How to properly capture 24p at 16:9 in FCP 4.5 while maintaining the original quality
 

I NEED HELP! I have been trying to capture 24p (not 24pa) 16:9 footage into FCP 4.5 shot on my xl-2. I am using a Sony DSR-11 to transfer the footage via Firewire into the MAC. I have tried inputing at DV NTSC standard (29.97) and reverse telecining the footage to 23.98 in Cinema Tools. I also have checked 16:9 Anamorphic in the Audio/Video setups menu. Also, in the sequence presets I have set it to 23.98 anamorphic 16:9. By using this process it takes away the weird interlacing lines if you don't do it. The problem is that the quality degrades when I go to a DVD. I have hooked the deck with the original tapes up to the monitor and have A&B'd the DVD and direct footage from the original tapes. I have to 2 questions:

1: What is the best way to capture the normal 24p 16:9 footage shot on the Canon XL-2 into FCP 4.5?

2: What is the best means of compression and process to output to a DVD and back to the DSR-11 decks while maintaining the original quality of the source footage tapes?

Any info would be great

Collin,

23.98 anamorphic 16:9 is the correct sequence setting. To maintain original quality to tape you just Print to Tape out of the time line.

DVDs are another issue all together. By definition, you will lose data from your video when compressing for DVD. The trick is to figure out what data can be spared.

I would suggest trying BitVice. It's the best Mac MPEG2 encoder I've found and a lot of others feel the same way. Apple Compressor is not bad, but I have just not found the right setting for it yet.

Thanks Dave, what would be the correct way about going to DVD from my finished project. I have Apple compressor and can get the program you reccomend. What format should I save in, ready for DVD?

Hi Colin,

Sorry for the delay in response.

My work flow is this:

After the project is finished in FCP, I export a Final Cut Movie. File>Export>QuckTime Movie. Don't choose "Using QT Conversion. This way I have an archive of the finished movie.

Next I open BitVice and choose the movie I just exported. It'll ask you if you want to save the audio track as an. aiff. Choose yes.

After the encoding is done I open the audio track in A.Pack and save as .AC3 for DVD Studio Pro. Here's a good article on how to set that up.

Next I import the .m2v and .ac3 files into DVD SP 3 and author the DVD. DVD SP 3 will not re-encode the .m2v files. It'll just create the menus and necessary code for the DVD.

Since you are working with 24p, in BitVice, make sure the "Interlaced Input" box is NOT checked.

Hope this helps.