User Manual

Understanding the Pulldown Phase

148

Relationship between four film frames (left) and five NTSC video frames (right). On the right, .1 indicates an odd

field and .2 indicates an even field.

This setting is not available in matchback projects. However, you can modify the pulldown phase

after you log it. See “Entering Pulldown Information” on page 151.

The Set Pulldown Phase setting lets you log, batch capture, and capture-on-the-fly more easily,

because the correct pulldown phase of any IN point for a particular tape is automatically

determined. Setting the correct pulldown phase prevents inaccuracies in cut lists and matchback

EDLs. It also prevents incorrectly captured clips that stutter when you play it in 24p NTSC

projects.

For example, if you set the pulldown phase of 00:00:00:00 as A (indicating that the A frame is

located at timecodes ending in 0 or 5), any timecode you log calculates its pulldown phase based

on the same sync point, regardless of where you set the IN point. If you use the Capture tool to

log a clip that starts at 01:00:10:01, your Avid editing application automatically enters B in the

Pullin column of the bin. If you capture on-the-fly starting at 01:00:10:01 (a B frame), the

system begins to capture at the next A frame, in this case, 01:00:10:05.

The Set Pulldown Phase feature does not work if you capture from a mark IN.

The pulldown-to-timecode relationship might vary from tape to tape, or within the same tape,

depending on how the footage was transferred. If you find that a tape requires a different

pulldown phase, you can change the setting in the Film and 24p Setting dialog box, or use the

Modify Pulldown Phase dialog box before you capture. See “Modifying the Pulldown Phase

Before Capturing” on page 154.

For information about fixing an incorrectly logged sync point, see “Modifying the Pulldown

Phase After Capturing” on page 275.