Step 1 Capture Assets That Don’t Match Your Working Resolution
You’ve decided to cut the whole project in 720p 59.94. Capture all your assets in 720p, up-converting your NTSC assets to pillar-boxed 720p 59.94. To do this conversion, launch Machina and click on the Setup tab. In the Capture Options set the Primary Video Format to 1280×720 @ 59.94p. This specifies the format you want your files to be when capture is over. Second, set the Secondary Video Format to 720×486 @ 29.97i (I). This specifies that the Input to the card will be an NTSC signal. Third, set the Convert Mode to Pillarbox 4×3. This specifies that the 720p file will have the whole NTSC frame inside it without distorting the image. Next, set the Video Input to Single Link SDI 1 – Secondary, which specifies that our Secondary Video Format will be coming in on Xena’s SDI 1/A input.
Now, you can click on the Machina Capture tab and capture your NTSC source into 720p files.
Step 2 Capture Assets That Match Your Working Resolution
Once you have finished capturing your NTSC assets, you can return to the Machina Settings tab and change Secondary Video Format back to None.This will reset all the other settings below to their defaults, and you’ll be ready to capture from your 720p tapes with no conversion. You’ll leave the Primary Video Format set to 1280×720 @ 59.94p. The only other thing you’ll want to change is the Timecode Format.
All of your assets are now captured in files with matching resolution and frame rate.
Step 3 Prepare Your SD Monitor for Previewing While You Cut In Premiere Pro
Though the following steps show you how to cut and output from Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, Xena also supports a very similar workflow in After Effects, Combustion and Fusion.
After starting a Xena 720p59.94 project in Premiere Pro, import all your assets created in Steps 1 and 2 above. If you had an HD monitor, the output settings would already be correctly configured by using the provided preset. But since you only have an SD monitor available, you’ll have to down-convert the monitor preview. Click the Premiere Pro Project menu and select Project Settings>General. In the Project Settings window, click the Playback Settings button. Here, you’ll find all the Playback features for Xena in Premiere Pro. You may notice that the first section labeled Playback Options is very similar to the capture and playback options in Machina. The Primary Format should already be set to 1280×720 @ 59.94p. Set the Secondary Format to 720×486 @ 29.97i and the Convert Mode to Letterbox. Next, set the Audio Synch to Secondary. Then set the output of your choice to use the secondary format. Set the SDI 1 or SDI 2 Output to Single Link SDI – Secondary. Alternatively, if you are using the analog output of the Xena card for monitoring, set the Analog Output to the appropriate setting, in this case to Component SMPTE (SD) to preview on our SD monitor.
Now that down-converted monitoring is set up, cut the project!
Step 4 Make Your SD Master
Now output the project from the Premiere Pro timeline directly to tape. The Playback Settings, which were defined for preview in Step 3 above, will remain valid for Export to Tape. Connect the down-converted Xena output to the deck. After ensuring that Premiere has the correct device control settings, use the conventional File>Export>Export to Tape command. Use the device controller to queue your deck. When you click record, the deck will roll and Xena will output a down-converted signal from your 720p timeline to your NTSC deck.
Step 5 Make Your HD Master
Set up the secondary format in the same way you did in Step 3 above, only this time, specify 1080i as our secondary format. Click the Premiere Pro Project menu and select Project Settings>General. In the Project Settings window, click the Playback Settings button. The Primary Format should be set to 1280×720 @ 59.94p. Set the Secondary Format to 1920×1080 @ 29.97i. Next, set the Audio Synch to Secondary. Set the output of your choice to use the secondary format. If you are connecting your HD deck to the Xena SDI 1/A output, then you’ll set SDI1 Output to Single Link SDI’ Secondary.
Now with the proper cross-conversion set up, export the timeline to tape. Double check that Premiere Pro has the correct device control settings and use the conventional File>Export>Export to Tape command. Use the device controller to queue your deck. When you click record the deck will roll and Xena will output a cross-converted signal from your 720p timeline to your 1080i deck.
Step 6 Deliver Your Masters and Get Paid!
Your Guide
Thad Huston
Xena Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.
Thad Huston is the Windows Product Manager for AJA. He oversees product management of AJA’s XENA product line and can usually be seen demoing these boards at a trade show near you.
THAD SAYS KEEP IN MIND…
AJA XENA 2K for Windows XP has many up (SD < HD), down (HD > SD) and cross (720<->1080) conversion features that are handy in many production and post workflows, including, but not limited to:
  • Conforming assets at capture time to match the desired resolution for the final project
  • Previewing a project on a montor that doesn’t support the project resolution
  • Mastering to multiple resolutions while avoiding long rendering times
For this tutorial, we’ll assume you’ve got HD and SD tape assets that you need to conform, preview on a non-HD monitor, and then master back to tape in both HD and SD. We’ll also assume you have both 720p 59.94 and NTSC assets on tape. Our goal will be to cut the project and deliver 1080i, and NTSC masters to our client, a major broadcaster. Unfortunately, there’s no HD monitor available to us for the cut, so we’re stuck with an SD CRT monitor with component inputs (a common scenario in smaller shops). You can perform these conversions with AJA’s Machina, or inside Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects. I’ll show you how to capture with Machina and then edit, create a down-converted preview, and master in Premiere Pro.
AJA Video Systems
www.aja.com
443 Crown Point Circle
Grass Valley, CA 95945
ph. 530.274.2048
fax 530.274.9442