Different footage formats – is FCP X the best solution?

[Oliver Peters]

You will get similar performance results with both FCP X and Premiere Pro CC 2014 given these formats. I think X will be better for your fast turnaround situation. Either solution will be better than FCP 7.

One thing to keep in mind is that some formats, like EX (I think) will require rewrapping in FCP X. This requires a fast copy. Premiere Pro most likely can work natively without rewrapping. However, if you have to copy the media from the cards anyway, it may be an equal amount of time either way.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Mark Suszko]

I agree 7 is not the best choice of tool. FCPX is very fast, and mostly format-agnostic; then again, so is Premiere. The best choice between those two may just be the one you are most experienced and comfortable with.

[Tony West]

I own an F3 and a EX1 and have used the others on your list.

I use the XDCAM Transfer tool to rewrap my footage to QT files that I store on a HD
I like being able to look at the files outside of a NLE anyway.

Then I place the footage in folders that I give names to like stand ups or whatever. (I organize a lot in the finder)

Then I import the labeled folder into X and it tags them and I’m ready to go. The import takes no time because X is just referencing the footage that I leave in place.

I like how it works.

[Bill Davis]

From the description, your biggest time challenge may be simply doing the all the card rolloffs. Assuming you’re going to be re-shooting the camera cards. (If the budget is large enough for enough multiple media assets and readers for each card or drive to stay mounted live, then you can ignore this.

But in my experience, what kills fast turn schedules is sequential card ingest to the central storage units.

If you can set up multiple ingest machines or stations, turnaround gets MUCH faster. I’ve seen it done with simple Mac Minis, or via multiple laptops. But when a large card ingest takes 15 minutes, 5 cameras importing sequentially will set you back 75 minutes per turn. And if you do transcoding for any of the shot formats, that extends the turnaround time tremendously.

Given a properly qualified editor, X can easily blast through the edits and masters once everything is read into the software.

Good luck.

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[Steve Connor]

Premiere will give you access to the EX and F3 footage faster as there is no re-wrapping involved.

Having said that personally if I need speed then I would always go with FCPX as I can cut on it faster than I can with PPro, but in the end it comes down to which system you are more comfortable editing with.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Steve Connor] “but in the end it comes down to which system you are more comfortable editing with.”

Riffing of this, do you have any experience using FCP X or PPro, Moh’d-Karim? If you are used to FCP 7 and need something for this one gig then PPro would be easier to wrap your head around given it’s similarities to FCP 7.

[Richard Herd]

Do not use FCPX for the first time for a quick turn. It is different enough to cause some delays. The learning curve is real — learning to “unthink” how it used to work takes some getting used to. You will recognize Premiere much quicker. Save the learning curve of X for something less time sensitive.

my 2 cents