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Pinnacle Studio for iPad adds 25p + more improvements

Allan Tépper
Pinnacle Studio for iPad adds 25p + more improvements 4

Pinnacle Studio for iPad adds 25p + more improvements 1

Pinnacle Studio for iPad (previously known as Avid Studio for iPad) has thankfully added missing framerates including 24 + 25, plus other improvements. In my articles in ProVideo Coalition magazine, I have covered the application since its birth from Avid, when it changed its name and owner, and when it became the first iOS video editing app to support translucent alpha channels. Ahead I’ll cover the improvements in detail, what’s critically missing, and what is simply wrong and must be fixed.

Improvements in Pinnacle Studio for iPad 5.03

Fixes

2 good framerates, 1 missing framerate, and 2 incorrect framerates in Pinnacle Studio for iPad

Before getting into the details of each framerate, I will first clarify that framerates in the final render of Pinnacle Studio are exact framerates, as they should be. This is unlike FiLMiC Pro, which is for shooting—not editing, where the framerates are only targets and it records VFR (variable framerate). In FiLMiC Pro, they might as well label the framerates as ±24, ±25, and ±30, since it later becomes corrected when editing with software which support VFR, which now include Final Cut Pro X, the latest version of Premiere Pro CC, and Pinnacle Studio for iPad.

24p

As of version 5.03, Pinnacle Studio for iPad now offers 24p. Immediately, I wanted to determine which 24p, since unfortunately, many developers, manufacturers, and even mediographers often say “24p” when they really mean 23.976 (of which some of them unfortunately shorten it to 23.98). After rendering out a project in “24p” with Pinnacle Studio for iPad version 5.03, I sent it to my Mac and determined that it was exactly 24.000. That is okay, since the exact 24.000 is indeed a standard, used in filmout and in DCP, and is even usable on Blu-ray. However, 24.000 is not good for over-the-air playback or for DVD, and most commercial Blu-ray disks are done at 23.976, not at 24.000. For DVDs, it should also be 23.976, not 24.000. To make a long story short: many more Pinnacle Studio for iPad users will be better served with a 23.976 setting, even though the 24.000 setting should also remain as an option. Yes, online services like Vimeo Pro and YouTube accept either 23.976 or 24.000 without any issue.

25p

As of version 5.03, Pinnacle Studio for iPad now offers 25 progressive frames per second, and it is proper 25.000 frames per second. This framerate is common in PAL and ex-PAL regions, and I am glad that it was added to Pinnacle Studio for iPad.

30p

Bad news here. The “30p” produced by Pinnacle Studio for iPad turns out to be exactly 30.000 progressive frames per second. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but 30.000 frames per second has not been a standard since television in the United States changed from black-and-white to color with NTSC. Since then, everything intended to be ±30 must be 29.97. The 29.97 framerate is the standard for over-the-air broadcasting in NTSC and ex-NTSC regions, DVDs, and Blu-rays, even though with Blu-ray 29.97p must become 29.97PsF, which appears to be 59.94i (this is not an issue for Pinnacle Studio for iPad: the conversion to PsF is done by the DVD software or encoding software). So to make it clear: 30.000 is not a standard, and the developers of Pinnacle Studio for iPad must completely eradicate 30.000 from the application, and instead only offer 29.97. It is true that online video services like Vimeo Pro and YouTube will accept non-standard video at 30.000, but they will also accept the standard 29.97 with no issue, and absolutely nothing is gained by producing non-standard video. Please remove 30.000 and substitute it with 29.97. That way, the 29.97 video will be compatible with everything: online videos, Blu-rays, DVDs, and over-the-air television.

60p

I imagine that the “60p” project setting was included in Pinnacle Studio for iPad for those who want to shoot 720p, since 1080/59.94p is not distributable. In any case: the standard is 59.94, not 60. Please remove 60 and replace it with 59.94, since 59.94 is a standard, 60.000 is not.

 

Frequently asked questions

How many decimals are enough?

Okay. I am the first to admit that even numbers like 23.976 and 29.97 are not exact either. They are actually simplifications of a more complex number, which would be the result of 30 ÷ 1/1.001 or 24 ÷ 1/1.001, whose results are very long and not feasible to be used in common speech or even writing. However, the numbers that are close enough for are purposes are 23.976 and 29.97. If we know that the camera shoots at 23.976, 24.000, or 29.97, we know that framerate to set in our editing software to avoid a mismatch, or we know what we must deliver, and we can determine whether it is feasible to shoot at the same.

Why it is important to express 23.976, not 23.98?

It’s a question of being able to explain in a workflow the value of a slow motion shot. If you shoot at 59.94 progressive frames per second and then conform to 23.976, you are achieving exactly 2.5x slow motion. The numbers work together perfectly with 23.976; they simply don’t with 23.98.

Why the PAL-derived 25/50 world shines thanks to its simplicity?

All of the problems explained above are related to the NTSC-derived video world, which converted 60 fields per second into 60 ÷ 1/1.001 (±59.94) and 29.97 frames per second into 30 ÷ 1/1.001 (±29.97). The PAL-derived video world shines thanks to its simplicity, since 25 is always 25.000 and 50 is always 50.000.

 

Incorrect audio sampling frequency

In my tests with Pinnacle Studio 5.03 for iPad, I exclusively fed it footage shot with FiLMiC Pro with audio sampled at 48 kHz. As stated in many prior articles, 48 kHz is the absolute standard for audio sampling for digital video. Whether we are talking about DVDs, Blu-rays, or HD videotape formats (like HDV, Panasonic’s DVCProHD, Sony’s HDCAM or HDCAM-SR), or DCP, the standard sampling rate is 48 kHz. Although online video services like Vimeo Pro and YouTube will accept non-standard video with audio sampling incorrectly sampled at 44.1 kHz, nothing is gained by sampling the audio at a non-standard rate, since Vimeo Pro and YouTube will also accept videos with the standard 48 kHz. Please eradicate 44.1 kHz from Pinnacle Studio for iPad and make it produce 48 kHz exclusively. Nothing is gained by creating non-standard videos, since standard videos with audio sampled at 48 kHz will be acceptable everywhere, and no resampling will be required. According to my friend Rubén Abruña (creator of the documentary known as La Casa Ausente (or in English, The Absent House), many of the film festivals request formats including DVD, Blu-ray, and DCP, all of which only accept 48 kHz audio. By the way, iOS absolutely supports 48 kHz, and is already offered by apps like FiLMic Pro and RØDE Rec.

Please add support for stereo>Dual Mono footage

It is great that Pinnacle Studio for iPad now supports L-cuts. What is still missing is to take stereo footage and treat it as Dual Mono. After it is dual mono, there should be the capability to manipulate each mono track independently. This is especially valuable when editing interviews shot with two independent microphones recorded as left and right. See my related articles:

Prior articles about this app

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