Best format to bring in / take out of FCP?

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Best format to bring in / take out of FCP?

Posted by Michael Dias on May 21, 2011 at 12:34 pm

Hi
I’m filming using Sanyo Xacti handheld camcorders that save as an AVI. When I try to pull those straight into FCP I need to render them, which says it takes upwards of 30 mins for a 1 min clip. I have tried using mpeg streamclip to convert it to ProRes but the file size still seems to be too high and it’s also jittery.

When I do export the video file, I don’t know what format/ compression codec is best; outputting as a quicktime file with ProRes codec comes out at about 1.5gb for a 1min clip, so something is wrong. I’m trying to upload videos averaging 3 mins onto Youtube.

I’d appreciate your thoughts.

Michael

Jeff Greenberg replied 15 years, 4 months ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
6 Replies

Chris Tompkins
May 21, 2011 at 3:22 pm

Ya, As you found AVI will not work in FCP.

You did not mention if your footage was HD or not.

But, use Mpeg StreamClip to convert to QT’s.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
Michael Dias
May 21, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Hi thanks for responding

I’d ideally like to film and export in HD but I have tried both.

What QT codec is best? Low file size & high quality is the goal!!
Jeff Greenberg
May 21, 2011 at 6:33 pm

Having read your post, I see what’s wrong: I think you’re going to need to do a transcode to something FCP can edit and then later, an encode that’s optimum for youtube.

For FCP:
AVI’s aren’t going to work well. Transcode to ProRes or ProRes LT (light) – it’ll be about 1 min to 1 gig, but FCP will work well and renders will be very quick.

For Youtube
Utilize the Apple Preset in compressor – it’ll build a bigger file that you’d expect – it’ll be about 60 megs or so per minute, but youtube will handle it fine for scaling down to multiple sizes.

The codec for the export part via compressor is going to be h.264 – great for distribution, not so great to edit with.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
————
You should follow me (filmgeek) on twitter. I promise to be nice.
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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Chris Tompkins
May 21, 2011 at 6:41 pm

Tell us the specs of your avi file and we can better steer you to the right choice for converting outta mpegstreamclip

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
Michael Dias
May 22, 2011 at 10:53 am

Thanks Jeff, this helps a lot. I did convert the AVIs to prores, but thought I was going wrong when it did turn out that 1min was 1gb. Fortunately I’ve got a 1.5tb drive to store the originals!

On a different note, I may well also export to DVD. Which format/codec is best for this when exporting from FCP?

Thanks again
Jeff Greenberg
May 22, 2011 at 8:37 pm

Michael,

There is only one format for DVD – it’s MPEG-2
Compressor has some wonderful presets for it.

DVDSP will convert it if you haven’t. So will iMovie.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
————
You should follow me (filmgeek) on twitter. I promise to be nice.
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
Contact me through my Website

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