Sony AJ-SDX900 User Manual

®

24p and

Panasonic AG-DVX100 and AJ-SDX900

camcorder support

in Vegas and DVD Architect Software

Revision 3, Updated 05.27.04

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of
Sony Pictures Digital Media Software and Services. The software described in this manual is provided under the terms of a license
agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software license agreement specifies the terms and conditions for its lawful use.

Sound Forge, ACID, Vegas, DVD Architect, Vegas+DVD, Acoustic Mirror, Wave Hammer, XFX, and Perfect Clarity Audio are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Pictures Digital Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. All other
trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.

Copyright © 2004 Sony Pictures Digital Inc. This document can be reproduced for noncommercial reference or personal/private use
only and may not be resold. Any reproduction in excess of 15 copies or electronic transmission requires the written permission of
Sony Pictures Digital Inc.

Table of Contents

What is covered in this document?

Background ................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Vegas ........................................................................................................................................................................... 5

DVD Architect.............................................................................................................................................................. 7

Questions and Answers............................................................................................................................................. 8

Additional Sony Pictures Digital Resources.......................................................................................................... 11

Additional Online Resources................................................................................................................................... 11

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Background

While NTSC video runs at about 59.94 interlaced fields per second, film runs at 24 full frames per second. When
film is transferred to video, a process known as 2-3 pulldown is used. The first film frame is copied into 2 video
fields, the second film frame into 3 video fields, and then the process is repeated for the entire film. Every 4 film
frames become 10 video fields, or 5 video frames. Due to the 59.94 field rate, the playing time of the video is about

0.1% longer than the original film.

Similarly, when film is transferred to PAL video, each film frame becomes 2 video fields. Because PAL video runs
at 50 fields per second, the playing time of the video will be 4% shorter than the film (and the audio needs to be
repitched or everyone’s voice gets higher!). 24 fps really is a universal format that can (with these conversions) be
shown in any theater or video broadcasting system. No other format enjoys so many conversion options.

Nearly all theatrical films and most prime-time television shows are shot on film and transferred to video using
pulldown, and they have a very different “look” in their frame cadence than soap operas, news programming, and
home video shot in 60i (interlaced) video. Most people subconsciously associate this look with high-budget
productions. Of course, good lighting, directing, and acting help, too.

Many people using desktop editing systems want to achieve this “film look” and have tried using many processes,
including expensive software plug-ins, to get it with some success. The ultimate solution, however, is to shoot and
edit at 24 frames per second without using complex and slow plug-ins.

Finally, many budget-conscious independent filmmakers want to shoot on lower-cost video equipment and then have
a way to transfer to film should their production be successful (i.e., picked up for theatrical release). While there are
processes that can do this for 60i, 30p, and 25p video, the results are not as good as they could be had the video been
shot and edited at 24p to begin with.

The problem was, until recently, there were no low-cost cameras that shot video at 24p.

Note: The information in this document applies to Vegas version 4.0 or later or DVD Architect 1.0 or later.

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The Panasonic AG-DVX100

The Panasonic AG-DVX100 is a prosumer camcorder that, in addition to being able to shoot 60i and 30p video, can
shoot 24 fps “film rate” progressive video. Since the DV format is not able to store 24 fps directly, the camera does
pulldown on the fly and records 60i video to tape. Even before the 4.0b update, Vegas was able to edit this video;
however, the editing was in 60i, so all titles, transitions, and effects were rendered at 60i and did not have the same
frame cadence “look” as the video that had pulldown. More importantly, if the final video was going to be
transferred to film, there were pulldown cadence breaks that needed to be dealt with by the transfer house with added
expense. Starting with the 4.0b update, Vegas is able to remove pulldown from the source media on the fly, edit in
24p, and reinsert pulldown when rendering to DV. This solves the cadence break issue, the title / transition / effects
cadence issue, and has the added bonus of being able to render those elements 2.5 times faster! With native support
for the Panasonic AG-DVX100 in Vegas software, you can shoot, capture, edit, and render 24p DV with no external
conversion programs, and you can render 24p MPEG-2 for DVD delivery.

The Panasonic camera actually has two pulldown modes, standard 2-3 pulldown and what they call “Advanced”
mode (24pA), which is 2-3-3-2 pulldown.

While 4 film frames are still converted into 10 video fields (5 video frames), the beauty of 2-3-3-2 pulldown is that
the 4 film frames exist in their entirety in video frames 1, 2, 4, and 5. With 2-3 pulldown, film frame 4 is split across
video frames 3 and 4, making more work for the reader. You should use the standard pulldown mode when shooting
for direct playback or 60i editing and the advanced pulldown mode when you plan on editing the video with Vegas

4.0. The camera writes metadata in the DV headers to indicate which pulldown mode was used. Vegas is able to
remove either, but 2-3-3-2 is more efficient.

While in 24p mode, this camera also changes the light response curves and has various vertical filtering mode
switches. We will not be discussing these here; for the purpose of this document, we’re talking about the frame rate
issues only.

The Panasonic AJ-SDX900

Because it uses the same method of encoding 24p, the Panasonic AJ-SDX900 works equally well with Vegas 4 in the
DVCPRO25 mode, 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen. The DVCPRO50 mode is not supported.

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