Newbie Question About Square Pixels for Pal 720 x 576 (1.00) and FCPX?

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Newbie Question About Square Pixels for Pal 720 x 576 (1.00) and FCPX?

Hello FCPX/Compressor4 newfie here.

I just got some footage in "PAL 720 x 576 square pixel (1.00) Separating upper field 25 fps" . FCPX render the footage at "720 x 576 (1.09) Separating Lower field 25 fps".

I cannot find anything to save my life for square pixeIs and separating field option in FCPX. Only some view options in the "info tab".

I was able to change the separating field with Compressor4 but not luck with square pixels. In Compressor4 the "Geometry tab" i select the dimention 720 x 576 > Square > but the 1.000 menu stays grey out.

So my question are:

How do I tell FCPX not to change upper field to lower field.

How do I tell FCPX not to change the square pixels (1.00) to un-square pixels(1.09)

How do I render in FCPX or Compressor 4 PAL upper field square pixels (1.00)

Thank for you help

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), compressor4 too

Posted on Sep 15, 2012 12:08 PM

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Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 15, 2012 2:34 PM in response to bob90290

So what is the codec of the original footage?

If it is DV, FCP will want to treat it as DV …non square and lower.

Russ

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Answer 2

bob90290 Author

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Sep 15, 2012 3:43 PM in response to Russ H

Hello

It is:

Codec Component Y'CbCr 10-bit 4:2:2

Timecode

PAL 720 x 576 square pixel (1.00) Separating upper field 25 fps

Bob

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 16, 2012 8:20 AM in response to bob90290

Then I don't know why this is being seen by FCP incorrectly…perhaps something to do with the original source.

In the settings view of the FCPX timeline inspector, under information, you';; find controls that will let you over-ride field order.

But i think it makes sense to take your files into Compressor and turn them into one of the Pro Res codecs; that will reduce the size and make them more manageable. Within Compressor, in the Inspector's Frame Controls tab you can set the field order to uper and in the Geometry tab you should can set the pixel shape to square.

If you output the ProRes file and import into FCP, it should read it correctly.

Good luck.

Russ

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Answer 4

bob90290 Author

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Sep 22, 2012 1:41 PM in response to Russ H

Russ thanks for your answer but like I said I can't get "PAL 1.00 separated upper field" from Fcpx. It always reverse to "Pal 1.09 Sparated Lower field"

When I import the footage straight and directly to compressor4 as a test . I get what I need Pal 1.00 separated upper !!!

Going through Fcpx >send to compressor or >use compressor custom setting all I get is "Pal 1.09 separated lower field".

What is going on?? Is fcpx broken??

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Answer 5

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 22, 2012 2:24 PM in response to bob90290

Good…that you get the correct result by taking your files into Compressor.

I don't know what's going on with the FCPX Share>Send to Compressor workflow. (I have committed to learning the program, and I discover a lot of good things about it every day – and some surprises that are just puzzles.) The Share function may not qualify as "broken" but a lot of people, myself included, have got some strange results using it.

As I just posted to someone else, I'm not a fan of that "send to" workflow…didn't like it in earlier versions of FCP either.

But I'm happy that you got the results you needed.

Russ

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Answer 6

bob90290 Author

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Sep 22, 2012 6:59 PM in response to Russ H

Compressor4 doesn't work if the footage come from FCPX no matter what I do. It only works if the footage come from After effects or PremirePro but then I don't need compressor4 because these programs handle anything PAL very well. I just did a test to track down the problem.

So no I am not getting the result I want because I have to through FCPX for the edit and the effects.This suck big time.

Is there anybody in here who works often with FCPX, Compressor and PAL square pixels, separate fields upper or separate fields off ?

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Answer 7

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 22, 2012 7:01 PM in response to bob90290

It's already been established that yours isn't a Compressor issue.

So why not re-post it to the Final Cut forum to see if it can be addressed more to your satisfaction?

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Answer 8

bob90290 Author

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Sep 22, 2012 8:52 PM in response to Russ H

Russ

It's kind of a Compressor4 issue too.

Why compressor4 not able to render PAL footage 1.00 separated upper field from FCPX?

And yes it is a FCPX issue too.

Why FCPX changing my original footage to Pal 1.09 Sparated Lower field?

Is compressor4 suppose to allow users to render any king of footage including PAL footage 1.00 separated upper field from Pal 1.09 Sparated Lower field.

Any way I will be going to FCPX forum too.

Thanks

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Answer 9

bob90290 Author

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Sep 22, 2012 9:22 PM in response to bob90290

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4337705

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Answer 10

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 23, 2012 6:16 AM in response to bob90290

I hope this doesn't sound snarky, but if it works with an Adobe workflow, why not use PP,AE, et al to do the job? Why do you need or want to bring the FCP apps into the loop?

And unless I'm misreading what you've done so fa, I would characterize your experience as FCPX not accurately reading Adobe metadata. Fair enough and I hope the users on FCPX Discussions can help.

But as to it being a Compressor problem, I don't get that. Compressor isn't the fastest or the most complete encoder, but it does a perfectly competent job changing field order (using Frame Controls>Output Fields) and/or PAR (using the custom options in Geometry). I've used Compressor for standards conversion – which typically involves all you're trying to do and more – and found it quite capable.

Good luck.

Russ

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