PAL and HD

I built a 12 min vid in HD (1440x1080)

Once a rough cut was completed and sent to the client for review
I was informed that it is now going to Europe and Europe only.

So now I need to rebuild this in PAL.

having never built anything in PAL I am looking for some guidance.

How do i set up HD in PAL?
What would be the proper sequence settings be for this?

thanks a bunch


Jason
dual 2Ghz G5 4gRAM

What frame rate did you use in your HD cut?

Standard Definition PAL Full Height Anamorphic will be 25fps 720x576 Upper field dominant (for Digibeta, SP, SX, etc) or Lower Field dominant for DV/DVCAM

You can use 8-bit or 10-bit Uncompressed 4:2:2 or PAL DV 4:2:0

48kHz 16-bit Stereo or Dual mono (or upto 4 tracks on Digibeta)

You can stretch your 1440x1080 down to 720x576 FHA as both are Anamorphic widescreen.


But depending on the frame rate you used on your master you may have some other standards conversion to do.

Or are you being asked for an HD in 50i? Please clarify.



Ben



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

<<<I built a 12 min vid in HD (1440x1080) >>>

First a quick note. You didn't do it in straight HiDef. That would have been 1920x1080. You're probably working in HDV which is conventional 4x3 with lots of tricks to "look like" 16:9 HiDef.

I point that out because HDV is a delicate flower and doesn't stand up to post production very well.
Go over to Nattress.com and find out if his standards conversion software is HDV compliant.

You may be able to do this in Compressor, too, but you can retire to a cottage in Boca Raton waiting for it to work.

Koz

or master out to NTSC tape and take it to a house for conversion. Might look better thru a hardware conversion rather than software for HDV based footage.

_CHL

Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Television Editor
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Instructor

Definetly go the tape route. Software conversions don't do the job well, and especially not in any flavor of HD.

Thanks for the response

OK

So heres the deal 90% of this is vid are title slates and HD stock footage

frame rate: 25fps

I was asked to master a DVD in PAL format AFTER
I already built the thing. I was also asked to change it from wide screen to full frame. (sorry missed that detail first time)

So I pretty sure I have to built this sucker again and was looking to find out how to set up my
sequence settings etc. so that this will be in proper PAL format.

thanks for all the great feedback


Jason

Ok so now it becomes easier.

To make a 16:9 SD version

Export your master movie and then downconvert it in compressor to SD PAL 16:9 DVD

As you are already at 25fps - this will give you a widescreen DVD in PAL and it should look great.



However for 4:3 full frame you will need to either crop left and right of frame or do a letterbox version

If they want full frame and your graphics won't fit then you may need to recreate the media to fit the 4:3


To make a letterbox version on 4:3

? Make a new 4:3 PAL DV (or uncompressed 8/10bit) sequence (use easy setup before you create the sequence)

? then simply drop the old master sequence onto the new timeline (it should resize the HD master to a 16:9 letterboxed version in the middle 75% of the screen)


To make a 4:3 full frame version

? Drop the master sequence into the timeline as above

? Right-click (ctrl-click) the nested sequence "open in viewer"

? Select the motion tab

? scale to 66.66%


If you wish to pan left and right on each clip:

? use the blade tool to separate the nested sequence into "clips" and move each of these left or right

or

? move each clip in the original sequence that you used for the nest (I'd recommend using a copy of your master sequence first!)


Ben



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]