DV Toolkit 2 Newbie Questions - Working With Video

[Mental Clarity]

I’ve scoured the sparse documentation that comes with DV Toolkit 2, and still have questions regarding a few basic points. As is obvious, I’m just getting started with applying Audio to Video, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

1) How to match the Audio with a QuickTime movies frame-rate? Or with any of the three compatible video formats that DV Toolkit works with?

2) Can the video frame-rate [fps] of a finished video be reset? Or is it that once the video is completed, the frame-rate is set in stone?

3) Does anyone know of a good source of basic “how-to” when it comes to working with DV Toolkit 2?

System info:
Pro Tools LE, version 7.3.1, digi002, Windows XP, 4GB ram, Pentium IV.

[lode]

Not sure what your question is. Can you explain your problem, and maybe I can help.

Any samplerate can be used with any fps, so matching audio to the fps is not a problem. However I recommend you work either with 48 khz or 96 khz since your mix will probably end up 16 bit 48 khz on tape. This will work fine with DV-Pal and H.264 (what is the third?)

The framerate of a videofile can be played at different speeds. The standard framerate or fps is 25 frames per second on European TV. (The PAL standard) 24 fps is the standard for 35mm film for Cinema.
The states have lots of different framerate-standards which I'm glad I don't meet here in Norway. ;-)

Conversions between framerates is a complex thing and not something you do on the videofile you recieved from the editor without being sure of what your doing. Differences in framerates has caused a lot of headaches up through the history of postproduction.
It might seem fine on your system, but remember that you are only a part of the process.

DV Toolkit is a collection of add-ons for Protools. You get support for OMF and AAF, a timceode-ruler, 48 tracks and some plugins. You can also do some cutting and pasting of videofiles.

[Mental Clarity]

Thanks Lode for your helpful reply.

Here’s what I mean in more detail:

By matching Audio to Video I’m referring to synchronizing both modes via the videos frames. That is, is there a framerate indicator that aligns with the audio tracks on a frame-by-frame basis?

I've looked for it, but all I see is a “Feet + Frames” option in the Timeline field, but is this all there is to match (timeline-wise), the audio with the video? How precisely can I match the audio to the video, framerate-wise?

For instance, when I import and play a QuickTime movie, I see a video playing without moment-to moment framerate info, only a strip in the timeline (that I selected) with general 20+00 to 50+00 (and up etc) increments.

Thanks for the Sample rate tip (48 Khz or 96 Khz).

The three compatible formats I was referring to were AVI, MPEG and QuickTime. Not sure if this answers your related question, as you mention both DV-PAL and H.264.

“This will work fine with DV-Pal and H.264 (what is the third?)”

As you pointed out, PAL is a European Standard, so there’s a regional aspect to a given videos format.

“Conversions between framerates is a complex thing and not something you do on the videofile you received from the editor without being sure of what your doing.”

Sounds like this is best left alone, for now at least.

“Differences in framerates has caused a lot of headaches up through the history of postproduction. It might seem fine on your system, but remember that you are only a part of the process.”

Yes, I've heard as much! Communication at the pre-production level by all parties sounds very important.

[lode]

...so when you click the grey arrow next to the green feet & frame counter you don't see time code? Thats weird. Sounds like a bug in your dvtoolkit2 installation. Search or post a specific Q about it here, and maybe somebody else can help. I've never had that problem.

H.264 & DV are different video compression formats. Both Quicktime and AVI can use these formats. I recommend Quicktime with DV codec and 25 fps. You can ask the editor to give you this. The DV codec is not very disc-efficient, but it's easy on the cpu.

The frame rate of the video file is displayed below the track name on the left side of your edit-window.

The frame rate of the Protools project is set when you create a project and can be changed in the session preferences. Save yourself a lot of grief by having the same framerate as the videofile.

[Mental Clarity]

…turns out there were a number of bugs in my installer CD, all which now appear to be fixed, as I just reinstalled from a new file. Now I see the time code displayed - no problem.

Thanks for clarifying those other points regarding Quicktime and the DV codec, as well as the framerate of the project matching the framerate of the videofile, much appreciated.

System info:
Pro Tools LE 7.3.1cs4, DV Toolkit 2, digi002, Windows XP, 4GB ram, Pentium IV.

[lode]

Wonderful!

Good luck with your project.