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importing webcam footage into fcpx
i’m editing a narrative film, a scene of which there is footage from both a proper camera and from laptop webcam (it’s a scene of two people skyping, so will be intercutting between the various perspectives).
i’ve important the webcam footage and created optimized media but the footage from one of the webcams does not play well in fcpx. the audio is missing and it seems to hang, freeze, jump when i play it. i don’t know the specs on the laptop though its from a swedish macbookpro from last few years.
any ideas how to fix this?
i also have trouble playing back these files outside of fcpx, but there doesnt seem to be a corruption issue. ie it lagz or freezes at different part of the film on different playbacks, not at the same time….
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8 Replies
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on a macbookpro. it was a swedish/european macbook. not sure exact model, probably 2010-2011ish. i’m wondering if photobooth records some weird format i need to convert?
or if swedish or euro version of photobooth records weird format?
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Photobooth was not the right tool for the job. You know that you can actually record web cam footage directly into FCPX? That’s what I would have done. Then you’re not messing with off formats.
I looked at my photobooth and saw that it records H264 and AAC audio. It’s possible that FCP X didn’t transcode it properly when you made “optimized media”.
Try converting it in compressor to ProRes 422 and AIFF audio.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Yup. I know that now. Unfortunately I didnt know that when we filmed.
I’ve done some more poking around and my hunch is that somehow the variable bitrate recording that photobooth uses has been lost. maybe because of OS version mismatch.
If anyone has any idea if there is a fix for that would be appreciated 🙂
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The VBR as to do with the quality of the recording, not playback. If it’s not playing back properly, then it needs to be converted to a format/codec that will.
Do you have Compressor?
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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i do have compressor yes. i’ve tried playing it in compressor, and compressor played it back in the same herky jerky fashion — but maybe that’s to be expected….would i just export it to a new format from compressor or?
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Don’t worry about how it PLAYS in Compressor. Use Compressor to convert the file to ProRes 422 and AIFF. Then re-import the converted clip into FCPX
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Yeah you essentially need to flatten out that data rate to AIF constant bitrate via creating a new version in Compressor. Then these issues will go away.
And for future reference- most ‘webcam’ shots in movies are shot with the movie’s main camera and then futzed to look like a webcam in post with filters. That way you avoid these issues entirely and can dial in the precise look you want.
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