Hi,

Was wondering if someone can help. I've just finished a project shot on Sony EX1, I cut in MC4 using AMA which was a dream. Super work avid!

The footage was shot at 1080p/23.976 and needs to be delivered in NTSC on digibeta. I'm delivering the project to a post house at the end of the week and my question is do I have to downconvert so that it can be laid to tape? What can I do to make it easier their end?

I'm used to working in PAL SD so this is all new to me!

Thanks

Sam

Hi Sam,

sameditor:

What can I do to make it easier their end?

I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions, but one thing I'd do is call the post house and see what they say they want.  They may already have figured out a workflow for this.

good luck,
Carl 

Thanks Carl. I'll give them a call tomorrow. I'd still be interested in hearing any other ideas for now though.

You'll have to ask how they want the DigiBeta formatted: center cut, letterbox, or anamorphic. 

Depending on the equipment they use, I'd say the best option would seem to stay native, color correct, then downconvert to SD at the post house.

Thanks. I'll be letterboxing it my end. The client is intent on keeping costs low so is there anything else I can do before they playout?  

You should test your digcut workflow.  Technically, you're not SUPPOSED to use the SD down-convert for digital cuts.  (Why? Who knows?)

Depending on your hardware (Nitris DX, Mojo DX, Adrenaline, etc.) you may have to trick the system to play out high quality while doing the digital cut.  For example, when taking a 1080p/23.976 sequence and outputting to DigiBeta (DVW-A500), we have to change the deck to the HDW 24p model, because Avid won't let you output 24p to that DigiBeta deck.  But that worked fine.

You may also need to transcode to another format if you are using older hardware.

Again, I'd suggest a quick test to make sure it all works before you have to do it.

HTH

Good info, thanks. I've spoken to the post house and talked through the details with them and they seem happy. 

I'm a little confused as to why you're not "supposed" to use the SD downconvert in Avid? Is it a quality issue or a compatibility one? Should it be downconverted outside of Avid?

Also, last question. The other editor on this project cut in FCP and is delivering his cut in 60i, I thought 60i was just for HD, can 60i go down onto digibeta?

As I said, this is my first venture into the world of NTSC so thanks for the guidance, much appreciated! 

The manual talks about using the SD downconvert for monitoring only, not to be used in digital cuts.  With some porject types it can be flaky, just so you are warned.

59.94 (60i) is similar to 29.97, so that is fine to go to DBeta.  When you output your 23.976 project, you'll be adding 3:2 pulldown to convert your 24 to 30 (Avid does this automatically, nothing for you to do.)

It does mean you should try and do the entire digitial cut in one cut (no instert edits) because you might mess up the 3:2 cadence if you do.  (Plus, often, Avid won't let you start unless you go to an "A" frame, usually a :00 or :05 timecode.)

Again, I'd just take a chunk of footage and give it a shot.  Report back any issues you have, but less us know wxactly what hardware (Avid and deck) you are using.