Hi all

I'm struggling to convert some HDV1080 60i footage into 50i. I am finding that when converted although it plays fine in Quicktime once it has been sucked into FCP I get a very jerky juddery effect going on. I've tried compressor and MPEG Streamclip but neither work satisfactory so does anyone have any ideas on the best way to convert? I have the 60i footage as a MPEG file.

Cheers, Simon

Assuming you are going to stick with the computer, Nattress filters do a good job. Also on Compressor if you use the frame controls you can get good reults, which settings did you use?
EDIT: There is going to be a quality hit from the MPEG file (unless you mean HDV MPEG as opposed to m2v MPEG?)

If m2v I would export as uncompressed codec from MPEG Streamclip (using highest quality settings) and set up Compressor with frame control tweaked to convert...

Simon
Mary sent me some 60i stuff that I converted to 50 and I also sent her some 60i that i made from 50i.
The results were very good, however you need you know what to do it

I even ended up editing the two together no problems.

Good luck...

Simon
going from 29.97 to 25 fps, you will always get some sort of frame rate stutter if the shutter speed was high and action fast.
First of all, convert to an I-frame codec like Pro Res. That helps a lot in isolating frames. Then put it in a 50i Pro Res sequence timeline. That's the quick and dirty method. Nattress' plug can sometimes have better results with its field interpolation. Short of Snell/Wilcox phase correlation motion estimation machines, you'll always have a bit of strobing.
If it's not time related or audio imperative work and the clip can handle it, try slowing it down by 16.6% to meet the 25fps of 50i. That works sometimes as well.

Thanks everyone for their advice. I did play around with frame rates and got a slightly better result so thanks RealDrew! I've moved footage from 50i to 60i before and that seems a lot easier as I had no problems there at all there. I'll give a combination of the slow down, Pro Res and compressor frame control ideas a whirl and see how I go.

Thanks again!

Cheers, Simon