23.98 vs 23.976 QT error? Avid import

Rendering a QT from AE6.5 in 23.976. the comp is 23.976, the render settings are 23.976, the output module is set to 23.976 however the resulting QT is stamped 23.98. when I import this into a 1080i 23.976 project I get a repeated frame every 30 frames. Understandable because 23.98 is faster than 23.976. Avid says this is a know issue and to render at 23.976.

http://www.avid.com/onlineSupport/supportcontent.asp?contentID=9786

BUT I AM RENDERING AT 23.976!!!!!

If I open the movie in QT and look at the movie properties it says the frame rate is 23.98, if I bring it back into AE it sees it as 23.976. Needless to say I am very confused. It looks like a QT issue but I'm not sure. 59.94 movies work just fine.

I've tried QT 6.5.2, QT 7.1, AE 6.5 and AE 5.5 but no luck. I've tried DNx (V1.20) & animation codecs. AE is on XP. Tried both MCA 2.2.3 & 2.2.4

Any ideas? Anyone else having this issue? Anyone using AE7? (AE7 was a long shot, but now I really think the issue is QT or at least the way avid reads QT)



I’ve done some other research and it looks like Apple likes to round off to 2 decimal points. This is true for both QT and FCP. Apparently if either sees a 23.98 frame rate the software knows it means 23.976; or somewhere else in the file is the actual frame rate and the display of it is rounded. Unfortunately Avid sees this rounded value, thinks the movie is 23.98 and slows it down. Therefore my test file which was 16:02 long is now 16:14 because of 12 repeated frames.



I’ve tested with an AVI file and it works fine. However, we can’t take advantage of the DNxHD codec and this is not a viable solution for our clients that are building files in AE on a MAC. A TIFF sequence works OK too because there isn’t a frame rate associated with a series of stills.

thanks.

Scott.