Help with FCE

Will FCE work with .MTS and Mpeg and MPG files without have to convert them with another program? Or can FCE do the converting?
And does FCE help add color to video? Or at least help adjust it?
Thanks for your help.
John

This is excellent software, and it is free:
*MPEG Streamclip* to convert to an FCE editable format, available at:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
MtD
Message was edited by: Meg The Dog

Similar Messages

Need help with FCE import (1920x1080)

I'm new to FCE and unfamiliar with the settings and format. I bought the software in order to use one third party filter on a particular four minute project. I thought this would be easy (I'm not even editing the show in Final Cut, just applying a filter.) But I've spent literally days watching tutorials and reading discussions trying to get settings and file formats right for a simple four minute project.
Here's my situation. I created a video in Photo to Movie.
I exported it with the following settings:
HDV 1080i
     Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
     Video
          Compression: Apple Intermediate Codec
          Quality: Medium
          Frame rate: 29.97
          Preset: HDV 1080i
     Sound:
          Format: Integer (Big Endian)
          Sample rate: 48.000 khz
          Sample Size: 16-bit
          Channels: Stereo (L R)
Initially I was working in version 4 and could only work with the 1440 x 1080 sequence settings. The film looked great in FCE but rendering was giving me poor image quality. I thought this might be a problem with sequence settings.
I just updated to 4.0.1 so that I could work with 1920 x 1080 dimensions. In Easy Setup I selected AVCHD Apple Intermediate Codec 1920x1080i60.
But when I drag my Quicktime movie into the browser it's listed as 1440 x 1080. I'm puzzled as I'm sure I formatted it at 1920x1080 and if I
use command+i on the .mov file it shows as 1920x1080.
I'm completely confused. I have MPEG Streamclip and Iskysoft media converter if that's useful.
Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong?
In the initial export of my Photo to Movie project?
In my import into FCE?
Both?
I'm far behind my deadline and really need some help.
Thanks, in advance, for any assistance.

Hi Tom, you are right, of course. The inspector says:
Apple Intermediate Codec, 1440 x 1080 (1888 x 1062)
Millions 16-bit integer (Big Endian)
Stereo (L R)
48.000 kHz
FPS 29.97
Playing FPS (Available while playing.)
Data size: 2.66 GB
Data rate: 89.58 mbits/s
normal size: 1888 x 1062
current size: 1888 x 1062
I won't ask you to explain why I fed in one resolution and ended up with another or why the file shows up in the preview menu as being 1920x1080. Obviously I don't understand these basic concepts.
The more immediate question is--which settings should I be using to import into FCE (or should I be converting this to something else before it's imported into FCE?)
Finally, when it's time to export (after applying the filter) which settings should I use?
I need a high quality version that can be put on a DVD and also something that can be used on Youtube. (The more urgent need is for the You Tube file).
I truly hate to bother you with all this, but it's remarkable how many different online tutorials I've consulted and they all differ. I've probably spent thirty hours this week trying different approaches (insane). Each asserts that this or that format and setting is the "best" but no one seems to agree.    And none have entirely worked so far. (I even had a professional come to my house this morning to help and he told me all my settings looked fine--obviously not true.) Ultimately I need to understand the underlying concepts (and should have invested my time this way) but in the meantime, I urgently need to get this project out.
I saw in other posts that you have written about FCE. Is there a particular title I should pick up to get a good overview of these concepts? And, in your opinion, does it make sense to study FCE when everything seems to be moving toward the Pro X software? I ask these additional questions, in part, for the benefit of others. I'm sure I'm not the only layman out there who is struggling with this learning curve. Thank goodness for individuals like you.

New to the MAC OS and need help with FCE

I have a number of videos from parties and events I have organized on DVD discs and I want to make a demo combining all these scenes into one DVD. Is there a simple way to import video and audio from a DVD to use in FCE 4. Ive had the computer for about a week and I'm still trying to figure it out so any help would be nice.

http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?threadID=&q=dvdxdv&objID=c206&dateRange =last90days&userID=David+Harbsmeier&numResults=15&rankBy=10001
-DH

Help with FCE 4 "Editing Workshop" Lesson 4

At page 59/60 of Lesson 4 "Getting Material into Final Express" my fun with all the previous chapters comes to an end. If I go to File>Capture (Command-8) this does not bring up the Capture window as shown in figure 4.1. Instead it brings up a window with seven coloured vertical bars and a horizontal black bar saying "Preview Disabled". I also have no buttons and timecode displays at the bottom of the viewer. The window on the right is as shown. Can anyone tell me what I misunderstood? Where does the clip in figure 4.1 come from?

Hi, I'm a newbie but what you describe the screen being disable is what I see before I start to capture by usung one of the three choices 'Clip' 'Now' or 'Project'. I think it may be because your camcorder is sitting in a timecode break position. When you actually start ingesting it should reposition itself . Try winding your video forward in the disable window and you should see your video. Hope this helps. Denis
Message was edited by: Denisimo

Dragon Dictate with FCE

I have ordered Dragon Dictate but have not used it yet. I am wondering if it is likely to be helpful with FCE? I cannot imagine it would be terribly helpful, but it would be good if it could save a few mouse actions or keyboard strokes. Has anyone used it in this way?
Thanks, Keith

Thanks for your response. I have ordered Dragon Dictate so have not tried it yet. But I see from the demo that you can give commands like File>new. So I wondered if in FCE one could speak, File>export> Quicktime etc? Anything to save the old wrist.
Actually I am experimenting using my left hand on the mouse. sure does slow down and frustrate the use of FCE!
Keith

Tool Palette Problem with FCE

Hello, Thanks for everyones help with FCE so far. I have lost my tool palette to the right side of the timeline. How do I return the tool palette? I can see the tool palette in the button list but it majically disappeared from the screen?

Go to the menus and select Window>Tool Palette.
It needs a tick against it.
Al

Few questions on exporting out with fce 3.5 for web distribution

Hello I have been trolling here for a few months reading up on things and I know my way around a search pretty well I have gotten some of these answers from reading but id like to have my own thread so I can keep it all in one place...
First..
I run websites that need video's for surfers to be able to view.. these videos are in length from 20 min to 1 hour or longer... now I have figured out that when I render with the h.264 out sorry fce calls it export... I choose the quicktime setting of lan and it seems to be about right for what im used to in high quality from rendering out with pinnacle studio for a wmv or an mpeg.. now heres where I get confused with fce
I see there is a wmv setting to export to.. but when I do it.. it only exports a bit of it...
now these are the formats I want for video...
.mov
.wmv
.mpg
I have compressor but I have no idea on the settings in there and can't find what I need
in those formats I would like to have a
high
med
low
as far as quality go's
can someone help me out so my life is easier please... in fact I have 50 bucks via paypal if I can get someone get my settings down right maybe even in compressor so I just have to edit... this part always messes with my head when it comes down to render out...
there has to be some editors on here that know excatly what im talking about without having to say it on here... if you want to chat in private you can email me chris (at) themibcorp (dot) com I will give you my ichat name from there maybe you can help me and ill help you with some paypal
I want the video to play on all forms of computers..
our's and the other kind.. LOL

This isn't something someone can decide for you. It's up to you ti make up your mind. Either will do the job. If you want to spend the time to experiment with settings to better suit your media and you know what you're doing and want to spend the money get the more expensive version. If you'll be happy to use the basic presets based on average media and file sizes then get the cheaper version.

Is there a way to import clips from AVCHD folders I have copied from my camcorder to my hard disk? With FCE I could import these clips using log and transfer.

In FCP-X is there a way to import AVCHD clips from an AVCHD file folder I have copied from my Canon hard disk camcorder to my iMac hard disk? With FCE I used log and transfer with no problem; but, FCP-X doesn't import them. It will import AIC files that have been created in FCE from the original AVCHD files. If FCP-X will not import these files directly from the copied AVCHD folder, is there a workaround using other software to convert the files? For example, Compressor? (Canon does not provide any AVCHD conversion software for OSX).

