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A
Anonymous
December 6, 2023
Answered

Progressive UHD in HD interlaced timeline

  • December 6, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 1938 views

I am editing for broadcast and our output format is 1080i HD (Sony XDCAM).

We try to capture in best quality to be able to reframe later, so we shoot in UHD 50p.

Now I put all my footage in this interlaced timeline (XDCAM preset from adobe) - and ist stuttering like crazy in the viewer window and on the output of my blackmagic ultrastudio 3g. 

So it must be converted to 25p or PSF in playback.

I can ONLY see it in "true" 50i if i render proxies and select then - then the output to my BM ultrastudio is 50i, the viewer window remains stuttering.

Is there any workflow? What do you recommend? Working in 50p all the time?

    Correct answer

    WOW. Again it was the fault of the Sony Catalyst Prepare Plugin. It plays back ALL my 50p footage as 25p, adds LOTS of strain to my CPU and even exports as 25p. I cannot believe it. I am busy with premiere for three full days now to find a workflow for a documentary and all I am doing is troubleshooting errors that are all caused by this plugin. I even had a five hour adobe support session because import of sony videofiles was always stuck and the cause was this plugin as well. So I will definitely give it up. Without the plugin my 50p footage plays back fine in a 50i timeliny on my Ultrastudio 3g. I can even playback the 50p source files when I select "scale down" unsupported frame size in Playback Preferences. It only takes about one to two seconds for the video to show up in the external monitor when I switch from the 1080i timeline to the source footage. In the viewer I can see it immediately. Must be due to the conversion. But I think this will work out. I am glad I tested this plugin before I started editing the documentary - would be a catastrophy in the end.

    4 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    April 26, 2024

    Did anybody establish a good workflow for this. I found out that every downsampling slows down the system. So editing UHD in a UHD sequence is faster than editing in a HD Sequence or even 50i - Software-Interlacing eats up a lot of performance. So I tried using the Blackmagic Ultrastudio Monitor with downsampling in the end of the edit to see "real" 50i from my footage. It seems to work - but then I need to add sharpening in the end to make my LOG footage crisper, which is not sharpened in camera at all. This looks nice on the output of the ultrastudio but introduces massive moiré on export. So maybe edit in UHD, then copy everything over to a HD 50p timeline, apply sharpening there and export again? Seems a little complicated to me.. 

    P
    Peter Reef
    Inspiring
    June 19, 2025

    Unfortunately this does NOT work. Blackmagic Ultrastudio Mini Monitor 3g downsamples UHD P to HD P only if you select that option, but it does NOT interlace the signal. Is there any affordable breakout box that has this conversion and can be attached to a macbook pro? I am afraid I cannot connect aja cards to my mbp.

     

    I really hope we will get rid of those interlaced formats as intermediate formates in broadcast stations soon, they cause so much issues with interline twitter and its crazy to interlace and then deinterlace for broadcast. Plus more and more is produced for streaming, so progressive makes even more sense.

    P
    Peter Reef
    Inspiring
    June 19, 2025

    Blackmagic Mini Converter UpDownCross HD could be a solution. could i daisy chain my blackmagic mini monitor 3g to this device to be able to preview an uhd timeline as 50i? Will it look similar to the exported output?

    A
    Anonymous
    December 8, 2023

    We are trying to setup a remote editing session on this mac, so the output of the breakout box will not be visible. Is there any way to enable deinterlacing in the viewer window? Working in 50p is risky because you are not able to see some artifacts that could occur on export.

    A
    Anonymous
    Correct answer
    December 6, 2023

    WOW. Again it was the fault of the Sony Catalyst Prepare Plugin. It plays back ALL my 50p footage as 25p, adds LOTS of strain to my CPU and even exports as 25p. I cannot believe it. I am busy with premiere for three full days now to find a workflow for a documentary and all I am doing is troubleshooting errors that are all caused by this plugin. I even had a five hour adobe support session because import of sony videofiles was always stuck and the cause was this plugin as well. So I will definitely give it up. Without the plugin my 50p footage plays back fine in a 50i timeliny on my Ultrastudio 3g. I can even playback the 50p source files when I select "scale down" unsupported frame size in Playback Preferences. It only takes about one to two seconds for the video to show up in the external monitor when I switch from the 1080i timeline to the source footage. In the viewer I can see it immediately. Must be due to the conversion. But I think this will work out. I am glad I tested this plugin before I started editing the documentary - would be a catastrophy in the end.

    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 6, 2023

    I would work in a matching timeline and export to 50i

    A
    Anonymous
    December 6, 2023

    Thanks, do you mean an UHD timeline? Or a HD 50p timeline?

    I guess working in UHD could creade massive render files that are not necessary.

    The other problem ist:

    I sometimes get moire artifacts due to 50i conversion.

    Mostly this happen in drone shorts due to small sensors and oversharpening.

    I can only see those issues when I am working in 50i.

    So there is no easy way to work in the desired output format?

    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 6, 2023

    HD 50p.


    Might need to convert drone footage to an easy editing format before ingesting into Premiere.

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