AVCHD into FCP- Small files now huge???

[Tom Wolsky]

FCP does not work with AVCHD natively. It’s a highly compressed format that requires a great deal of processor power to play properly in an editing system. I think only Premiere supports it natively and only with great difficulty. Furthermore any compositing or effects you need to do should absolutely not be done in this extremely fragile codec. A more robust production codec like ProRes or AIC should be used.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Zane Barker]

[Darren Peister] “the tiny files on the camcorder once imported using the Apple Intermediate Codec are huge”

Perfectly normal.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Frank Rørtvedt]

Thanks, was thinking about the same question.
Two more questions.. is there any problems to just copy the AVCHD files to the harddrive,
and save it as “raw material”, and then at any time I want to start on the
project, just Log and Transfer to create the ProRes files and start working?

And so on, is it possible to compress the ProRes files when im finished with
the project, and convert it into AVCHD or some other highly compressed
formats, so I may save the raw materials in its full shape forever without
filling up my HD?

– FrankFilming

[Darren Peister]

THE Tom Wolsky replied to my post? (Swoon).

I understand that the AVCHD file is highly compressed and not FCP friendly. It just seems bizarre that there’s no corresponding sized file or similarly sized file created by FCP. You import a grape; you get a watermelon at the other end- no option to make a kiwi or an orange. Is there perhaps a program (kind of like MPEG Streamclip) that can convert the files from the camera and make FCP compatible files before importing them? Thoughts on this?

Geek/Nerd
Mac Pro 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
16 GB RAM, 3Gig internal Raid

[Zane Barker]

[Darren Peister] “It just seems bizarre that there’s no corresponding sized file or similarly sized file created by FC”

[Darren Peister] “You import a grape; you get a watermelon at the other end- no option to make a kiwi or an orange.”

Its not strange at all. Think of it this way its easier to draw and a full sheet of paper then it would be to on a postage stamp. Why is that because of the compressed size of a postage stamp.

[Darren Peister] “Is there perhaps a program (kind of like MPEG Streamclip) that can convert the files from the camera and make FCP compatible files before importing them?”

Thats exactly what happens during the log and transfer process it converts it to a FCP friendly format. FCP transcodes it into ether AVCHD or ProRes
https://support.apple.com/kb/TA24840

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Noam Osband]

What codec will give me the smallest .mov file on an import? I am giving someone some raw footage to look at, and I want the files to be as small as possible.

[Fatima Mojaddidy]

After two years of dealing with this issue I am tired of it. There has got to be a way to shrink these files soemwhat and still work in FCP. If I have to go through a different program that can make files still usable in FCP please let me know.