Hi jphil and Tom
I have exactly the same problem but the answer you (Tom) provided did not help in my case. Trying to "Import ->From Camera" and pointing to the AVCHD folder yields the error message: "(Folder) contains unsupported files or has invalid directory structure."
Folder structure is
AVCHD
     BDMV
          CLIPINF
               .CPI files
          Index.bdm
          Movieobj.bdm
          PLAYLIST
               .MPL file
          STREAM
               .MTS files
AVF_INFO
     3 files (.bnp, .inp, .int)
DCIM
     101MSDCF
          empty
     MODELCFG.IND (file)
My question is: Is that not a "camera archive" of the type you talked about in the thread? Is it on principle not possible to import the files in that format/directory structure? If not, since the shots were not taken by myself, what should I ask the guy who shot the movies to give me to be able to work with them in FC?
I work with a brand new Final Cut Pro X 10.0.4 (still very clumsy with it) on an iMac 11,3 with MacOS 10.6.8.
I downloaded the latest version of codec updates from the Apple support site but no difference.
Thank you in advance
Giorgio
Freiburg, Germany

Can anyone help with game center I cannot accept or request friends

Hi can anyone help with sorting this problem out, I cannot accept or request friends via game center, Any help would be much appreciated. I get request and when I click on accept friends, nothing happens, when I go to game center it says no friends.

Thanks Martin. I'm waiting to hear back but I believe he has the Vixia HF S10 or S11. It's a flash-drive HD camcorder. I have heard that the lousy software that comes with the Canon's for windows forced the clips to downsample. I'm going to try to Log and Capture directly from him camcorder. The (canon) device only has a USB port and I didn't think USB worked on macs for video.
My video clips are 1920x1080 AIC, @29.97 fps.
His clips are 720x404 mpeg2 muxed. It doesn't tell me anything else.
In MPEG Streamclip, I can export to the same specs but in FCE it still makes me re-render the clips for some reason. very time consuming...

Help with quality of exported files

The problem: I'm trying to get a good quality, 34 minute movie onto a DVD with chapter markers separating individual short films. This is supposed to be a compilation of 8 family movies, in addition to an introduction and credits at the end. Four movies are old movies made in iMovie and are .m4v files. Four were made in FCE earlier this year. I linked everything together in a Master Sequence, putting pauses in between each with some livetype text files to introduce each video. The m4v files were imported and placed in the master sequence. The others are nested sequences. I put chapter markers at the beginning of each section. My intention was to export this one master sequence as a quick time movie, then put it into iDVD.
It worked, but the quality was horrible! Everything became grainy, even the movies I had previously created in FCE. This was very disappointing. So I expertimented with a few things, and here’s what I found.
When I exported a quicktime movie, the quality degraded. It became grainy. Also, it changed the aspect ratio and stretches everything horizontally, as if to take a standard size screen and stretch it to a widescreen. It did this even with the original movies I had made in FCE. I don’t like building self contained movies using this mode because the file sizes are too big, so when I export I tend to use quick time conversion. In this case, I was hoping a non-self contained movie would merely point to all the original content and not add compression artifacts (or something like that). It turns out it made it worse.
When I tried to export a quicktime conversion, 640x480 VGA, best quality, H.264, the machine couldn’t do it. It ran for an hour or so and then crashed. Twice. That is for the entire movie. When I export individual clips (3-6 minutes) it works. The quality is good for movies made in FCE, not as good for imported m4v movies made long ago in iMovie, but better than what I get exporting quicktime movie files, either self contained or not. This is surprising to me, because I was expecting the export quick time movie command to produce the best quality. Also, I’m concerned that if I was able to create this, iDVD would not see any chapter markers anyway.
So there is a problem either way. Experimenting has led me to discover several questions/issues which need answering:
Issue #1: Why can’t I get a quick time movie of the same quality as what I see on the canvas, using the quick time movie export command? On a side note, the user's manual says something about a settings pop up menu where you can deselect the "recompress all frames" option. I can't seem to find this, and was thinking maybe that would help.
Issue#2: Why do m4v files which are very high quality in iTunes suddenly become poor quality when imported into a sequence? Seems to be an import problem, because the movies are already grainy when they’re on the canvas. I thought about making XML files and importing them that way, but the original project files in iMovie are gone.
Issue #3: Why do I end up with a stretched picture if I export quick time movies and there are mixed aspect ratio contents in the sequence (the m4v files are widescreen, the others are not)? More important, how to I get FCE to not do this?
Issue #4: When I export movies using quick time movie (not conversion), the grainy movies actually look better when played in VLC. They also look good when opened with FCE. How can I get that kind of quality in quick time, or at least in iDVD? Perhaps that would solve my problem.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
E

