NTSC footage - every 5th and 6th frame is the same

As I understand, it's NTSC 23.976 footage (which I don't have access to) edited onto a 29.97 fps timeline.

Is there a simple way to remove every sixth frame?

Converting 24 fps footage to 30 fps would make 5 frames from 4. So you must remove every fifth frame, but you asked how to remove every sixth frame.

You can do such removals using either FCP7 (with no frame blending) or Compressor (with Fast (Nearest frame)) speed increase. In FCP7 you enter the speed; so removing every sixth frame requires 120% speed. In Compressor you enter the duration: so removing every sixth frame requires 83.333...% duration. Compressor has generally better arithmetic than FCP7 but in this case I tried FCP7 because 120 is a whole number.

For the method to work you must adjust the number of frames at the head so the first repetition comes at the right point. In FCP7, when removing every sixth frame, make the clip so the first frame that gets repeated is the fourth frame. Set speed in Modify>Change Speed to 120%, turn frame blending off, and it will do it. That is, it will do it for a 15 minute clip, but beyond that its arithmetic breaks down.

See the similar post describing how to remove every fifth frame using Compressor.
Count carefully!

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

what do you mean you don't have access to the footage?
what are you looking at, an exported timeline?

is the pattern consistent across edits?
if it isn't, then you are in for a lot of manual work.


nick

Thanks for the replies - how would I remove every 5th frame?

you realise that you'll be speeding the footage up?
it'll run 20% faster or thereabouts


nick

I assume he's salvaging the footage, to be 24p footage again for use in a 24p timeline.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany