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Downconverting 1080i for smoother workflow
I have this project that was shot 1080i. I tried editing it native and ended up with really glitchy playback during dissolves. I thought it may have been my video card, but every clip plays fine in QT.
I work on a MacBook 2.4 GHz/4GB RAM. What is the best way to downconvert this 1080i footage to something more manageable for my machine? Will I have to export each clip with quicktime conversion? What’s the best setting to convert to? Is there some codec or plug-in I’m simply missing?
The capture scratch consists of only an hour or so of material, but the project needs to be edited by Thursday. Please help!
Thanks in advance,
Michael Land -
11 Replies
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1080i what?
Where is the footage coming from?
How are you capturing it?
What are your timeline settings?**Hindsight is always 1080p**
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Are you trying to play HD files off the Laptop OS drive? This is not recommended as you will have less then desirable results.
You can run fast ext. drives hooked up to a laptop.If you do not have to print to tape then an occasional stutter won’t matter as you will probably compress the finished vid to DVD or Web.
But, you’re better off editing in HD. If you don’t want to then, run all the clips through compressor and make SD Widescreen ProRes or 8 bit uncompressed clips
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
It looks like the footage is coming from a 5d, but I can’t be sure. It’s on an external ‘passport’ drive the client gave to me. It’s 1920×1080, so timeline settings are set to HDTV…
I just find it so strange that the files play fine in Quicktime and in the canvas & viewer, but when I add a cross dissolve and try to render it all goes haywire.
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Hey Chris,
All footage is being played off a USB 2.0 passport external drive. Do you think this is the problem? I will try to move it to a faster Hard Drive.
I will be printing to web, but I did a test-print to H.264 and MPEG-2 and the results are the same. The glitches/stuttering are actually worse when compressed. It looks like video card failing with green splotches and tracing where the stutters were.
Lastly – is there an easier way to convert everything outside compressor? Compressing all that footage will take hours and hours….. bummer.
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The 5D saves video using the h.264 codec and h.264 is NOT a editing codec. You need to convert it first.
As for your time line settings HDTV is not a video codec so I’m not sure where that is coming from.
You want your time line settings to match the codec you are editing.
**Hindsight is always 1080p**
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YES stop using USB for video editing. USB works in bursts of data and video editing needs constant data.
Chris was asking about printing to tape. There is no such thing as printing to web, you compress for the web.
**Hindsight is always 1080p**
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I often edit SD or HDV720p via USB 2.0 without problems…
Aha – so if H.264 no good to edit with – what should I be converting it to? And should I use compressor? This was my original question and was really hoping there was a better solution….
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ya, take all your H.264 files and run them through compressor or Mpeg Streamclip and convert them to mov files. Choose a 1080i format that best matches your clips. Use ProRes for the codec.
Import new files into edit.
Don’t edit of USB anything.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Okay cool. I will try this and let you know the results. Thanks very much!
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Michael consider yourself lucky you have not had any problems editing from USB yet. But that does not mean you should. I can drive without a seatbelt but that does not mean I should.
**Hindsight is always 1080p**
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