Premiere 2024 XML is 24 FPS when the sequence is 23.976 FPS

[KazuTa]

Our archival producer asked for one, unified EDL of the archival in our latest cut. In Premeire 24.6.8 (Build 3), I couldn't find a way to export one unified EDL that included all the video & audio layers, so I had to export an FCP XML, bring it into DaVinci Resolve, and let Resolve create the EDL. 

Unfortunately, the FCP XML that Premiere exported is 24 FPS, even though our edit sequence is definitely 23.976 FPS, so all the Source TC is wrong. 

Is this a bug?

[Averdahl]

I did a test in Pr 25.5.0 and exported a 23.976 timeline as a FCP XML and when i import it back it does come in as a 23.976 sequence. So it seems to work here without issues. EDL export seems to work as well, but it was a simple sequence with not many video/audio tracks.

If you select the sequence you are exporting to an FCP XML and go to Sequence > Sequence Settings, what do you see under Timebase and Display format?

[PaulMurphy · Accepted solution]

Premiere Pro uses the Final Cut Pro 7 XML Interchange Format, which differentiates between true 24 fps and 23.976 fps using the <ntsc> tag.

Here’s how the XML should represent each frame rate:

• 24 fps:
  <timebase>24</timebase>
<ntsc>FALSE</ntsc>
• 23.976 fps (often referred to as 23.98):
  <timebase>24</timebase>
<ntsc>TRUE</ntsc>

I’d recommend opening the XML in a text editor and checking whether these tags are correctly set. It’s possible that DaVinci Resolve is misinterpreting or ignoring the <ntsc> tag, which could lead to incorrect timecode interpretation.

[KazuTa]

Thanks again Paul!

It's an EDL of archival video/audio, so there's a variety of frame rates; but when I open the .XML in TextEdit and search for <ntsc>true</ntsc>, there's 2,360 instances (versus only 60 instances of <ntsc>false</ntsc>), so it seems likely that the tags are correctly set. 

We did find a way to merge multiple Premiere EDLs into one EDL (our archival producer, who uses ArchiveOx, prefers one EDL rather than multiple ones):
https://en.editingtools.io/edl/
Converters / EDL Converter
Click on "Browse", select all the EDLs you want to merge, then click "Generate".