[Vincent D’angelis]

thats a good idea… I will definitely look into it – thanks!

[Vincent D’angelis]

thanks – i will check out the program… I have a vhs player, & was thinking of just trying to import with the player (with some type of rca/usb jack) – if that’s possible…

[Vincent D’angelis]

thanks for the info – I’m on fcpx on a 27″ iMac i7

[Vincent D’angelis]

[Steve Eisen] “I find that hard to believe. This is asked very often.”

seriously dude, if you have nothing positive or constructive to say, then why bother saying anything… like I have nothing better to do than to come on here & make up lies…

[Vincent D’angelis]

hi – thanks for responding…

I figured the reason was (like you say) that they don’t want the battery to run out… but I know sometimes certain updates for things actually need AC connection (for example once i had to use AC connection for an update for my macbook pro – even though the battery was fully charged)…

which is why i am hesitant to use the battery, fearing maybe if its not meant to be used for this upgrade, then maybe this would interfere with full completion of the upgrade… which is what happened with the macbook, it couldn’t complete the update…

also – what if i use the battery, & the power goes out – which then means the computer would go out – wouldn’t that just as equally screw the camera up?

i actually ordered a DC cable – it’s crazy because i’m so paranoid about doing this… i just don’t want to screw the camera up…

have you done this firmware update?

thanks

[Vincent D’angelis]

I currently use a Sandisk U1 card 32g

[Vincent D’angelis]

Hi Rick –

Thanks so much for your input, & for taking the time answer my questions…
– I really appreciate it!

i plan to do another import today so I am going to leave the system alone this time, & also import natively (and not check either box) – so hopefully this will do the trick so i can get this workflow figured out so i can start concentrating on making my film… the technical aspects have been quite challenging to get a grip on up to this point… (to say the least!)

Avid Studio unfortunately is only Windows (The Pro Avid Media Composer) is the only Avid editing system (that I’m aware of) that is also made for Mac. – Because I learned on Pinnacle (and made two short films on Pinnacle) naturally I’m very drawn to the Pinnacle platform – which I do think is great, so when Avid Studio came out, I immediately wanted it (because it’s like their pro version of Pinnacle) but i was extremely disappointed to see that it’s only Windows (because I knew I was going to get an iMac) – which is why I am playing with the idea of partitioning the iMac (but I think for now I may just keep it simple & go with fcpx for this film) – as it feels like I have enough on my plate right now… But if Avid Studio was also made for Mac I would already own it for sure! (then it would be a perfect world!) – lol

But I like what you are saying that if I eventually want to go Avid Studio, and if I need to convert files that I can do that – or at least it sounds like I have hope for a Windows based editing system (if my files were initially imported through a Mac system into a formatted Mac external hard drive…

funny you mention that you work with tape (i believe you said you’re working with HDV) – when I was shopping for my camera, my decision was between the HMC150 (with the tapeless SDHC technology) or a Cannon XH A1S HDV camera (which I almost feel like i should have gotten at this point because of all of the aggravation I’ve endured so far with the AVCHD technicalities)… I felt tape was “safer” because it would have been straight forward to import & work with – but then went for the tapeless system because it felt like that’s where it’s all headed… so it is what it is at this point i guess… lol

there are definitely advantages to tapeless solid state, but learning the ins & outs with this technology have been far more challenging than I ever dreamed they’d be – but it’s getting there…

Thanks again Rick!
Your time & guidance has been much appreciated!

– Vince

[Vincent D’angelis]

Hi Rick – thanks for responding…

yes, it’s on my new imac with all of the loaded specs…

the only box i checked during import was “create optimized media” – all other boxes were unchecked…

this thought just occurred to me – is it possible that it will take that long if you are also playing around with the program (editing) while its doing this background transcoding? (in other words, is it best to just leave the program alone maybe and not do any editing while it’s importing/transcoding?) – because i was playing around with the program (trying to learn it) when i imported…

[Rick Lang] “But you do not have to do that initial conversion when you ingest your media. You can leave it as AVCHD format “

if you don’t do the initial conversion, then how do you import it as AVCHD format? I’m thinking you leave both “proxy” and “optimized” unchecked?

if you import the AVCHD format as is, is this what they refer to as “native” right?

I just saw on IZZY’s tutorials for fcpx that he recommends first “archiving” the footage for your first import… if you did this, I’m thinking this would then first be saving/storing the footage “natively?”

this actually makes more sense to me, isn’t it smart to store the footage natively?

[Rick Lang] “If FCPX needs to transcode it to ProRes or anything else you specify, that can occur later as needed.”

if i import natively (which i think is what the “archiving” will do, how do you then know when to tell fcpx to transcode it to prores? or as you say “as needed” ?

[Rick Lang] “The best way to import is discussed above if by “best”, you mean quickest.”

by best, i really mean just which way is best to save/store the footage – natively? or through the “optimized” transcoding method? -> if you initially “create optimized” when you first import, does this mean the footage is then saved in the hard drive as the prores form? -> what about “proxy” ?

I think one of the reasons why I am so concerned about how to properly save/store my footage is because I am planning to eventually partition the mac with windows 7 so I can also work with Avid Studio – I plan to use MACDRIVE software so windows can recognize the mac external – and I’m concerned that if the files are saved “in a mac way” like for example, if they are converted to prores files & stored/saved this way, then doesn’t that mean Avid Studio won’t be able to import these files? (i believe i read somewhere that “prores” are mac only files – which is why I’m thinking that maybe its best for me to save/store “natively” – ?

sorry for all of the questions – i’m still very green with all of this, and i’m kind of under some time pressure to make a film… actually alot of time pressure – !

i miss working with my consumer camcorder & my pinnacle editing system!
– it was so simple… lol

i never thought “going to the next level” with a “pro camera” & a “more professional editing system” would cause me such headaches! All of these different manual functions & recording modes on the camera, & codecs, & transcodings, & compressions… its making me crazy! – lol

But I totally appreciate your time & help!

Thanks Rick –

– Vince

[Vincent D’angelis]

[Rick Lang] “Make sure the option Create Optimized Media is not selected (so FCP X will store only the HDV media); all other options can also be deselected;”

hi Rick – i was just reading this thread, and figured you might be able to shed some light on this question I have – I have a HMC150 that records AVCHD onto SDHC cards –

i noticed in this thread you mention not to check “create optimized media” –

I am trying to figure out the best way to import/store this AVCHD footage – but don’t really fully understand what all of these options are –

I tried selecting “create optimized media” for 2 imports so far (and the time it takes is unbelievable for it to do the transcoding (i assume thats what its doing?) – the background task after initially importing was like almost 5 hours for a one hour clip of 720 footage!

but i read somewhere that if you don’t check either “proxy” or “optimized” then the import is native (not really sure what that means either)…

best way to import/store footage?

any help or insight is much appreciated! thanks!

– Vince

[Vincent D’angelis]

hi Dave –

yes i also remember seeing some threads about 60p issues…

i just upgraded my ram to 16g, & there seems to be an improvement, but i haven’t really been able to observe all of my footage yet because i’m still trying to figure out which externals to use for my workflow… (another issue it seems at this point)…

but i do think the extra ram has helped some…
a few people have told me that when you export, no glitches should be present…

i also think this is a fcpx issue more than anything now, because when i play the footage straight from the hard drive, it seems to play fine…

is clipwrap a program that you need to buy? (i’ve heard of this program, but not really familiar with alot of this stuff yet as I’m still on a very serious learning curve with all of this)…

i’m assuming you would first import through clipwrap (as opposed to your editing program) – and then just import from those files on the hard drive when you open up the editing system?

is there a reason why people go this route?
also, why would someone shoot 60p if ultimately, it has to be transcoded into 30p?

i just shot some 30p filming my brothers band, & that seems to play fine… but i also viewed it with the upgraded 16g of ram so don’t know if 30p would have stuttered with the 8g –

i find though shooting 30p blurs very easily (i know that you have to pan slowly & stuff) but still, my consumer camcorder i believe was 30p & i don’t recall the blur being this apparent (as opposed to the “pro level” HMC150 that i now have) – even when you look at the lcd, you can totally see the footage staggering as you pan the camera (but it doesn’t come out like that)… but there still seems to be a blur factor when shooting 30p (at least it does with this camera that i have)…

are you using fcpx? avchd?

thanks!

– Vince