CCE 2.67 Problems with 23.976

[jonaswray]

Thank you in advance for looking at the post. My problem is the following. I have some footage from a DVX100 that I shoot at 24p and edit it at 23.976 in Avid XPress Pro. I export the project as a quicktime reference file and try to encode in CCE 2.67. I'm using encore 1.5 to author the project. I do not get prompted to encode anything in encore(a good thing, no changes to the original file).

I have tried tons of possible options for this and I cant get the encoding correct. The video is choppy/shaky and the audio is out of sync as well. If anybody has some advice on settings I would really appreciate it. ANYTHING PLEASE!!! I have had this project ready for a month and I still cant get this thing ready. If I missed anything and you need more info please let me know. I will continue to look in the forum, it has alot of useful information regarding the subject. FYI - I have been looking here for the longest time for some answers with no success.

Thank you everyone at videohelp.com

[bugster]

Assuming your destination is DVD, have you applied 3:2 pulldown. If not you can do this without re-encoding using pulldown.exe (GUI available)

[racer-x]

Agree with bugster, you probably forgot to check the "3:2 pulldown" box. CCE 267 does not apply pulldown by default. Pretty silly really, I mean you check DVD Compliant, encode @ 23.97.........you would think the encoder would apply it automaticly like MainConcept does.

The same thing happend to me when I was comparing CCE vs MainConcept. I didn't realize it until I imported the videos into DVD-Lab. DVD-Lab reported that the CCE clip had no Pulldown and offerd to fix it for me, so I let it and it worked fine. I'm suprised that Encore didn't pick up on that.

You said you export the project as a quicktime reference file. Do you loose any quality that way? Why not FrameServe it with a FrameServer out of the Timeline directly to the encoder. I use Debugmode FrameServer in Premiere, don't know if it will work in Avid XPress Pro, but it's worth looking into.

[BJ_M]

the frame server does not work in avid .....

also remember -- and i have not seen this mentioned much ..

shorten your GOP's when encoding to 23.976 and then applying pulldown.exe because otherwise you end up with 1 to many fields in the gop with CCE's default 3 / 5 settings ..

the thing is that many authoring programs will accept this ... scenarist will not .. but it does make a none compliant dvd ....

change the gop to 3/4 instead ...

you dont need to select dvd compliant , but do have a end seq. checked ..

[jonaswray]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses...

I tried some of those setting with no luck. Here are the settings I used.

1. Exported Quicktime Reference from Avid with Avid codec.
2. Opened CCE 2.67 with:
Encode Settings: Timecode Settings 01 00 00 00
VBR Multipass 2 Passes at 7500 bitrate average
Aspect Ratio 4:3

Video Settings: GOP M=3 N/M=4
SEQ header 1
Checked - Add Sequence End Code
Luminace Level - 16 to 235
Offset - 1
Frame Rate 23.976
MPEG System Setting - Packet Size = 2,048

3. Used Pulldown.exe with the following code (pulldown source.mpv newfile.mpv) It did it's passes with no problems.

4. Imported the new file to Encode and built the menu with no problems the when I burn to DVD it still looks shaky.

Thanks again for taking the time guys.

[racer-x]

If the source is 24p, you should set the Line Offset - 0. Set it to 1 only if the source is interlaced. You must also check "Progressive" and you can set it for Zig-Zag scan order if it's progressive source. Also set Timecode Settings 00 00 00 00 instead of 01 00 00 00.

If your source trully is 24p, then your editing settings in Avid must be 24p also and not the standard 29.97 DV settings. I've never used Avid, but in Premiere Pro I create a custom Template just for 24p.

[jonaswray]

Thanks racer-x, I used those settings and it seems to work better but when I tested it on another TV, the subject on the video was very choppy/jagged round them. Do you know what that could be?

Thanks again

[racer-x]

I'm wondering if your source trully is progressive. You can open your mpeg in Virtualdub-mod and pause a fast motion scene. Virtualdub won't use any bob filters so you'll see it the way it realy is. If there are any horizontal lines or jaggies, then the video is interlaced. If it's progressive, then the fast moving objects will only be bluried.

Just a hunch, but it might be worthwhile checking it out. You can get Virtualdub-Mod on the tools section.

[jonaswray]

Hey Racer-x thanks for the quick response. Yeah, it seems like my video is interlaced. Should I change something in the process? Thanks again for all the help

[jonaswray]

Does anyone have an answer to what to do with an interlaced source?

Thank you