Thanks for the response. I’m not fluent with codecs or video compression, so this project quickly became more trouble than I expected.
It turns out the nested sequences are not H.264, the compression field is blank for the nested sequences. I double checked and the other properties are correct. Sorry about that. The other movies, though, (ones built in iMovie for iTunes) are H.264.
These four . m4v movies are in 960x540 and 480 x 272 because of the way they were exported in iMovie (Share -> Export Movie opens a menu with four sizes: Tiny 176 x 144, Mobile 480 x 272, Medium 640 x 360, and Large 960 x 540).
I just imported the final products (what was exported from iMovie) as clips into FCE. Sounds like I should not be doing that. The original media is on my computer, but not the iMovie project files, and for what I’m trying to do it’s just not worth the time to rebuild the movies in FCE.
Bottom Line: Here’s the current status of the project:
All eight of the movies, by themselves, play well in quicktime. I can put all of them on a DVD, and they still play ok. I wanted to string them all together in one sequence, with some transitions in between (creating a “Play All” option on the DVD). That’s why I nested the sequences, and imported the movies made from iMovie, than added chapter markers. Unfortunately, putting these different types of media together and asking the computer to make one sequence is creating a mess. So I’m sticking with Plan B and putting the movies on a DVD without trying to merge them into a single track.
A few follow up questions…
Out of curiosity, when you say “convert everything to QuickTime DV NTSC 720x480 at 29.97fps with 48k audio,” do you mean the original media (all of the bits of video and stills that came from the camera) or the edited sequences I’m currently working with? As a lesson learned, should I be changing properties of clips before importing them to FCE, so the source material has consistent aspect ratios?
The still images, though they are huge, show up with much better quality than the movies (which is expected, and I’m ok with). So I get a product which includes both video and still images, where the images are very sharp and the movie portions are a bit grainy (because they were taken on a small digital camera). If I change the size on the stills, won’t that just bring the still image quality down?
I’m still baffled at why using the export quick time movie command makes a video of lower quality than when using quick time conversion (in other cases as well, not just this project). In every case, I’ve got digital pictures and movies from my digital camera, and some text in FCE or LiveType files on top of that, usually with additional audio tracks.

What camcorder are you using with FCE that's compatible

I'd like to hear from folks so other folks know what's compatible and what is not. I know Apple has a list but it's outdated. old, and not comprehensive. By you stating what make & model your camcorder is and if it works with FCE will help a lot of folks.

Hi Sheila.
The Apple list causes more trouble than it is worth.
There are possibly thousands of cameras out there but testing is so time-consuming that Apple has only tested a handful - probably all those on the list!
I think you will find that (almost) every mini-DV camera in the world, equipped with FireWire, will work OK in FCE.
You probably stand a greater chance of being struck by lightning than of buying a new camera that will not work.
Having said that, some Canon owners have experienced problems - which have usually been curable.
If you buy from a local dealer you might be able to come to an agreement that you can return the camera in the highly unlikely case that it is not compatible with FCE.
I believe some dealers will let you borrow cameras for short evaluation periods. (I don't expect the large "box-shifters" will do this).
Ian.

Is there a preferred Video Camera in the forum for use with FCE?

I am on the hunt for a new HD camcorder in the 800 to 1200 US dollar range. Is there a preferred recording format or anything specific to look for that will help my camera work best with FCE or better yet are there things I should try to avoid?
I am looking for something compact so that I can carry it with me on trips easily, but still give a good quality HD image. Thanks

The main consideration is that AVCHD is a hard drive based format whereas HDV is tape based. The nature of tapes is that they're relatively inexpensive so it's not such a big deal to save your tapes as backups in case you ever need to restore your project from the original footage. For AVCHD on the other hand, you'd need to make a backup by copying the whole file directory to an external drive for safe keeping, and if the drive fails or gets corrupted then you are out of luck.
There are other less important things to keep in mind. AVCHD can reach a maximum resolution of 1920x1080, whereas HDV by comparison reaches its peak at 1440x1080. I've heard some say that AVCHD cameras generally work less well in low lighting conditions, but I personally haven't noticed too much of a difference. Finally, the market seems to generally be moving away from a tape based workflow. Not that AVCHD is exactly the format of the future (and you'll certainly be able to purchase DV tapes for a while to come), but it's something to keep in mind. FCE deals with the two formats differently as well, and it might be wise to skim over both the section in the User Manual about capturing and the one about the "Log and Transfer" process.
As far as bugginess is concerned, I wouldn't say that one format is prone to more problems than the other. As long as you read up on the capture or ingest process before attempting anything you should be fine.
Finally, keep in mind the fact that FCE transcodes both HDV and AVCHD into the Apple Intermediate Codec upon capture or ingest. AIC usually runs at about 41-50GB per hour, so you'll want to make sure that you have a fast external firewire drive to use as a scratch disk when editing to store your media.
Sasha

Problems with FCE loading due to permissions??

OK, I am completely baffled by this and I'm hoping someone can help with this because it's rather annoying.
For the past several weeks, I've been under the assumption that FCE does not work with my version of Leopard because it would always shut down right after the splash screen had finished. That is, until today.
I have two accounts on my MacBook. One for administrative purposes (which has full access to everything) and one for daily use (which is simply a user account). Just now I tried launching FCE using the admin account and it #%$&! worked!
So, how do I fix this? Obviously there is a permissions thing going on here or else it wouldn't have worked for the admin account. PLEASE help because this is really annoying.
- MT

FOR ALL OF YOU HAVING THE FCE LOADING ISSUE:
I solved it (although it's more of an "I can't believe I didn't try this" issue). Check your permissions on the application. If you are not explicitly set as a user, add yourself.
- MT

NEW IN THE FORUM - HAVING PROBLEMS WITH FCE

Hi everyone!
My name is Mauricio and I am having problems in figure out how to use the FCE. I can copy my AVCHD files from my Sony CX100 but once I input it in the time line I can't(or can not find how) edit the frames and also how to mix music tracks with the original sound.
Please, could someone help a FCE beginner???
Thanks a lot for the time and attention.
Mauricio "Big Mac"

Welcome aboard Big Mac,
but once I input it in the time line I can't(or can not find how) edit the >frames and also how to mix music tracks with the original sound.
Normally you don't edit in the Timeline.
You move a clip from the Browser to the Viewer.
In the Viewer you select _in and out_ points to define exactly which part of the clip is required. If you don't define in/outs the whole clip will be entered.
Then move the clip to the Timeline. A simple method to do this is drag the clip in Viewer to the Edit Insert (yellow panel) Overlay of the Canvas. This will drop the clip at the playhead point in the Timeline.
Al

Sources for random effects to use with FCE

Any FCE users out there know of any good sources for random “effects” (not filters) and pre-made generic clips?
Coming from iMoive I'm really excited about the improved control I have with FCE but it doesn’t have some of the generic effects I’m looking for like the 3-2-1 screen at the beginning of a video or overlays where it looks like the film is burning on the light…etc. I need some cool yet affordable plug-ins.
Any help is appreciated!

archive.org offers some downloadable count-downs ... in "historic" pic quality..
with some painting skills, you're able to create your own in a paint-app and animate it in FCE ...
search for video-libraries on the net, many offer (for $$) DVDs with zillions of usable "movies", fog, fire, water, animatics...
lately, I stumbled here over
http://fxhome.com/effectslab/effectslab-overview.html
which allows creation of nice "particle" effects (smoke, fog, fire, bursts, ...)
I'm too more a iM user.. like all these presets... in FCE, you have to think yourself, how is it done, how to set which knobs&sliders to achieve a special, wanted look... much more options, but much more complicated ..

Help with FCE

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