Hello,

I shot and edited a feature on the HVX200 (Firestore 160 which adds reduncant frames) which was shot at 24p (not advanced).  The film is completely edited and has been outputed to HDCAM 1080/60, HDV 1080i/60 tape, and numerous other NTSC formats  (16x9 4x3) and an additional Quicktime file of the entire feature with a DNxHD codec for storage.  Most of the sales i do in the past is for TV broadcast and the client always requests 1080i/60.

I have a new client that wants this same film 1080p/23.98.  How do I do a removal of frames in AVID and not have to redo every single clip (like Raylight software does for MXF files).  I know Final Cut pro has Cinema Tools that extracts redundant frames etc.  How do i do this for A) a project that was not produced on 24pA and B) reducing redundant frames without changing every individual clip?  Can this be done in AVID or a third party software project where it will do the entire sequence (movie).  Is it possible to accomplish this, quickly, easily and without loss of quality of the original edited film.

Thanx,

Zack

Before you do that, you might want to make sure what your client wants this for when they say "film."  Someone we know was told he needed film to show something in a series of theaters. Turned out they all had HD projectors. Waste of $50k.

Anyway, if it is for 16 or 35 blow up it might make sense to NOT do it on your machine and do it where you are doing the blow up -with their techs and on their machines-- to make sure the pull down matches their frames to their specs and a host of other little things (there is a good chance your tapes are drop frame for example) and you probably dont want to bother with them. Getting frame match accurate for film is very tricky and most people get it all wrong. Just stripping down to 24 is not the solution. A good blow up place can tell you what they want -- HDCAM tape, drives, etc.

Also, what deck do you plan on recording 24p native? Only a few can do this.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you do a native 24p screening of your work for a long time from a real 24p source on a 24p capable monitor and you watch it native, you will probably get a headache if you have not watched much of the 24p native format before. 24p video does not have a butterfly shutter and it is not very comfortable to watch for long periods of time.

my 2 c

AG

 Yeah,  actually the client is a film/video studio and they essentially always ask for 1080p/23.98 as far as deliverables.  The studio essentially asks all of the producers to deliver that format in HDCAM.  I thought it strange, since all the TV sales (cable, Satellite) have been 1080/60 and foreign licensing - the client took a 1080/60 and created a PAL copy off of the HDCAM tape.  As your notes suggest, the dub house decided to do the pulldown removal on their end using a Snell & Wilcox cross converter.  I didn't do anything on my end. 

My question though after reading your post, what do you suggest for future HDCAM projects to ensure that i cover all bases when it comes to international, TV and foreign sales.  Would you suggest i shoot drop frame on all projects?  I prefer to keep on editing 1080/60 just because it is easy (and cheap) to create a NTSC master as well as HDV backups for little investment.  At the same time, i would have a 10 bit "uncompressed" quicktime file with a DNxHD codec for HDCAM or DVCPRO HD output.  Does the issue of drop frame and non-drop frame sometimes create judder or lag images when transferring to different formats (NTSC, PAL, 60, 23.98 720 etc.)?  Is this something i should be concerned about?

thanx again for all the help.

:)

Zack

In the event of possible international deliveries and progressive content, I'd always post in 23/24. Makes for easy international masters. Very easy to make an NTSC of as well.

 Ahhhhhhhh okay.  That makes sense.  Hence this is probably why the studio wanted it in 23.98.  What about drop frame and non-drop frame.  Any recommendations?

Zack