Workflow Issues: AVCHD to FCP to The Big Screen

[Shane Ross]

You are pretty much doing everything wrong. Right out of the gate. You are encoding to a format that is highly compressed and not meant to be edited. Then converting to a GOP format that isn’t meant for delivery.

THis is the steps you need to be taking…

Use CLIPWRAP to convert the footage to PRORES 422.
Edit.
Output a self contained QT movie…play that from the computer and drive. OR…convert to a very high data rate H.264.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Daniel Eckert]

“You are pretty much doing everything wrong. Right out of the gate.” Hahaha… of course. Yea I’m a full on noob with this AVCHD stuff.

Could you explain a little more what I would do to export a self-contained Quicktime movie? Should I do it in Compressor? What are the settings?

When I play this new version on the screens, I figure it won’t look like a feature film, but it will at least look better than before. Is it comparable to playing a DVD (not Blu-Ray or HD) on an HDTV?

Thanks for your help and the speedy response,
Dan

[Richard Cooper]

To add to Shane’s excellent advice…
When you export from FCP stay at 1080!…. and export a Prores 1080 422 file, the same as you edit with. This will give you the best resolution for your MASTER. If you are playing to a HD projector from a MacBook Pro via DVI this should look very nice. If your MacBook struggles to play back the 1080 ProRes 422 master (it shouldn’t if it is a newer MacBook and has FCP installed which is needed for the ProRes Codec) then as Shane suggests, FROM THE MASTER FILE make a hi data rate 1080 h.264 file and try that.

We did this (1080p ProRes master on a MacBook Pro) for a theater premiere and it looked great. 35 minute show in 1080p resolution played in QT (Full Screen mode) out DVI to an HD projector… Really nice.

Richard Cooper
FrostLine Productions, LLC
Anchorage, Alaska
http://www.frostlineproductions.com

[Shane Ross]

[Daniel Eckert] ”
Could you explain a little more what I would do to export a self-contained Quicktime movie?”

FILE>EXPORT>Quicktime Movie. Check Self Contained too…but NOT recompress. That exports a lossless QT movie.

[Daniel Eckert] “What are the settings?”

It will export in the exact same settings you are editing with.

[Daniel Eckert] “When I play this new version on the screens, I figure it won’t look like a feature film, but it will at least look better than before. Is it comparable to playing a DVD (not Blu-Ray or HD) on an HDTV?”

If you are editing HD, and output an HD file and play that HD file, it is like playing an HD movie…not SD blown up. If this file chokes the system, use Compressor to export a high data rate H.264.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Richard Cooper]

EDITED… Shane already answered 60 seconds earlier! HA!

[Daniel Eckert]

Thank you so much for your video wisdom! I wish I had known all this before Sunday, but your help is GREATLY appreciated. My workflow is now corrected, and I can fix the future videos we do here.

[Daniel Eckert]

I’ve actually never been to the movie theater since I work from the main campus and send it over to them. They may not have FCP installed so we’ll add that ASAP. I’ll have to ask whether they use HD projectors or not, but I’m pretty sure it comes out DVI. There might be some HDMI in there somewhere, but I’ll have to ask.

Thanks for your sage advice,
Dan

[Shane Ross]

NO need to install FCP on the computer doing the projection. The ProRes QT will play just fine as long as the machine as QT 7. Just play it full screen.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Daniel Eckert]

And that’s regular old QT 7 and not a pro version?

Dan

[Shane Ross]

Regular old QT. Pro not needed for playback

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def