How can i convert footage thats in libx264 format?

[Rafael Amador]

If its looks distorted, might be because the footage is not Squared Pixels.
Open it in MPGStreamclip and have a look to the specs (Cmd-I : Show clip Info).
Anyway, you should download and install Peria, which allows to open most of no-QT stuff in QT.
Another thing you can try, is to add the “.mov” extension to the file. Is possible that QT will open it.
rafael

[Theo Hall]

thanks for the reply, i have perian, and QT does allow me to play it but it doenst export it, also the footage was already a “.mov”, and i did do “show clip info”, and this is what it showed

Duration: 0:00:10
Data Size: 6.91 MB
Bit Rate: 5.74 Mbps

Video Tracks:
libx264, 1440 × 1080, 59.94 fps, 5.67 Mbps

Audio Tracks:
MPEG-4 Audio stereo, 44.1 kHz, 128 kbps

Stream Files:
00013.mov (6.91 MB)

I also exported this as unscaled 422hq and it still got distorted, so i dont know what to do

[Rafael Amador]

The picture is 1440×1080 so is HD pixels. No Squared pixels.
Import to FC and make sure in the Browser “Pixels Aspect” column shows HD 1440×1080.
rafael

[Theo Hall]

still no go, fcp 7 just ingores it completely, i did make sure to change the pixel aspect to 1440×1080 in the broswer and FCP7 just give me an error and wont import, unless theres another browser that im missing

heres 2 screenshots, one shows what i did with the pixel aspect and the other shows what happens when i try to import the footage

[Rafael Amador]

Is not the sequence pixels aspect what you have to change, but the clips pixels aspect.

[Theo Hall] “the other shows what happens when i try to import the footage”
Are you trying to import the original libx264 clips, or the converted Prores?
FC won’t accept the Libx264 even if QT can read them.
Import the Prores version.
rafael

[Theo Hall]

ok so i tried the Prores version and it imports of course but its still distorted

Basically heres what i did to convert this clip, as i would normally convert any clip, i opened it up in mpeg streamclip, then went to file and export to quicktime, then for the compression type i did “Apple ProRes 422HQ” and for the frame size i left it unscaled, and that was it, and let it convert

So then i went to FCP 7, changed the pixel aspect to 1440×1080 in the browser first, then imported the footage, put it in the timeline, and of course FCP asks to match the clip settings with the sequence settings, and i did it both way, without it matching and with matching, and both were still distorted

[Rafael Amador]

That sounds weird.
First lets make sure that the clip wasn’t distorted when was compressed as Libx264.
Open the clip with VLC and see how its looks.
Another test you can do is to export a short clip with MPGstreamclip, but instead of “Unsacaled”, 1920×1080.
If in this case the picture still looking wrong, then the clip aspect is not 16×9.
rafael

[Theo Hall]

VLC plays it just fine, and so does MPEG Stream Clip, and i converted it to 1920X1080 and imported that into FCP, and still it was distorted

I do have some good news, well maybe, the footage i got this from it wasnt the raw footage, the actual raw footage is in mts files

So my question for you is, can i convert those files with StreamClip?

[Rafael Amador]

If you have the full camera folder structure of those “mts”, you could use Log&Transfer.
If not, your best option is “ClipWrap”. They have a free-trial version.
Still very weird for me that distortion.
rafael

[Theo Hall]

Thanks for your help, and yes it is weird, i dont think whoever shot this knew what they was doing, most of my freelance gigs comes from people who shoots and uploads there stuff on gdrive or dropbox and i have no problem converting that footage

Also just an update since i got the actual raw footage, i wasnt able to do log and transfer in FCP 7 cause i didnt have the original file structure, but i kind of expected that since they didnt convert the footage right in the first place, but i was able to use “toast titanium” so i didnt have to buy anything at all, and maybe that might help other people with mts files if they have any

Thanks for all your help again this week by the way