Importing files to edit in FCP

[John Fishback]

H.264 is not an edit codec. Here are my suggestions. Export from Steamclip to a high-quality codec like 8-bit Uncompressed or Pro Res (not HQ). That will preserve the quality from the DVD and allow you to add graphics without degradation (like you’d get using DV). After editing in FCP, export a QT (ref or self-contained). Use that in Compressor to make mv2 and ac3 files. Finally, bring the mv2 and ac3 files into DVD Studio Pro to make your dvd.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.5 QT7.5.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 2 (FCP 6.0.5, Comp 3.0.5, DVDSP 4.2.1, Color 1.0.3)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[John Scott]

Hey John thanks for geting back to me on my question..
I’m still perplexed about all the chatter on which is the best codec to use when importing into FCP.
Is it normal to have a 23gig file on a average 45min file. I have a few episodes of a tv show i directed that I want to put on my external hardrive and was suprised how big the file was when using the 8bit codec. a editor friend said I should use the H.264 to cut with but I was always having problems with sound sync when I exported out of the timeline to a quicktime self contained file…
What about the DV codec or the QTDVPro50 codec do these doe the same thing??
Thanks
John

[John Fishback]

Do NOT use H.264 as an edit codec. It’s a delivery codec. You’ll have all sorts of sync and render issues. DVCPro 50 would be fine for files coming from a DVD. You should have no loss of quality. With DVCPro 50 you’ll get around 2 1/2 minutes per GB which would translate to around 18GB per 45 min program.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.5 QT7.5.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 2 (FCP 6.0.5, Comp 3.0.5, DVDSP 4.2.1, Color 1.0.3)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Walter Biscardi]

[John Scott] ” a editor friend said I should use the H.264 to cut “

Never. H.264 is a delivery codec, never use it for editing. It was not designed for editing.

DV50 will be cleaner in the finished product than DV.

Keep in mind your original video is very heavily compressed so you want to re-compress it as little as possible. When I bring in stuff from a DVD we usually use 8bit Uncompressed or ProRes.

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[John Scott]

Thanks to both of you! I should have came here from the beginning of my editing project it would have saved me HOURS of time!! My Leige!!

John Scott

Director :
nip/tuck
Glee

[Chrissy Chris]

Hi there guys!

First: Love niptuck.

Second: my new AVCHD camcorder files give me a headache.

I’m trying to convert AVCHD (MTS) files into quicktime files to be able to edit them in FCP (because if FCP is on a mac without intel, it cannot read AVCHD a.k.a. MTS files).

I use AVS video converter to read these files and convert them. Because I cannot choose from the formats/ codcs named above by you guys, my question is: Do you maybe have any advice which other format/ codec to use? Here are my options:

If I choose to convert to Quicktime, I can choose either h264 (which as i read above and i experienced myself is not an edit codec) or mpeg4 or sorensen video.

If I choose to convert to MPEG, I can either choose MPEG1 or 2
and NTSC/PAL (for me as a european: PAL) or HD or creative zen vision M.

Thanks in advance and kind regards,

Chrissy

[John Scott]

Have you tried downloading MPEG Streamclip ? I have found that this free utility software quite usefull and easy for doing any kind of file conversion. There is also one called Handbrake.
JOhn

[Chrissy Chris]

Thanks John!

I did. So I saw that there were again a million different options in MPEG streamclip.

So after converting my HD camcorder files with AVS from AVCHD (a.k.a. MTS) to Quicktime .MOV format, but still in H264 “subformat”/ codec, I converted the .MOV files with mpegstreamclip to (still interlaced) DV-PAL (european!) format, 720 px.

FCP eats it. Though, now i have a loss of HD quality. Do I need to convert them to DVCPRO-PAL in order to keep the quality?

You are soooo saving my butt!! Thanks so much!

:-)))

[John Fishback]

Instead of DV-PAL try ProRes. That should keep your program in HD.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.5 QT7.5.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 2 (FCP 6.0.5, Comp 3.0.5, DVDSP 4.2.1, Color 1.0.3)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Chrissy Chris]

Thanks a lot other John!! :-)))

Good luck you guys with editting and directing and thanks for the help!