log and transfer – AVCHD Sony HDR-SR12 in/out issue

[Detlef Villerius]

hi paul,

how exactely did you hook up your sr12 with firewire?
i also have a sony sr12 but it doesn’t have a firewire output.
do you perhaps know the best way to transfer files from the camcorder into finalcut pro with the least quality loss?

which compression to use and so on.
now i import my files via imovie and it compresses the files so they can be imported in fcp. i doubt that this would be the best solution.. but if so, what would be the best compression settings?

thanks in advance

detlef

[Paul Humphrey]

I have actually had some more success since I posted. The SR12 only hooks up via USB 2.0. I have Final Cut 6.0.3 and use Log and Transfer with the Apple Pro Res 422 setting. I find this eats up about 1 GB per minute of transferred footage. Since I shoot lots of live concert footage, my “clips” sometimes are 3 hours long! So I have found that the In/Out cursor will freak out on clips longer than 2 hours. I found a workaround by clicking and holding down the left mouse button in the scrub window, then marking the In and Out points manually by noting them while scrubbing and typing them into the In/Out windows below.

however, now I am having issues trying to use compressor to create an 800K H.264 quicktime for website use. Sometimes I get a full 16×9 frame, sometimes I get a letterboxed clip…. sometimes a 60min clip takes 10 hours to encode, sometimes after 10 hours it tells me I still have 15 hours left!

I use a MacBook Pro with sucky slow external USB drives – obviously I need more horsepower to work with HDV.

Paul

[Tom Wolsky]

Yes you do. USB drives are not supported by Apple for use with their video applications.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop”

[Detlef Villerius]

where do i set the log and transfer propperties?

[Paul Humphrey]

These are determined by whatever “Easy Setup” option you chose for your project. You must create a project first, save it, then open Log & Transfer. All tranferred clips will then be associated with the project and saved into whatever scratch capture location you have set up.

I believe… I am not sure if using the Apple Intermediate Codec is a better option for AVCHD?

Paul

[Andy Mees]

In the Log and Transfer window, click on the little sprocket icon that appears at the top right of the clip list pane … you’ll get a drop down menu with the options to Add Custom Path… and Preferences… Choose Preferences to see the Import Preferences sheet

[Paul Humphrey]

Yes this is right exactly – I was confused earlier. With the HDR-SR12 you will see both the P2 card slot and the internal hard drive options. Next to these is a little tiny icon with two carrot symbols in it – if you click this you will see two drop down options, Apple Intermediate Codec and also Apple Pro Res 422. I have found that Apple Intermediate Codec works the best – it preserves the aspect ratio and also uses 20 percent hard drive space. I tested importing a 1 min clip and AIC was about 800MB and the Pro Res was about 1GB

So when you create a new project, select the Apple Intermediate Codec in your Easy Setup dialogue. At least this works the best for me. FCP 6.0.3

Paul

[Detlef Villerius]

ah.. helpfull, thanks.
what about the final render, the best possible quality i can get using this setup?
i was thinking of returning my sony sr12 and perhaps getting a jvc gz-hd6 because thats the only acvhd camcorder that i know of that has an ilink [thus firewire] connection.
so i am able to capture like i would capture from regular dv tape without compression,
do you think this wil improve the quality and lesser the file sizes? this will let me have the advantages of recording on harddisk and preserve original files in high definition.

[John Dehn]

Hi. I’ve been reading these posts about using the HDR-SR12 with Final Cut. My business partner bought one of these is asking me how to make it work. I admit I’m confused how some of you are using it when it doesn’t have a firewire interface. Do you need move all the footage to a drive first and then is there a way to use log and transfer to convert it to the Apple Intermediate Codec?

Sorry I haven’t actually seen the camera yet, I’ve only been reading some online.

Any advice would be appreciated, even if the advice is take it back and get something else.

-John Dehn

[John Dehn]

Hi. I’ve been reading these posts about using the HDR-SR12 with Final Cut. My business partner bought one of these is asking me how to make it work. I admit I’m confused how some of you are using it when it doesn’t have a firewire interface. Do you need move all the footage to a drive first and then is there a way to use log and transfer to convert it to the Apple Intermediate Codec?

Sorry I haven’t actually seen the camera yet, I’ve only been reading some online.

Any advice would be appreciated, even if the advice is take it back and get something else.

-John Dehn