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Multiple formats work flow in fcp pro.
Hello,
I do freelance work for a company creating TV shows in South Africa.
Currently I am editing a show that had 5D, 7D, Canon xf300, canon 2 x legria, go pro and sony ex1 cameras. Shooting happened over 6 months in a foreign country.
Basically once this raw footage arrived at the post production department. The converting to pro rez process started.
Besides being a rather long process, I was told by the guys doing the converting that it wasnt possible to convert everything to a single pro rez version.
Some footage has reached me on a “prepared” drives and consists different versions of the pro rez codec, xdcam ex codec formats and more.My problem is that I have multi cam edit situations that wont work due to the different formats.
Mixing formats in the same timeline also slows down the machine.
Converting raw footage I got in at a later stage takes for ever to convert.
When the footage is converted, meta data like the date is changed to the date of the conversion.
Footage that was shot over a 6 month period has dates attached that span the 6 weeks it took to convert it.
Im sure that its clear that there is a issue here.Certain parts of what the post department have to say I can understand but what is mind numbing is that they claim that this is a the suggested workflow by fcp. I truly doubt this.
If any one has any feedback I would be happy to bash it out as much as I can but please excuse me if i dont respond straight away as I am manic!
Thank you,
Brian.
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4 Replies
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Yes, you do need to convert everything to a common format in FCP 1-7. That format is most commonly Pro Res 422 in FCP 7. I don’t know why they were unable to convert them all to the same frame size and rate. You should be able to do that, if you know how to configure Compressor properly or use FCP’s Log and Transfer controls.
If you want to be able to work natively, without transcoding, you should take a look at Adobe Premiere CS 5.5 or FCPX, to see if they fits your needs. Avid can also work with many formats natively, but in my experience it does not yet work well with H264 footage, as the current version of Avid is still 32 bit.
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Hello John,
the reason they don’t convert all to PR422 is because some of the RAW is limited to select codecs, they would need to re convert it to PR422 after the initial convert.
eg:
BPAV folder > EX1 1080 and then take the….
EX1 1080 > Pro Rez 422I just find this whole converting process to be slower than the old tape capturing at real time.
It creates a huge bottle neck in the work flow.Do you have any idea why meta data, original time codes and dates are not available after converting.
This is huge step backward for me.Thanks,
Brian.
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Yes. It is a huge step backward. You should be looking at a replacement for FCP 7, as it is essentially a dead product, and does not meet your needs. FCP X may grow into being a robust product, but I cannot recommend it for your workflow at this time.
Based on what you described, You should be looking at Premiere Pro, which does not require transcoding, and has better metadata support. Adobe offers a fully functional 30 day demo of their suite.
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Thank you John.
It may seem like a small thing to know that I am not the one single person in the world who recognises the need for change on this matter but for me it make a huge difference.
All the best,
Brian Waters.
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