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Large files (45 min) in Final cut best way to handle
Asking for a friend…. I suggested maybe editing using a proxy in FCP..however Im not 100% sure the best way to go about doing that or if its even the best way to go…
“ok, so basically my boss had 45 minutes of HD quality vid. he wants some stuff done to it and both the iMac he has at work and my laptop can’t handle. (its 90 GB) i know i have to work with a shittier quality in AE or Final Cut….but when i am ready to swap the shitty one for the original quality in the final render, both comps cannot handle the audio. Someone suggested i render the audio and video separately and bring them together again in AE or Final Cut. The final version needs to be in FLV format so it can be viewed on the web. basically i figured this is what i had to do, i was just hoping there was a less inconvenient way to pulling this off with what i have to use.”
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9 Replies
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45 min HD…what codec? It might simply be that the drive it is stored on can’t handle it. WIth an iMac you are limited to FW800 drives, but they might be able to handle it…unless it is uncompressed HD.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I may have some solutions, but they require a little more knowledge. When you say you’re computer cannot handle it, are you talking about its processing power or the amount of drive space available?
If you are having issues with drivespace for exporting your final copy, try networking your 2 computers together and exporting the final version from one to the other. It may take a mind numbing amount of time, but it will solve the drive space issue. However, I would note on this that means you probably won’t be able to do a full preview of it before you render it out. You will unfortunately have to review it after the LONG export. Alternatively, if you have an external hard drive this may be a better solution. Import the footage (or transfer it) to the external drive, then set up your computer’s main drive as the render drive. You may detect some audio video glitches over firewire 400 or 800 when you play it back, but when you render the video and audio, the new files will be written to your computer and those should go away, if they don’t, don’t worry, they won’t exist in the final rendered out version.
If you are having issues with computer performance and speed there is another possible solution. When you say you have 45 minutes of footage do you mean in 1 large file in your editing bin or as a collection of many files? If it is one large file, try importing it in smaller chunks and splicing them together, this helps final cut by breaking up the file sizes and helping manage the read write procedure. If you have many small files that are causing issues try rendering your project into a couple larger chunks and then bringing them together to render the larger piece. The computers sometimes have issues when there is a lot of editing on large projects, so by exporting to fully rendered pieces and splicing them back together the computer has to do less work to put the full piece together.
Hope one of those solutions helps you.
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What if i have her compress the whole thing before she brings it into FCP? the final output is going to be 720X480 flv file…
Do you think that would help at all? If so what would you recommended compressing it to ? -
Then you need to get a machine and drives that can handle it. Even if you edit an offline proxie, when it comes to reconnecting to the master uncompressed file, you need to be able to play it and make sure it all matches up and works. You need to playback without issues. Therefore you need a system that can do that.
A G-Raid 3 or CalDigit VR can handle this via eSATA, so you need a computer that can connect to these drives in that manner. iMac, MacBook…ain’t gonna cut it. MacBook Pro, MacPro.
Unless you DON’T want to check it. But I always say, check it.
Otherwise you are left to converting to FLV THEN checking it. But if something is wrong then you have lost a lot of time. OR…you can convert the Uncompressed file to a more manageable one, like ProRes. That plays back fine on raided FW800 drives (G-Raid). Then you can connect it to a computer via FW800 (iMac have that?) and check it.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Hey shane thanks so much!
I think I will have her convert it to prores im not sure if she has access to a raid or if she just has a hard drive with firewire 800 would that work or does it need to be the raid? sorry silly questions im sure..
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ProRes HD has the data rate of uncompressed SD. FOr that a single firwire 800 drive isn’t fast enough. You need either an eSATA drive, or raided firewire 800 drive.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
“ProRes HD has the data rate of uncompressed SD. FOr that a single firwire 800 drive isn’t fast enough.”
it has been for me.
ive just laid back to tape a 90 minute documentary.
all Prores (not HQ)
all files on a single FW800 drive.
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it was all rendered, so there was a bit less hunting around for the files,
but i also had more than 6 audio tracks going at once, (not mixed down) and THEY were all on the same drive, too.lucky me!
nick
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