crashes at the end of my m2t export every time).
Are we not dealing with 23.976 files? When I captured as you suggested, with pulldown unselected, I had After Affects interpret the file and it said 29.97. I captured the same file with pulldown selected and After Effects also interpreted the file as 29.97
When I let Premiere Pro 2.0 interpret the file, it reads it at 23.976. Aaargh, this is frustrating and confusing. The files play perfectly on the Premiere timeline so something is going awry in the export process.
No matter how I capture the footage in HDLink (with pulldown unchecked or checked) it seems like HDLink's export to the camera maybe messing up because when I play the created m2t files using VLC or Media Player Classic, the motion looks fine.
Also, I have never been able to get the "scene detect" option to work while capturing using HDLink. Does it have something to do with that not supporting the Canon?
I have the absolute latest version of Aspect HD and I always uninstall the old version before installing the new.
Further tests:
I captured footage via HDLink and then took that same file and exported it back to the camera via HDLink and it played fine.
I then took the two files (one captured in HDLink with pulldown deselected and one captured in HDLink with pulldown selected), imported them into Premiere and rendered each of them as separate m2t files using the Cineform M2T 23.976p/60i option in Premiere Pro 2.0 and sent both of them to tape using Vegas 6.0d and the same stuttering effect happened.
My conclusion is this:
The problem is with the Premiere export selection. Cineform M2T 23.976p/60i export setting does not work with the XLH1 footage even though it really should in my mind. Correct me if I'm wrong Tim. Should I be using the Cineform M2T 1080i 29.97 setting for export instead?
It would really help if you could post a complete workflow for me (including all settings) from capture to output back to tape.
I have Premiere 1.5.1 installed as well as Premiere Pro 2.0 and the latest (build 60) version of Aspect HD.
The reason I am outputting back to the camera right now is because it's the only means I have to watch it on an HD display. Given that there is no settled upon standard for HD DVDs yet, I have no other choice with my current set up. My motherboard does not have a PCI-X slot and I can't afford to upgrade it right now so I don't have the option to watch output on an HD display while editing.
Oh, and one more thing to mention while I have your attention:
Anytime I capture m2t files using HDLink, the first two frames are always, without exception, corrupted. They show huge macro blocks. What causes this?