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Which codec to use to export 5DMkII footage from CS5.5, going to Final Cut X
Hi Everyone,
I’m trying to get some footage to a non technical editor (don’t even ask!) using Final Cut X.
I needed to import clips, cull, colour correct and send on via dropbox.
I don’t have any extra codecs like Cineform or Avid DNxHd installed. I’m on a PC so I can’t use prores. I also can’t use uncompressed codecs because I have an upload quota of 100GB per month.When exporting and choosing match sequence settings, the settings switch to MPEG preview as the format and MPEG I frame as the codec. I always thought 5D footage used .mov as the wrapper format and H264 as the codec?
Does anyone know of a good intermediate codec that I can export to in a quicktime wrapper, which will be instantly understood by Final Cut? And if not instantly, a codec that is free and easy to install?
Avid DNxHD comes up a lot. If I send this will this be recognised on import into Final Cut or will this need additional work on the editors side to be recognised?
My thanks in advance!
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4 Replies
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Both computers will need to load the DNxHD codec pack. After installing just restart the computer and you will be all set.
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I’m assuming FCP X will work with DNxHD Quicktimes because FCP 7 could as long as you install the Avid codecs on both machines, which are freely downloaded from Avid’s site.
An alternative would be to export very high resolution H.264 files which we’ve done in the past.
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Thanks for the quick responses guys, especially to an unclear email written at 4am.
So, DNxHD is the way I will go. Tested an export last night and was amazed by the encoding speed even with my meager system.
What is still puzzling me is the ‘match sequence settings’ option in the export window. Lets take a hypothetical scenario: I want to import a Canon 5DMKII video file, which conventional wisdom says is a H264 file, wrapped in a .mov wrapper.
I make no changes to this file, and want to export it to the same format and codec, aiming to have a file as close to the original as possible. So, I’m just passing this file through my system in effect.
Now, if I use the DSLR preset, and select ‘match sequence settings’, the wrapper appears as MPEG preview, not .mov. I have never heard of an MPEG preview wrapper. The codec appears as ‘MPEG I frame’.
Logically I would think you just use another .mov wrapper and select the H264 codec. Now, upon researching the official standards of H264 a little bit more, I have discovered that MPEG 4/H264/AVCHD appear to all be the same codec, or similar variants, according to Wikipedia.
Does this mean that I could also use an AVCHD timeline for dealing with H264 footage just as effectively as the DSLR preset?
Regards,
Cian
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You do not need to create a sequence to transcode a source file; export it from the source monitor.
Preview files are used to review a sequence while editing, but are not necessarily related to export files. Please refer to the Adobe support page, Encode and export video and audio for more information.
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