60 fps video with 29.97 SMPTE lock

[Jarred91]

Trying to see if I can solve this:

I have three simultaneous 60 fps videos that are being locked to SMPTE timecode coming from Ableton via audio cable. Everything is coming in fine (I can see that resolume is receiving SMPTE track) but when the SMPTE lock is enabled, the video does not appear to be 60 fps, it appears to be jittery/slower. My computer is handling it fine, the FPS readout stays between 59-60ish, and if I set one of the three clips to sync to the "timeline" rather than "SMPTE" that clip plays back at the distinguishable 60fps and the other clips look slower (looks even slower than 24-30 fps to my eye).

I am curious about the mechanics of the SMPTE sync. Is it possible that only half of the frames in my 60fps video is being played back because the timecode track is 29.97fps? Or maybe, does the SMPTE sync require more computer power and my computer just can't handle it? The latter explanation would surprise me because if 1 of the three clips is not synced to SMPTE it plays back smooth but the two synced clips play back jittery.

Here is a dropbox link to a screen record, the left performer is NOT synced to SMPTE and the right performer IS:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8x0kej0eklj4 ... N.mov?dl=0

[Zoltán]

Is it possible that only half of the frames in my 60fps video is being played back because the timecode track is 29.97fps?

If you're using DXV, then that's exactly what happens. Resolume calculates the frame to display, based on the clip length, offset, and the timecode position, then seeks to the frame to show it. If you have a SMPTE signal half the frame rate of your clip, you'll only see every second frame of the clip.

If you're using mp4 or similar keyframed format, then try converting your media to DXV to get smoother playback

[Jarred91]

Helpful, thank you! The videos were originally .mov but were already converted to DXV. For fun I just now tried using the .mov file and as expected it was indeed choppy as it wasn't a DXV. Any ideas to get the the 60fps video to play back all frames when locked to timecode?

[Programfeed]

Any ideas to get the the 60fps video to play back all frames when locked to timecode?

You'll need to conform the 60 FPS to 29.97 or whatever is exactly the frame rate of your incoming timecode. The longhand but easy way is to drop your native video into a new timeline with the target FPS in an editor like Premiere or Final Cut. Your situation going from high FPS to lower FPS should yield much better results than the other way around.

To add on to the discussion of DXV timecode chase... You might get away with the 60FPS file in a different media server that uses a Timeline to chase timecode rather than the server doing frame-for-frame read from the DXV file. But no doubt the best practice is to conform to your timecode FPS.

[Jarred91]

Any ideas to get the the 60fps video to play back all frames when locked to timecode?

You'll need to conform the 60 FPS to 29.97 or whatever is exactly the frame rate of your incoming timecode. The longhand but easy way is to drop your native video into a new timeline with the target FPS in an editor like Premiere or Final Cut. Your situation going from high FPS to lower FPS should yield much better results than the other way around.

To add on to the discussion of DXV timecode chase... You might get away with the 60FPS file in a different media server that uses a Timeline to chase timecode rather than the server doing frame-for-frame read from the DXV file. But no doubt the best practice is to conform to your timecode FPS.

Thank you Program Feed

My next question is if I do what I think you are explaining (basically rewrite new timecode to the video file from 60 fps to 29.97) won't premiere or final cut be dropping half the frames to meet the new timecode? Or can it know to play two frames for each nominal timecode frame? I'm still wondering if there is anyway to use timecode sync in resolume to play back 60fps videos

[Programfeed]

My next question is if I do what I think you are explaining (basically rewrite new timecode to the video file from 60 fps to 29.97) won't premiere or final cut be dropping half the frames to meet the new timecode? Or can it know to play two frames for each nominal timecode frame? I'm still wondering if there is anyway to use timecode sync in resolume to play back 60fps videos

Yeah basically the same thing is happening whether you prep the file in Premiere/FCP or chase the 60fps clip with 29.97 timecode in Resolume -- in all situations there are frames being skipped/interpolated. The advantage of doing it in an editor instead of Resolume is that you can be 100% confident in what the video looks like and Resolume will exactly match frame-for-frame in this newly conformed file. If you don't do any conversions ahead of time and chase the original 60fps clip with 29.97 timecode, you're relying on Resolume to do the calculations and as @zoltan said it will read every other frame. If your clip is 60 and timecode was 30 non-drop I wouldn't be too concerned, but at 29.97 you'll probably see an odd frame skip here and there.

In all reality, there may not be much visible difference between these two methods. But if you're doing a high-profile show or broadcast TV, those little things become much more important and I highly recommend prepping the file properly in an editor. If you need to just make it through an EDM show, it will probably look ok to just chase the 60fps file straight up. Hope that helps

[Programfeed]

@Jarred91 check out the new Clip Renderer function. You can set your comp FPS to your desired frame rate then render out your files to that spec. Should be an easy way to resolve your workflow.

[Jarred91]

Super helpful and thanks so much for thinking of this post with this new feature! Will definitely be trying this. But just want to confirm what I am understanding. If I use this new render function I will still be dropping to 29.97 frames right? 60fps has a different "feel". It is very life like and 24-30 is the cinematic "feel" yes? Basically I am wondering if there is a way for Resolume to play back two frames for each frame reference using midi timecode sync so I can preserve the 60fps "feel". This is kinda the same question but still trying to understand better, thank you!

[Zoltán]

Midi time code is also only 30 fps max https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI_timecode