Hey guys, been busy lately but I thought I should do a post about converting 24p AVCHD footage that is wrapped in a 60i wrapper back to true 24p footage. Canon camcorders are notorious for doing this type of thing. I know that the HF100, HF10, HV20, HF11, all do this. Instead of just giving you the pure 24p footage, they include extra frames to ensure 60i compatibility. This is really annoying, and worse, the 60i wrapped footage has a diferent cadance for every clip (you’ll notice that the first and last frame of every 24p-converted clip might be unusable).

If you read my post on my AVCHD workflow, then you know that I like using Toast to process your AVCHD MTS files. I will summarize this part of the process as well… Here we go!

1) Take your MTS file and add it to Toast in the Convert->Video Files section. Note the SIZE and the AUDIO Bitrate.

2) Press the “Big Red Button” to continue. In the Player Setup screen, select QuickTime Movie for the “Device” and the press “Change”.

3) Select “Video Settings”. On the following screen select “Apple ProRes 422 LT” for the Compression Type. This is a good codec to use to edit and it should be of high enough quality for the type of video these camera’s record in. I suggest leaving Gamma Correction to “None”. Next Press “OK”

4) Next Select “Video Size” and use your clip’s size. I was recording in 1080p mode.

5) In the Sound Settings, select the following: Linear PCM, Stereo, and 48 kHz (this rate should match what toast reported originally).

6) Now select Covert and let Toast do it’s work.

7) Now it’s time to actually remove the extra frames and get back your pure 24p footage. The easiest way to do this is with Compressor. Follow these steps to create a preset you can reuse in the future. Begin by making a duplicate of the “Apple ProRes 422 for Progressive Material” setting.

8 ) Now edit the duplicate as follows, select the “encoder” tab and click on Video Settings.

9) Set the Compression Type to Apple ProRes 422 LT and set your frame rate to “Custom” and enter 23.976. This is what people call 24p. NOTE!!!  Also change the Gamma Correction to None. I prefer to not have compressor control gamma.

10) Go to the “Frame Controls” tab and turn the controls ON. Set Deinterlace to “Reverse Telecine”

11) In the Filters tab select the Color subtab and set “Preserve source”. Again, better to not have Compressor change any color.

12) Rename your new setting to something appropriate and give it a good description. Press Save. You now have a preset you can use with all your footage.

Now all you have to do is take your output file from Toast and use this new preset on it. Tada, 24p footage. FCP will recognize it as such. Another side benefit is that your file is smaller since it has thrown out some unneeded frames.

If you have questions, leave them in the comments below.