Desperate for help finding a workflow!
 

Hey guys! I'm currently shooting my senior thesis over the next few weeks. I need to have a final edit by the end of November. But I'm having problems...

I'm shooting on the HDR FX1 (great camera!) and I'm editing with PP2 on an:

AMD dual core 4200+, with 2 gigs of memory, 500 gigs on a raid 0, 400 gigs internal WD, and an NVidia GeForce 7600 GT video card.

I've shot some HD, 16:9 footage and the capture in PP2 is fine but the export movie does not look the same as the captured footage (in wmp). It either squeezes into 4:3 or reduces the actual size of the video. I've tried various settings.

I've installed the CineForm Aspect HD app (trial version - if it works I want to buy the full app) and that also captures fine. And while the export is the same aspect ratio and size there is a noticeble flicker that is very abnormal looking. Other than that is looks very good. But the flicker is horrible.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Can anyone point me in the direction of a proper workflow and what my capture and export settings should be? I'm willing to immerse myself in what I need to do but where do I find the information on how to set up the capture, edit and export settings and what apps I should use?

I intend to edit this 20 minute short film, convert it into 24p, using magic bullet in After Affects, color correct it and then export back to HD Tape (so that I can show it to my thesis committee).

But I need help!!! Are there previous posts laying this all out? Should I use other software? Thank you in advance guys for any help you can provide. Take care!

I can't really help, as I by-pass the Premiere/mainconcept encoder and use Procoder instead. (Sadly, it's not cheap ... but if you get really stuck I can recommend it.)

But two things:

1) The flickering is almost certainly because you've revesed fields somewhere. Look for a setting that lets you swop upperfield first/lower field first.

2) If you want to end up as 24p, and are considering buying Cineform, be aware that you can ingest your footage directly into the computer at 24p if you want, using the HDlink application. Have a look at the Cineform website for more explanation of the capture options they provide.

Magic bullet will work, but it's quite slow.

Thanks Graham! The flicker problem was solved once I reversed fields (from upper first to lower first). Still wish I could get more info on the best way to get 24p and work with Sony's FX1 HD. But you did help!

When you say the video "squeezes into 4:3", that strongly suggests to me that your pixel size in wrong. HDV footage is 1440*1080, which would indeed appear to be 4:3 if the pixels were (incorrectly) treated as being square during playback.

However, the pixel aspect ratio should be 1.3333 so that the final output plays back as a 16:9 image.

So...look for either a pixel size or aspect ratio setting.....