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Dropped Frames in FCP
I’m cutting a project for my boss and he is having me grab footage from a previous video that was done in .MOV format. When I drop this in a new time line in FCP it asked me if I want the sequence to match the clip settings. I click YES but whenever I play the video it has dropped frames almost immediately and when I go to the RT tab in the time line there are no options to reduce quality of playback or turn off unlimited RT. However, if I put the same file into another sequence say a standard NTSC DV sequence, the video plays fines (although the quality sucks) and the playback options are all there under the RT tab.
Any idea how I can solve this problem without having to cut in a lower quality time line.
I’m using Final Cut 7.0
Thanks!
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6 Replies
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What is the codec of the .MOV files in question? It sounds like they are something not supported by the RT architecture. May be some for of MPEG. if that is the case you need to transcode in MPEG Streamclip (freeware) to what ever codec you plan on working in.
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The codec is H.264
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Unfortunately that is about as far as you want to be from an editing codec.
Transcode to something else.
Even if it works in the timeline you’re working in now, it will cause you problems later.
What are you hoping to deliver as? What is the majority of your footage, that is not H264?
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The majority of the footage I receive is HDV 1080i60. Most of the videos I do are going to be posted to the web but obviously I want them to be the best quality possible.
Can I use quicktime to export the H.264 file with another code that would work better with FCP? What do you suggest?
I am a newbie when it comes to compression and understanding different codecs. Is there an article or website you can direct me to which would help me to understand this better?
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You can use QT if you want.
For overall ease of use, speed and quality I’d say use mpeg streamclip (squared 5 makes it). it’s free super easy and is built upon QT. Google it and you will find it.
As far as codecs inside of FCP, keep pretty much all MPEG formats (mpeg-1, mpeg-2, mpeg-4 – H264 is MPEG-4 variant) out. Exceptions such as HDV (Mpeg-2 variant), kind of, and AVC-Intra (I frame version of H264) exist.
For transcoding H264, I personally, like transcoding to PHOTO-jpeg 100% (not supported by RT Extreme, but is I frame and really clean). For what it is it’s small and you don’t really lose anything. Render times are big, will probably be pretty big in HDV no matter what though due to the Long GOP encoding. You can also use Pro Res, also a very good option.
The Cow has tons of great stuff, Ken Stone, the FCP manual covers some of this stuff and wikipedia…
Tons of places to get good information, I don’t have one source.
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Alright! That worked! Thank you. You have been very helpful.
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