H.264 editing/converting problem in FCP

[Rafael Amador]

Going from H264 to AIC is a crime.
If you intend make a professional job, go to 8b Uncompress, PhotoJPEG or, at least, DVCPro
Forget about trying to re-connect the h264 or something like that.
Convert, edit and export a decent HD master.

[Richard Cooper] “No… This is not possible, as FCP does NOT have the option to create an H.264 “sequence
“
No really.
You can build a sequence with whatever codec available in QT Pro.

Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Joel Godin]

This explains a lot.
Here’s how I’ve been doing it, and getting away with it (or “How Not to Do it”)

Canon 7D, import files with Lexar 800 fire wire CF reader onto Media disk,
Import files into FCP7 browser,
Mark and drop in Sequence,
Find out transitions don’t work so do Opacity Ramps manually,
Kind of choppy, but Rendering out seems to work except to Quicktime (there you get some
weird green blanks once in awhile, but using Quicktime conversion h.264 seems to work.
Scratch head and say, “well, I guess they don’t have all the bugs worked out of the FCP yet”
and go shoot some more great HD footage.

[Cory Rose]

Hi Rafael, thank you for the response. Unfortunately MPEG Streamclip doesn’t have the Uncompressed 8-bit option. Although it has Apple Photo-JPEG and Apple DVCPro50-NTSC. If I use them, would I encounter any artifacts? I need a clean HD output. Using FCP, I exported one of those H264 clips using QT conversion as Uncompressed 8-bit. The clip was four and a half minutes long and it took almost an hour to export and the output file size was almost 30 gigs bigger. Like 1 GB/sec. I have footage of 90 minutes I need to convert. Should I just go ahead and export all of them as Uncompressed 8-bit? Is there anything else I could do?

[Cory Rose]

Hi Joel, I’m not sure if I understand correctly. I have a FCP 5.0.4. Do you suggest importing the source H264 files into FCP and then export them again using QT conversion as H264? I don’t think I would be able to import them once again and cut them in real time. Or did you mean export them as H264 in the very end as the output? If I convert my source H264 files with the Animation codec, would I be able to edit those clips in real time? I’m guessing that if I export the H264 files as Animation, there would be a generation loss, am I wrong?

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Core,
You are doing a simple transcoding (no resizing, time-base or field order change) that, whatever the application you use, will be held by QT.
Do it in FC or QT.
If you can manage with 8b Unc, that’s your best quality option.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Joel Godin]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse. I was explaining how I do it and it works
badly, hence the subtitle “How not to do it”.

H.264 is compressed and can’t be used in the FC because FC has to uncompress on
playback in the timeline and it will not be able to keep up, and will give you choppy playback (plus other technical reasons).
H.264 has to be converted (or uncompressed) before bringing into FC as an asset.
Here’s an excellent tutorial from Chris Fenwick (bookmark his website, lots of great stuff):
https://chrisfenwick.com/home/2010/2/25/tutorial-converting-5d-and-7d-movies.html#comment7687043

This is for those that have a Final Cut version less than 6.06 and not an intel machine with OSX 10.6.2 or later.
Those with FC 6.06 (or later) and an intel Mac with OSX 10.6.2 (or later)
can now use the Canon 7D Final Cut Pro plugin on Canon’s site here:
https://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=314&modelid=19356

[Cory Rose]

Hi Joel, thanks for your input and the links. I have Intel Mac OSX 10.6.2 SL and FCP 5.0.4. I can’t use Compressor. So in FCP I’ve tried exporting one of those 1920 x 1080 30fps interlaced H264 files to HDV 1080i60. It’s still HD and the file size is small. Although the aspect ratio of the HDV file is 1440 x 1020. Could I change it back to 1920 x 1080 in the end? Also would the progressive frame rate screw up my original interlaced H264 videos? The HDV output file looks and plays back fine in FCP, although I can’t open it in QT. Should I just edit in a HDV timeline and with only HDV clips? Would the process be lossless? When the editing is finished, I can export it as H264 or something else for HD delivery, right? Sorry guys for all these newbie questions, I just need to start editing right away.

[Cory Rose]

I guess there’s no answer

[Warren Elliott]

You will be right in that statement, I have tried every trick in the book with FCP to do as you seek to no avail. So guess I will be searching as well. Good luck.

Best of Health
Warrenjelliott