Problems converting from PAL to NTSC

I was wondering if anyone I could help me with a problem I am having. I am having difficulty maintaining the quality of picture when we convert from PAL to NTSC. First I finish the project in PAL. Then once the sequence is complete, I convert the sequence to NTSC using the "QuickTime Conversion" option. But I seam to be doing something wrong and I was wondering if I could get some help. The problem seams to be that when the camera in the sean moves we get jitters and screen glitches. As long as there is no movement we are ok not great but ok. Can you more accurately help me with the settings ether using you system or apple system. We have a 3Ghz Quad core/OS10.4.9 with a Blackmagic Multibridge Extreme and Final Cut Studio 2.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Stansfield
President
Video Engineer
P.O. Box 17331
Encino, CA 91416
818-624-4242 Cell
818-342-3725 Office Only in evenings
818-342-3725 Fax
[www.advantagevideosystems.com]
Jeff@advantagevideosystems.com

Final Cut doesn't do a good job on any kind of conversion involving cadence, frame rates, and standards. I believe most people in here with experience in PAL-NTSC would recommend Nattress Standards Converter:

[www.lafcpug.org]
[www.nattress.com]

Graeme frequents the forum -- I'll let him take over on details!


www.derekmok.com

A much better option for this is to use Compressor (free)

PAL and NTSC conversion using Compressor

Or Nattress' excellent conversion software ($100)

[www.nattress.com]

Or go to a post house and have them do it with hardware (expensive)

Ohhh beat me by a minute! Gotta start beating those typing monkeys harder.

I recently had to use Compressor 3 to change a PAL project to NTSC and it did an amazinging good job. 720 x 576 to 720 x 480 with a 15 minute conversion.

It was a ten second spot, right?

Koz

I realy wanted to do it in FCP. I know about the software and compressor. But I was hoping to work just in FCP

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Stansfield
President
Video Engineer
P.O. Box 17331
Encino, CA 91416
818-624-4242 Cell
818-342-3725 Office Only in evenings
818-342-3725 Fax
[www.advantagevideosystems.com]
Jeff@advantagevideosystems.com

The best you can do inside Final Cut is to drop or duplicate whole television frames every so often to try and make up the difference between the framerates. That always looks stuttery and jerky compared to the field splitting, interpolating, and merging that goes on inside a real converter.

Koz

Quote

I realy wanted to do it in FCP. I know about the software and compressor. But I was hoping to work just in FCP

Why?

The Final Cut Studio suite is designed to give you software that does everything you may need for a video/film edit (albeit with a few specialist exceptions).

I know using a new piece of software can be daunting, but compressor (like all Apple apps) has fantastic Help file/e-manual and is fairly comprehensive.

If there is something you can't find how to do then thats what we're here for!

Seriously, we're not telling you because we're "trying to make your life difficult" we're telling you THE correct ways to do what you asked.

Get Graeme's Nattress conversion plugin if you want to do it in the FCP timeline or use compressor 3 (if you have it).


Ben



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

We just shot a documentary in Africa - choice was

1. rent PAL cameras...thousands of dollars
2. buy Nattress conversion plug in 100.00

Choice 2 was better and looked stunning - and solves your problem of "doing it all in FCP"

See Graeme's tutorials on how to do it (and make up the difference in frame size - excellent explanation)

Haven't tried through compressor - but we blew these Doc's up on a large projection screen with their PAL playback system and it looked terrific!


Andy

<<<it looked terrific! >>>

Yes, it works for us, too. Nattress doesn't do motion prediction which is one of the reasons it's so fast. That one step takes enormous processing power for a really tiny improvement in motion presentation.

Compressor does it all, but they occasionally have troubles with motion. It can produce swimmy motion and I'm convinced the reason it does that is the insistance on using DV quality video. I'm betting if you started with Uncompressed 8-bit, it would work just fine every time.

Koz

Quote

It can produce swimmy motion and I'm convinced the reason it does that is the insistance on using DV quality video

Compressor 2 does it on 8 bit too... (will try 3 soon)

but YAY for G - it even gets NTSC to PAL past BBC/Sky Tech checks - woot!


Ben



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

I reviewed the Nattress Standards Converter a few years ago for the Cow...

[www.creativecow.net]

Best darn standards converter I've used to this day. I've used it on countless international projects, some highly complex, some not. And it all works right within FCP. I can never recommend it enough.

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch

Quote
Marco
And it all works right within FCP.

yes, but to be clear, you use Gramemes converter to create new media that you then re-import into FCP and either edit with, or output to tape.


nick

Quote
Nick Meyers
yes, but to be clear, you use Gramemes converter to create new media that you then re-import into FCP and either edit with, or output to tape.

I've never had to do that. Sequence nesting and slugs can be used to perform the conversion without an initial output render/encode. I do everything within FCP. The final output (from NTSC to PAL let's say) is the first real render/encode.

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch

ooops..

sorry, Marco i was getting threads mixed up.
thought Jeff had PAL & NTSC elements,
not a whole finished timeline to convert.


cheers,
nick

Quote
Nick Meyers
sorry, Marco i was getting threads mixed up. thought Jeff had PAL & NTSC elements, not a whole finished timeline to convert.

Well, it can still be done in that scenario too. If you have an NTSC timeline and need to drop a PAL clip into it, simply add a slug to the timeline where the PAL clip is supposed to go. Then add the Nattress plugin to the slug and add the PAL clip to the plugin. No pre-renders needed! =)

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch

Thanks Marco. They are good tips for users. I forget you've probably used the converter more than I have :-)

Graeme

Ha ha, maybe so, Graeme, but I'm just happy you created it in the first place! No doubt we'd have to spend far more time converting footage with inferior quality if we didn't have it. I still don't know how you got the algorithm to maintain field integrity to/from PAL to/from NTSC. I still stand to say that the only thing that rivals your plugin is a Snell & Wilcox hardware converter for $100,000. To think that a little rack-mount box is equal to the cost of an exotic sports car and a bunch of speeding tickets. ;-)

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch