FCP: Am I editing 1080p footage in a 1080p sequence?
 

Hi all,

I'm editing a project containing 1080p 23.976fps ProRes 422 clips (they were converted clips from a Panasonic Lumix GH1 DSLR). I'm pretty early into the project at the moment when I realized that my Sequence settings were "matched" by FCP to the source clips. The Sequence setting was automatically targeted for a "1080i (1920x1080)" preset.

I decided to change the Sequence setting to 1920x1080 (Custom). Does this make any difference from the HD1080i preset that was selected for me prior?

I tried creating a new, separate project with my own clips taken with my Canon T2i and when I dragged my clip to the Timeline, I let FCP "match" the sequence settings to the clip settings. 1080i preset showed up again.

Does FCP not render 1080p if I don't have special hardware in my Mac Pro? Scratching my head on this one.

For what its worth, I'm running a Mac Pro (Xeon) with FCP 7.0.2 on OS X Leopard. The video that I'm editing is targeted for broadcast, but I'd like to edit from the highest resolution the clips were originally shot at (1080p).

Thanks in advance.

Anyone? :/

Open the clips in Quicktime and see if they are 1080i. If they are, you might need to review the process you got the files into ProRes. 24p should not be in interlace unless it's been recorded in pulldown or transcoded to pulldown.

Doesn't Final Cut ONLY have a "1080i" option for 1920x1080? It does not mean your sequence is interlaced though. That depends on the "field dominance" just below, if you are set to "none" you are surely progressive.

I don't know why they do that, but you can just ignore it. If changing the settings to "1920x1080 custom" does not force you to re-render all your clips or cause choppy playback, there's no harm in doing that if you prefer.

This is the correct settings - "1080i (1920x1080)" preset.

Nothing is wrong - Its Apples laziness nothing more. Your footage is still 1080p.

Thanks, all. I figured as such, since I set Field Dominance to none and such.

Aric, FCP did not have to re-render anything. I ingested these clips and made sure they were exported to 1080p, so I think my Sequence is fine so far. No problems.. yet :)

Cheers,
James