Pulldown in HD
 

Hey folks,

We're trying to shoot 1080p24 through SDI to a Blackmagic Multibridge pro, and I noticed in the manual about the different pulldown settings. This is important, as the camera actually outputs 60i in 1080p, but the real 24p footage is pulled down to 60i.

The manual indicates that the various modes are only available for SD. What pulldown mode does the XL-H1 use for 1080p24? This is crucial for recovering the original progressive frames in Final Cut / Cinema Tools.

Thanks in advance,

-Brian Critchlow


P.S. Is there a way to have the manual focus distance always displayed instead of just popping up when you are racking focus?

The H1 applies a standard 3:2 pulldown to conform 24F footage to 60i through the HD-SDI spigot.

Thanks Michael.
We brought the footage into after effects 7 and used its magic little tools to deal with the pulldown.

Other Pulldown Methods
 

I imported my footage through Aspect HD (via Firewire) and that removed the pulldown as well. From there you can convert it into Quicktimes in MPEG Streamclip.

brad, i thought i read somewhere that there is no pulldown in the firewire. just 24 progressive frames.

The trick used to put 24p in an MPEG stream could either be described as "pulldown"...or not. Depends how you look at it. That's why there'a so much confusion on the matter.

Also, depending on how the MPEG decoder works in the conversion stage to Aspect, there may or may not be pulldown to remove. The Aspect MPEG decoder could decide to convert to native 24p, or could heed the repeat flags in the stream and add extra fields.

Aspect or MPEG
 

I had the resulting Quicktime's metered for speed, and they rate at 23.98. Whether it was the Aspect HD, or MPEG STreamclip, the process worked. Also, I shot 24F mode, not 60i.

We are shooting 24f, but as per the manual, the camera automatically does a 3:2 pulldown and the signal is 60i (59.94) coming into the machine, which then has to be reversed to restore the 24f, as we are doing in after effects.

It just BAFFLES me that FCP doesnt do 24f yet.


J