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H264 Conversion for FCP Edit
Hey everyone. My boss recently shot a very short short film on his still camera- a Canon 5D- which shoots HD, but in the pesky H264 format.
I imported the files into FCP (Studio 2), but the program lags, specially when coming across edit points on the timeline. I’m working on a dual quad core, with a 3.2 processor, and 16G of RAM.
The codec is just not editable. So I’ve tried transcoding the files to ProRes, Animation, HDV, DVCPro, 8 bit uncomp, etc. etc., in programs such as Quicktime, Streamclip, and Compressor all with pretty much the same results. All the files play back fine in QT, but when I bring them into FCP, the ProRes files (for example) lag even more than the original H264 files. And with the Animation codec, there is tons of banding and weird pixel artifacts– it looks like crap. I’ve even tried jumping from H264 to ProRes to DVCPro to no avail– same problem.
So I’m running out of leads. Is there a way to create .mov files from H264 files that are fully compatible with FCP, with NO loss? And if so, how? Any and all help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
M.
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14 Replies
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I would think transcoding to ProRes would probably be your best bet, as far is it being a more easily editable format, but since the bandwidth requirements of that codec are higher than h.264 you’ll need a storage setup that will be able to handle it well. Two hard drives in Raid-0, good, Three hard drives, even better. You can use Apple’s disk utility to raid them together.
I’m getting ahead of myself, how do you have your scratch disk setup? Also, is your H.264 video 720p or 1080? I find a lot of those H.264 cams record to 720p 30fps which can be of wonky with FCP. First off, there’s no easy setups for that, only 720 59.94 and 720 23.976. You can manually switch your sequences to 720p 29.97, but I don’t know if you’ll have much RT capability switching it around, since it’s not a format that FCP is expecting, and as Gary has mentioned before, it’s not a SMPTE recognized format, so you’ll probably have to a bit of conversion at the end depending on if you plan to go out to Tape or DVD.
Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks
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The 5D Mark II shoots 1080 30p video in H.264 at about 40Mb/s. You should be able to transcode to ProRes and use it in FCP without issue. I do this on a regular basis with the footage from my 5D MK II and I get great results. There is a preset in compressor for Pro Res for progressive material that works well. I have also transcoded to DVCProHD 1080i for a couple projects too.
The sequence settings in FCP can be a bit of a challenge to get right though, that might be where you are having the trouble. I had to create a custom preset for the ProRes transcodes. I am not in front of that machine right now though and can’t recall the settings from memory.
Wish I could be more help, but I just wanted to let you know it is possible to do, and if the video is shot well it can be pretty amazing.
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Hi Mary,
If the files size is not a problem, transcode to 8b Unc.is your best option. A 10b codec is unnecessary. Any other 8b codec would compress again your picture.
Rafael -
Hey Brian. Thanks for the response. I transcoded using the ProRes422 Progressive preset in Compressor, however I’m still having the same problem: the files play back fine in Quicktime, but stutter (or lag) as soon as I bring it into FCP.
As per your suggestion, I tried creating custom settings for the timeline, but I keep on running into timebase and codec issues: it won’t let me change one, once the other is set, and vice-versa. Additionally, I’m wondering if the timeline presets are indeed the remedy, since even when the file is in the viewer window, it stutters on playback.
Any more thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
M.
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Mary, it seems like your machine has plenty of horsepower to handle prores. The fact that QT player can play the clips kinda proves that. Since the viewer window has trouble also it does sound like a codec or FCP+codec problem.
I know it may seem basic, but do you have trouble with any other HD acquired material in FCP? Do you have a capture card like Kona or Black Magic that you usually use? It might be the difference (although I am not sure how) since I use a Kona LHe in my system so all my presets are designed to work with that system.
This problem may exceed my ability to trouble shoot at this point but when I get back to my edit suite later today I will see if I can dig a bit deeper for you.
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Hey Rafa. So I transcoded to 8 bit in Compressor and I got the same result: it played back fine in QT (as always), but then when I import to FCP, it stutters during playback.
I’m starting to think maybe there’s something off with my footage… but I’m hard pressed to think what that may be.
Thanks for your help. Let me know if you’ve got more thoughts.
M.
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Yo Brian! So I figured it out! It was my own silly oversight. Basically, I had changed the playback settings in FCP because the previous project I was working on had quite a few, very large, still images in the cut, at very short intervals. Thus, the settings were something like: Safe RT, Low video quality, and Quarter frame rate. I had forgotten to change them back. I did, and presto– the ProRes footage and the 8 bit footage work just fine.
Anyway. Thank you so much for all your help. I’m sorry this turned out to be such a dud of a tech-exchange.
All the best,
M.
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As long as you got it working I call it a success!
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I had the same problem when I first shot with this camera the problem is the footage not the Conversion the best codec is HQ 422 Pro Rez . I have made 4 Broadcast Commercials so fare all on the cam with great results .To fix my problem I used more light and moved allot slower also I try to use a 2.8 15 mm fish eye lens when i need to move . To test if this is your problem try editing a clip in I movie if it look like crap then it is the footage. Good Luck
Also this is a clip of one of my commercial shot with the canon 5 D mk2 they only parts that were no shot on my canon were the vip shot with the guy laughing and the dancer shoes .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0x4xfVwpA&feature=channel_page
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Hi Mary,
If its play OK in QT should be fine.
FC is more exigent and the playback will depend on the FC RT setting and the performance of your system.
rafael
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