FCPX and C300 files

[Oliver Peters]

I had some time to poke around in the files this morning. Apparently the files that do show up in FCPX are AVC-Intra/H264/10-bit. The files that show up only as audio are DNxHR/8-bit. So it’s a codec support issue on the part of Apple. Why the camera op changed settings between takes is a mystery to me. Unless the camera switches automatically based on real-time or slomo recording.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Eric Santiago]

[Oliver Peters] ” Why the camera op changed settings between takes is a mystery to me. Unless the camera switches automatically based on real-time or slomo recording.
“

Uggh yea why people do stupid things.
A friend rented my RED last week and complained that the audio didn’t record at all.
When I got the media back I noticed someone changed the settings to 25fps.
Since the RED project settings were set to 23.976, changing the fps puts it in Varispeed.
Apparently they wanted to match the target country PAL frame rate.
I have a sticker on my Scarlet that states “SCRATCH ME!”.
Basically a reminder to place the scratch mics for onboard audio.
I now have to put a new one “LEAVE THE PROJECT SETTINGS ALONE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING” 😛
Sorry for dumping that on your post…just maddening I tell yaa!!

[Oliver Peters]

I checked with the cam op and he did not overtly change settings. However, this was a run-and-gun situation and the two adjacent clips have a TC restart between. So most likely the camera was powered down in between and it automatically reset to DNxHR. This is either a default setting or a bug in the camera.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Oliver Peters]

FWIW – I thought Apple had added back DNxHR support, but I guess only in MOV-wrapped files. Not helpful, as these are MXF and that’s generally what apps using DNxHR will use. These files will not open with picture in QT Player, but they will in Switch.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Tangier Clarke]

Oliver, I started scouring the interwebs because I was intrigued that you got back a DNxHR file at all from the C300 MKii. I can’t find that spec anywhere. I went to B&H first simply because it tends to be easier to find the specs than on Canon’s site. Were they using an Atomos device?

I tend to use the MediaInfo app to really scrutinize media I have problems with to see it’s full format information.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Oliver Peters] “FWIW – I thought Apple had added back DNxHR support, “

I think the plan is to eventually add back support. It’s not here yet, though.

I think it will come in the form of a Pro Video format update.

[Oliver Peters]

[Tangier Clarke] “I started scouring the interwebs because I was intrigued that you got back a DNxHR file at all from the C300 MKii. I can’t find that spec anywhere”

OK, I’ve gotten to the bottom of this. I just found out that the camera operator at night resynced the clip with other audio and rewrote that back into the folder structure on the drive, thus overwriting the original clip. I’m not sure how he did that, but this retained the same file name, but unfortunately a different codec, which FCPX does not support. Damn, what a mystery!

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Michael Hancock]

Why in the world would a camera operator do that!?!?! That’s the biggest mystery of all.

Glad you got it sorted out, and I’ve been stung by the lack of DNxHR support in FCPX. Even as an .mov, it doesn’t support alpha channels. So the support isn’t 100%. Hopefully that is fixed at some point in the future.

—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor

[Joe Marler]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I think the plan is to eventually add back support. It’s not here yet, though.
“

I thought that was for 64-bit DNxHD support starting with Catalina. Oliver is on Mojave. I don’t have any camera native DNxHD but I exported some OP1A from Premiere in an MXF wrapper then re-wrapped to MOV with EditReady2, but FCPX 10.4.8 on Mojave and Pro Video Formats 2.1.1 would not take it.

Do you have to load some Avid codec pack like this one? https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Download/Avid-QuickTime-Codecs-LE

I thought *that* is what went away with Catalina. Not just 32 bit codecs but ability to add 3rd party codecs via Quicktime extension mechanism so system-wide apps can use those. The initial plan of action was each app vendor could then write their own parser and include the deprecated codecs within their app, but this was later changed so certain 64-bit codecs would somehow be approved by Apple and either included with MacOS or field installed. I think 64-bit DNxHD codecs are planned for Catalina, just not here yet, but not sure that’s Oliver’s issue.

[Mark Smith]

Wha? Pulling a stunt like what you described is way out of line