H.264 as editing format in FCP?

[Andrew Rendell]

Ah, I was thinking of this
https://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/professionalformatsandworkflows/index.html#chapter=7%26section=4%26tasks=true

[Shane Ross]

Well, yes, you need the AVCIntra DRIVER in order for FCP to be able to use Log and Transfer to re-wrap the file as QT. And this also requires FCP 7….that has the AVCIntra codec built in.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Andrew Kimery]

[Dave LaRonde] “.mov is just the file extension for quicktime movies. QT’s can encompass many codecs, some of which (e.g. H.264) will make FCP react like you’d react to bay leaves in your food: too much becomes toxic.

So what are the CODECS of these movies shot by your miracle cameras?”
The JVC cameras being referred to use Sony’s XDCAM EX codec and since the cameras use MOV instead of MP4 you can drop the clip right into FCP and away you go.

David,
My only, and minor, correction to your post is that the core code that holds FCP 7 back is more along the lines of 12 years old not 4-5. I’ll also add that even if you use MC 6, FCP 10 or Premiere Pro to edit natively in H.264 your performance will suffer compared to using less compressed codecs like DNxHD, CineForm or ProRes.

-Andrew

2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5)

[Andrew Rendell]

I stand corrected

[David Roth weiss]

[Andrew Kimery] “David,
My only, and minor, correction to your post is that the core code that holds FCP 7 back is more along the lines of 12 years old not 4-5.”

Much of it at any rate… 🙂 Of course, I was referring to the newer code, newer codecs from 4-5 years ago (ProRes), etc.

[Andrew Kimery] “I’ll also add that even if you use MC 6, FCP 10 or Premiere Pro to edit natively in H.264 your performance will suffer compared to using less compressed codecs like DNxHD, CineForm or ProRes.”

Agree on that as well…

But, the really important thing here is that FCP is really almost completely crippled when editing h.264.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

Don’t miss my new Creative Cow Podcast: Bringing “The Whale” to the Big Screen:
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[Ben Oliver]

https://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/features.jsp?model_id=MDL101851

XDCAM

Drag and drop off the SD card into your FCP timeline. You can cut off of the card if you really want to.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Wow! Shane … I luv ya! Another brittle moment of Shane-speak.

Best wishes for the New Year,

Your fawning fan-minion from LAFCPUG –

Harry323

[Mohammed Naseer]

I want to make a start in the world of video editing and have so far found this thread extremely useful in clarifying various terms which were confusing to me before. Please correct me if I am wrong but so far what I have understood is that h.264 is a delivery format which is convenient for the web/mobile devices etc. And that raw footage in AVCHD h.264 format is the best answer for very high quality sharp HD footage and it occupies less storage space (please fell free to jump in and correct me any time…) and FCPX can handle it natively but I am slightly confused if it should be transcoded to the intermediate ProRes codec for editing purposes – not sure what the pros and cons are for this. Once edited, according to my limited understanding, you can then encode it to h.264 format for delivery for web and devices but not sure if this is best route for producing High quality sharp footage for the web. Again what is the best delivery format for excellent quality HD footage for DVD type media.

If I am completely wrong in my assumptions can you please elaborate on what is the best raw format for a camera to shoot in, what should be the best intermediate format for FCPX for editing, and finally the best delivery formats for the web/mobile devices and for super sharp quality HD footage on DVD medium. I would be extremely grateful if you could kindly take the time to clarify these points for me please.

.

[Roli Rivelino]

Hi Mohammed, I’ll try and answer your questions in order.

First off, you’re right when you say that H.264 is a delivery codec, however you have some DSLR cameras which shoot their images in H.264. This isn’t a problem if you’re using Final Cut X or as I’m led to believe Premiere.

If you are editing using FCP, then that is when you would convert your footage using the intermediate (editing) codec, pro res 444 (or 422 HQ) If you didn’t you would end up with a very jumpy, freezy timeline in FCP (not X).

H.264 is the best (in my humble opinion) codec for the web, though flv and mp4 are still in wide use, I find though it’s the least lossy of them all.

Remember that the difference between a clip that is prepared for the web and one that is prepared for a mobile device is mainly size. So you can use an h.264 for both but you’ll change the settings to more or less megabits per second, key frames etc.

As far as what’s the best RAW format for a camera to shoot in, I personally think that as long as it’s a pro RAW codec, then it’s OK by me, H.264 is a pain because I use FCP and so have to transcode to pro res, but ultimately the images will still be good.

The thing to remember is that RAW camera codecs will produce very large images and editing and ultimately delivery codecs produce smaller image files without (so the theory goes) losing quality.

To burn a DVD we use the Mpeg 2 codec and the AIC (AIFF) codec for audio; however burning an HD DVD is not possible, this is because of the size of the DVD 4.7 gb as opposed to an 8 gb blueray. There are probably other technical reasons as well, but seeing as I don’t work with blueray, I have no interest in them.

https://www.rolirivelino.com/

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Equipment
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[Mohammed Naseer]

thank you for clarifying some of the confusion I had, just one point you mentioned above I didn’t quite fully understand :

As far as what’s the best RAW format for a camera to shoot in, I personally think that as long as it’s a pro RAW codec, then it’s OK by me

If possible could you illustrate by way of example please. Do you now the difference between the various ProRes types that are available and also is there any ADVANTAGE in converting the cameras raw file into ProRes for editing in FCPX when it is possible to edit the cameras native format without transcoding it to an intermediate FCPX friendly format.