FCP 7 - 24p to dvd / blu ray?

Hi - i am editing 24p c300 footage on fcp 7 and wish to convert it to pal dvd and ntsc dvd as well as blu ray?

Any advice?

I have tried to transfer the footage via compressor to dvd studio but it does not accept the file formats on either pal or ntsc.


Thanks.

Cinema Tools and Pre-rendering the SD version are your friends here.


To make NTSC 23.98 version

Make a copy of your master video 1080p24 file.

Bring it into Cinema Tools and conform to 23.98 fps

Bring this back into FCP7 pop it onto a 720x480 16:9 Anamorphic 23.98fps NDF timeline and export a self-contained quicktime movie.

Use this file to create the NTSC DVD.


To make PAL 25p version

Bring it into Cinema Tools and conform to 25 fps

Bring this back into FCP7 pop it onto a 720x576 16:9 Anamorphic 25fps NDF timeline and export a self-contained quicktime movie.

Use this file to create the PAL DVD.


You may need to pitch adjust the audio when going to the 25p version as the audio will speed up by approximately 4% and might be noticeable especially on deeper male voices if you don't. Do this in Soundtrack Pro by either applying a pitch shift or taking a 24p copy of the audio and adjusting it to the new time using "Time-Stretch".

Re-lay the pitch adjusted audio against the 25p version in FCP before exporting the PAL SD version.


For Blu-ray you can simply use your master 24p HD version via Compressor or via Adobe Media Encoder/Encore CS6 or FCPX.

Adobe Media Encoder also can do good quality down-conversions to SD and to MPEG-2 DVD files. If it's feature length you might want to consider using Dolby AC3 audio to minimise the audio bit-rate and use that to make the video bitrate a bit higher or so you can store more on the DVD.

If you don't have Encore CS6 (last version of Encore) it's still available for any subscribers to the Creative Cloud.



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

Thanks Ben. Very helpful.

Is there a way of doing this without using cinema tools?

Cinema Tools is the cheap way, as it's free.

QTChange can also do the conform for $25, i thin.

there is also a way to do it in Compressor.
the playback rate can be set as part of a conversion, so it takes a long while to find out if it's worked or not,
unlike CT which is instantaneous.

Strypes know how that works, not me.


nick

If you care about the pitch, then Compressor may be the simplest way to do the "conform":
...Enable Audio Settings.
...In Video Settings enter 25 fps.
...Then in Frame Controls set duration at: "so source frames play at 25.00 fps".
Compressor probably recompresses everything. So use a nearly lossless codec like ProRes HQ. Compressor will adjust the sound pitch so it's correct at the new frame rate, while doing nothing, or next to nothing, to the original image frames.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

ah! good tip, Denis,
thanks,

have you done this? how is the pitch correction?

nick

As Ben explained, Soundtrack Pro offers two methods for maintaining pitch while shortening the soundtrack: Time Stretch (and shrink), and Pitch Shifter II. The first includes a choice of algorithms. Both methods are practical for 24-to-25 pitch correction. With Time Stretch you enter 24/25 of the number of frames, and paste the transformed sound onto the already conformed 25 fps picture. (You'll have to cut off the last 1/25 which is slug.) With Pitch Shifter II you enter -1 for semitones and +29 for cents and paste the transformed sound onto the pre-conformed picture. I compared the two methods two years ago and couldn't decide which did better on my material. Compressor can also do the job, more simply. We don't know which of the many available algorithms Compressor uses and with what parameter settings. A audio person should examine this.

I've uploaded four AIFF files: approx. 66 seconds of original sound; approx. 63½ seconds of pitch-preserved sound made by the three methods (Time Stretch, Pitch Shifter, Compressor). Can your ear easily decide among the three methods?

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

If you have Final Cut Studio 1, 2 or 3 you will have Cinema Tools included. It really is the quickest way - short of using another app. It also is a lossless conversion as it only tells the movie file to play the frames already encoded at the new rate. I also use this process for some 50p and 60p slomo conversions to 25p.

Going the "standards conversion" Compressor route way where 24 is translated onto 25 second for second - you end up with a slight blurred or (in some algorithms) a skipped frame every second.

This is why my preference is to do frame-for-frame conversion and the pitch-shifted audio as I mentioned - this is the industry standard way to go from 24p to 25p and visa versa as when we do feature films and TV.

Both pitch-shift techniques (as Dennis said) are pretty good with Soundtrack Pro - most people cannot tell the difference between the original and the shifted version if you give them enough time between comparing tracks.



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

For Compressor, as Dennis pointed out, make sure the audio is set to "On" and it's best that you transcode to something like Prores before encoding to Mpeg2/ac3. This will let you test out the media before burning to disc.

In a non related question, do you really need PAL DVD? Many Hollywood movies are actually distributed to Asia, which is all PAL except for Japan and South Korea, at 23.976 FPS.



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote
Ben King
Going the "standards conversion" Compressor route way where 24 is translated onto 25 second for second - you end up with a slight blurred or (in some algorithms) a skipped frame every second.

Ben, what "algorithms"? Perhaps I should have mentioned to leave Rate Conversion at the default: "Fast (Nearest frame)"? With "so source frames play at 25.00 fps" selected, there isn't the misbehavior you described.

Apple's programmers are arithmetically challenged, and one might worry about the "25.00". Does it mean "between 24.995 and 25.005"; can it bounce around? I've just now watched 20 minutes of black, being the difference composite between the conformed and Compressor-converted footage. No misbehaving frames.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

Sorry for the confusion Dennis! I was not contradicting you, no no no!

I was describing the other way of exporting time-matched second-for-second standards conversion where 24 is mapped onto 25 or visa versa - not the frame-for-frame you described.

Indeed setting it up as you mentioned will also work to produce a similar output as the cinema tools conform method.



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

Ben, oops!, my reading mistake. But if you do use Compressor to map 24 onto 25, by entering 25 fps in video settings, and confirming that "Fast (Nearest frame)" and "Set Duration to: 100.000% of source" are set in Frame Controls, Compressor will simply double every 24th frame of the original. Those mini-freezes visibly disturb pans and other smooth motions. Faces acquire psycho qualities. Etc. So it isn't done, but it's clean.

Nothing is cleaner than keeping all the frames as-is and letting the film run 4% fast (or slow in the opposite case). I remain skeptical about the aesthetic decency of this. Earlier discussion.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany