Converting footage to FCP native editing

I have a lot of DV footage from iMovie and HD video from a digital camera that I want to convert for editing in FCP. I can bring the .dv and .mov files in, but when I incorporate them into the timeline, FCP balks with dropped frame errors and I can't play them smoothly. What format do I convert these to for easy FCP editing? Is Quicktime the best for converting these?

The HD video is Mpeg-4. So the codec I would use to export is "DV/DVCPRO - NTSC"? Will that be the best format for FCP? (I am editing to burn on DVD, not for HD or anything.)

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HT5177 FCP - native editing Sony video - AVCHD

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Yes
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1. Download and install MPEG Streamclip
2. Open VTS011.VOB (and choose Open all files) in MPEG Streamclip
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I use Premiere CS6 along with I mainly shoot d800 H.264 MOV files as well as Canon 7d.
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Ask in the Premiere forum.
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Hi all, apologies if this seems like a stupid request but I have a job at the moment calling for me to extract footage from a DVD, edit in FCP, add a few bits from Motion etc., but I can't work out if the DVD is NTSC or PAL!
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Does anybody edit Canon 5D Mark II footage with FCP? My playback stops at every blade cut or in the end of the clip for a second before resumes the next clip ... pretty annoying. All the other HD camera footage plays just fine.
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I can only covet your camera, but I happen to have a FCP tutorial for the Mark II. It says do this:
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Change *Pixel Aspect Ratio* to SQUARE. Do NOT check Anamorphic 16:9
Select *Field Dominance* Upper(Odd)
*Editing Time base*: select 30
*Timecode Path*: 30 Non-Drop Frame
Compressor: H.264
*Audio Settings*:
Rate: 44 kHz, Depth: 16-bit, Config: Cannel Grouped
Under SUMMARY tab in Audio/Video Settings:
(make sure Sequence Preset shows name of the one you just made)
Capture Preset: Generic Capture Template
Device Control: Non-controllable device
Video Playback: none
Audio Playback: default
Click Create Easy Setup (put in your Mark II name) and click Create
Enable verification tab: checked
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You may need TRANSCODING if your system still struggles with the above.
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I assume you would know the steps doing this, but if not, let me know.
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I have some .mpeg4 videos shot with a Nokia N95 mobile phone that I want to edit in Final Cut Pro.
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Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have done some test conversions but a side by side comparison in Quicktime of the original and converted footage showed the latter to be softer, less contrasty and with different colours. Not at all what I wanted.
I've posted this question on th eFCP and iMovie forums but haven't had any definitive replies. Is this really so complicated?
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I've been using iMovie 09 with these files but because the image quality is pretty poor I need the image correction functions of FCP. I can import the .mpeg4 files to FCP OK and work with them but I seem to spend all my time rendering. This is why I began to wonder if my initial file format and sequence settings were what they should be (and I am completely lost here).
The edited film will be uploaded to blip.tv and then embedded in websites. My concern is not to degrade the quality during my workflow.

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No one here knows what Apple will do when. Only Apple knows that.
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My 2006 - 2008 Mac Pro running Lion will not play HDV 1080i60 footage in FCP 7. When I open the sequence settings, all HDV codecs are hdv1, hdv2, hdv3, and so forth. However, when I open the project on my other Mac Pro running Snow Leopard and FCP 6, the footage works fine as it does on my newer Imac running Mavericks and FCP 7. I have tried a Quicktime update on the Mac Pro that the footage doesn't work on but it says that I already have the newest version of Quicktime installed. I have also tried reinstalling the Final Cut Pro Studio twice, still no fix. I'm completely out of solutions and need to be able to edit HDV footage on this machine. Any help would be great. Thanks.

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Hello everybody,
I too am about to empty my wallet into Apple's bank account.
I am upgrading my editing capacity and have the following wish list in order to edit compressed and uncompressed 8 or 10 bit high definition video shot with HDV and DVCPro HD camcorders:
Mac Pro - 2x 2.66GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon Processors
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1900 XT graphics card
1 x 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA (as boot drive)
3 x 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s (as striped footage drives)
Apple Cinema Display (20" flat panel - as main FCP screen)
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel - as HD monitor)
I already own Final Cut Studio and run FCP 5.1.1
My questions are:
1. Is the above hard drive set up fast enough for 8 and/or 10 bit uncompressed HD/HDV editing?
2. Will I need any extra hardware - besides the graphics card - in order to see every single pixel of 1920 x 1080 footage?
I know others on the Apple Discussions forums have asked similar questions but I am still not certain which set up is best for me.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. Dear Mr Jobs. Thanks in advance for allowing PAL users of FCP to edit 720 footage from Panasonic's HVX-200 camcorder.
Charlie
G4 PowerBook, 1.67GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6) Long-time FCP user
G4 PowerBook, 1.67GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6) Long-time FCP user

I have just found out that my plans for a Mac Pro with 4 internal drives (one as boot drive, the other three striped as footage RAID) will NOT be fast enough to edit uncompressed HD material.
I have just read this on the Black Magic Design website:
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test reported about 170 MB/sec which was easily fast enough for HD uncompressed 10 bit. However this three-disk internal solution is more suited to people needing simple capture and playback of HD, such as designers and effects artists. They just want simple clip capture and playback and the built-in three-disk array is a great solution for them. There are also newer 750 GB disks, which are faster, and so performance could increase further.
For editors who have hundreds of cuts and/or effects in their projects, we would strongly recommend an external disk array with multiple disks.
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=60#intel_tiger
An external RAID system will have to be the way forward for me for now. Thanks to you all for trying to answer my questions.
Charlie.

Convert photoshop to PPT with editable text

I need to convert photoshop to PPT with editable text. Is it possible? How? Thanks

You don't convert, you create - in PowerPoint, using whatever graphics you designed in Photoshop and PP's native text tools.
Mylenium

Converting h.264 files for editing

When you convert h.264 files to edit, does it matter if you convert them to apple intermediate codec or prores? I'm going to export the finished project back to h.264 anyway so I just wanted to know if it made a difference, and what the advantages and disadvantages of converting the footage to either of those two codecs are. Thanks.

>Why won't the exported h.264 have the same settings as the original h.264?
Because the camera records H.264 with a bunch of settings that are specific to that camera. I guess that you can try to match those settings when you export...but to what end? Where will you show your work? How will it be displayed? YouTube/Vimeo doesn't play back video with that high of an H.264 data rate. Nor does DVD...BluRay has it's own spec.
The question is...what will you be exporting to for delivery...for final viewing? You'll be exporting a ProRes 422 as your master source...but then encoding from that the formats you need to deliver. Unless you plan on playing back in the camera, or via a laptop onto a projector...you won't be going back to that original spec.
>And if I converted the h.264 footage to prores for editing, and then exported it with prores, will that finished project be higher quality than the original h.264 footage?
Higher data rate...yes. But it will have gone through one layer of compression. But very good, low loss quality. Your eye really won't see the difference. But it will be better suited for editing and color correction...as H.264 is 8-bit 4:2:0 color space, and ProRes is 10-bit 4:2;2. It will be in better condition for editing and grading, but quality...about the same, ever ever EVER so slightly less quality. Nothing you'd notice.

Working with Screen Capture Footage in FCP

I purchased Snapz Pro X to record screen capture footage for a project I am doing. After recording the .mov files I imported them into FCP and edited together a sequence along with music and titling. Unfortunately in the output video the footage looks compressed and fuzzy. I have the project resolution set to an HD setting, but I'm still getting a fuzzy looking screen shot.
What is the proper way to import screen captures into FCP and how do I export them without loosing resolution.
Thank you ahead of time to everyone who has any input?

Hi -
When you saved your SnapZ Pro X movies, a window comes up allowing you to choose the video codec to use when saving the file. What settings did you use?
Also, have you rendered the timeline?
Thanks

My video footage in FCP is jumpy---help me please!!!!!

i am having problems with my mac and sony sr10 camera again.
when i am capturing footage with FCP it seems to be really jumpy once it is in FCP. in the camera it is fine.
i am doing my editing on a mac pro. new machine. havent used it for a big project yet. can someone please help me? i have a show that opens on friday and i have 5 videos that are all jumpy. i am freaking out. please help!
thanks a bunch.
julie

to answer some questions..
so i control clicked and yes the footage is still stuttering in quicktime.
i use a tripod when i shoot....so when i say stutter it is like this flickering in the video. if that makes sense.
yes i am using final cut pro now too. and a mac pro to edit on too.
sequence properties
vid rate 29.97 pfs
framesize 1440x1080
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data rate 15.1 mb/sec
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i hope this helps to figure out some answers!
thanks guys.

P2 Footage and FCP X

I received some P2 footage (720PN), most of which I was unable to import into FCP 6.0.6 using Log & Transfer so I decided that this might be a great time to upgrade to FCP X. So I did, but FCP X had the same problem -- about half of the files would not import properly. All of the files played fine using P2CMS, and in the end I was able to use P2ProLog to transcode everything to Pro Res and then edit in FCP X.
1) Shouldn't I be able to import any P2 footage into FCP X?
2) Could the "720PN" be the issue?

I had all of the files transferred from the camera to a hard drive, and I did use import from camera (even though it's on a drive). Some of the files work and some didn't. I also checked that there were no weird file names or delete clips -- both of which can cause problems.

Converting footage to FCP native editing

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