best codec from Windows?

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

best codec from Windows?

Posted by Gern Blansten on October 9, 2012 at 4:57 pm

Hi–

I’ve asked this question in the After Effects forum, but it seems better here.

My client is asking me to create an animation he wants to integrate with other HD footage he’s shooting with a Panasonic HD cam, using DVCHD Pro.

I’m using Flash to create the animation and all is well until I export. Flash can export to AVI or QT movies. They look and sound perfect with AVIs, but my client is using Final Cut Pro and can’t use AVIs.

When I export to QT — any kind of QT — the audio is seriously out of sync. My workaround is to export to an uncompressed AVI then use After Effects or some other editor convert that to a QT. Uncompressed, they’re huge. A six-second clip is more than 1GB, for example.

So we tried h264, but he tells me that although it looks fine in QT on his Mac, it looks jaggy in FCP.

I’ve tried all the QT codecs including Animation and none of them look good. I also tried the DVCHD Pro codec with AE but it’s rendering as 1480×1080 and not the 1920×1080 I’m trying to use.

Someone suggested it’s a matter of changing the pixel aspect ratio in FCP to display my 1480 into 1920, but I have no idea how to do that or if it’s even possible.

Bottom line…what do you do? How do you receive files from Windows users to use in FCP? I’m out of ideas.

Thanks.

Gern Blansten replied 13 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
6 Replies

Joseph Owens
October 9, 2012 at 7:38 pm

I’d be tempted to export a jpg sequence. TIFF or dpx would be better but larger.

All along, I was thinking ProRes 4444 for RGB, but then you said Windows. Oh.

And DVCProHD should be…. 1440×1080? And in FCP you check the anamorphic flag in sequence settings.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
Steve Eisen
October 9, 2012 at 8:08 pm

Use the DVCProHD export from After Effects

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group
Gern Blansten
October 9, 2012 at 8:28 pm

Steve–

I have used this, but it only exports to 1440×1080 when my source and final size should be 1920×1080.

I could buy the codec, but prefer a free alternative.

Is there really no codec with QT for Windows and Mac that’s really lossless and can be used in FCP?
Steve Eisen
October 9, 2012 at 11:05 pm

Read the post above. DVCPro is an anamorphic codec. it is 1440×1080 and 960×720. Drop the file into FCP and it corrects itself to 1080i automatically.

[gern blansten] “Is there really no codec with QT for Windows and Mac that’s really lossless and can be used in FCP?”
Apple makes the codecs. If you have Adobe CS or Avid Media Composer, it may be possible to use the ProRes Codec.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group
Gern Blansten
October 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm

Steve–

I am using the CS6 suite; my client is using FCP v6. I have a colleague who’s using FCP v10.

What I’ve done is this:

1) Export an uncompressed AVI from Flash CS6
2) Create a new comp in AE CS6 (1920×1080; DVCPRO HD 1080 preset)
3) Export to QT, DVCPRO HD 1080p30
4) Import to FCP

What I see in FCP is my clip, but I have black borders all the way around.

Do you see anything I’m missing?
Gern Blansten
October 11, 2012 at 2:21 pm

Can anyone offer some help with this? Please?

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