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DVD to workable file types in FCP without quality loss
Hey everyone,
So I’m going back to the basics with this one.
I’m a self-taught FCP user and I’ve gotten by for a while with, well, mostly luck and fail-safes. However, I’ve been running into more problems as technology gets better and video codecs get more diverse. I am looking for a few things:
1) a website or some information on the best way to set up a timeline in FCP to collaborate with the footage I’m being given.
2) I’m also having a particularly difficult problem at the moment that needs some assistance from the masters. 🙂 I was given a DVD with various scenes on it. The scenes were shot on a straight-to-DVD camcorder. I was able to pull the video off of the DVD by using Handbrake. However, the files, now being M4V files will not work in FCP. So now here’s the problem: I know how to convert those into workable files but which type of file and which type of converter are the best to use so that there is no loss of quality in FCP? I’ve tried iSquint but there was a significant loss of quality. I tried Compressor but was a bit overwhelmed with all the options (hence the question of which is the best file type to maintain quality). I chose to go with H.264 in Compressor but now the files in FCP seem diminished in quality. They’re not terrible but I’d prefer the quality to be the same as it was when it was shot.
Any ideas? Have I made sense? Please help! Thank you so much in advance!
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2 Replies
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Use MPEG STREAMCLIP to rip the files to DV/NTSC or DV50. Handbrake is for ripping for iPhone and iPad and Apple TV.
I have a tutorial here:
https://lfhd.net/2009/06/26/mpeg-streamclip-tutorial/
And sorry, there will be quality loss. That’s what happens when you convert from one format to another. And FCP cannot edit DVD files natively.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Use DV50 and you’ll have more/better color info in the file.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
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