DVD to FCP

Question

Level 1

140 points

DVD to FCP

I need to cut a 3 min trailer from a movie I made in 1980. It has just been transferred to DVD and when I captured entire movie into FCP7 it has horizontal white lines on 1 frame at some of the clip cuts. Maybe 30% of timeline. And in timeline it doesn't appear but there is a 1-2 sec freeze between two clips and about 35% or so of timeline. Have no idea what it is, I captured it last spring and gave up. I'm considering capturing again (via streamclip) in SD format with letterbox.

Attached is the white lines.

Posted on Oct 16, 2012 4:11 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 16, 2012 4:51 PM in response to Jim Makichuk

Streamclip or DVDxDV is the only successful way to transfer vob files to the Mac

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Answer 2

Jim Makichuk Author

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Oct 16, 2012 9:57 PM in response to Gary Scotland

I did use Streamclip.

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Answer 3

Oct 17, 2012 6:01 AM in response to Jim Makichuk

OK and what was the result?

What was the original that was the source for the DVD, tape or film, and is the oroginal play without the bars?

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Answer 4

Jim Makichuk Author

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140 points

Oct 17, 2012 8:30 AM in response to Gary Scotland

The result is what you see in the screenshot. It occurs in the browser in a single frame at a transition from 1 clip to another and happens about 40% of the time

The timeline is 3 min n and it has 1-2 second freezes at the end of a clip in timeline about 40% of the time.

Original source was 35mm film, transferred to digi-beta and then to DVD. There are no bars anywhere else, I have used a VHS and 3/4" copy in the past but 2 35mm prints were discovered in storage in NYC and that's when the distrib decided to re-release it.

My only thought is codecs and somehow I picked the wrong one?

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Answer 5

Oct 17, 2012 9:59 AM in response to Jim Makichuk

so is there anyway to get the digibeta transferred directly to a digital file? The best workflow in this case if the film was transferred properly to video is to remove the pulldown which compressor and AfterEffects will do automatically.

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Answer 6

Oct 17, 2012 10:44 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

as Michael suggests, definitely create a file direct from the digibeta

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Answer 7

Jim Makichuk Author

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140 points

Oct 17, 2012 4:57 PM in response to Gary Scotland

This trailer is intended for Youtube and doesn't really need a new digi-beta copy. It's a 32 year old supernatural thriller shot on 35mm Arri BL, a movie that was long forgotten and suddenly got new fans. Thanks anyways.

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Answer 8

Oct 18, 2012 1:37 PM in response to Jim Makichuk

Looks like mpeg stream clip screwed up the interlacing and scalling. It did a shockingly bad job of resizing video.

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Answer 9

Jim Makichuk Author

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140 points

Oct 18, 2012 2:05 PM in response to Brad Wright2

I re-captured the movie with streamclip and used DV50 and it all works fine. Deleted the other one.

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Answer 10

Oct 22, 2012 10:51 AM in response to Jim Makichuk

Even though this issue seems to be resolved, I thought I'd chime in with a technical note.

Assuming that “DVD” means a VIDEO_TS folder on a NTSC DVD-Video disc or other DVD media, the video format is multiplexed MPEG2. If the MPEG2 video stream conforms to DVD spec, then it is 480i60.

If the goal is to use the extracted video as source in a video edit, one could make a strong argument for converting the MPEG2 stream to a format for editing that is also 480i60. DV-NTSC and DVCPro50 are perfect candidates as they both support 480i60. Also, custom Apple ProRes settings could certainly be put to use. Basically, keeping the frame size, field rendering order and frame rate consistent are key to getting a good conversion.

MPEG Streamclip, DVDxDV (both mentioned in prior posts) or Toast will do this type of conversion well.

If the file is just being extracted for playback on the desktop or a mobile device, then the MPEG2 stream could get converted directly to a M4V, MP4, or H264 movie (adjusting frame size, de-interlacing, and adjusting frame rate as needed for the intended playback device).

Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/) will do this type of conversion well.

For what it’s worth,

Warren

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Answer 11

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Oct 22, 2012 11:46 AM in response to Warren Heaton

If you are planning to do anything with the material that involves compositing (eg titling, sub-titles) or color correction, stay away from DV and its 4:1:1 color compression. For those uses you'll want to go with DV50 or ProRes.

Converting your mpeg2 file to standard definition ProRes will generate a smaller file size than DV50.

x

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Answer 12

Jim Makichuk Author

Level 1

140 points

Oct 22, 2012 1:06 PM in response to Studio X

Thanks for the knowledge, I'm afraid I'm more into editing than the tech part, blame it on steenbecks, all that went wrong was a lightbulb had to be replaced now and then. I'm stumbling into digital but my film work pushes FCP aside from time to time and I appreciate your patience.

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