Importing AVI files from Adobe Premiere into Final Cut Pro 5

Question

I am editing a video for someone who captured the footage on a PC with Adobe Premiere, and he gave me a hard drive with the AVI files. Is there any way I can import them or convert them to import in Final Cut Pro 5?
If not, would settings should he use when he exports the captured footage so that I can use it?

Answer 1

Hello there,
you can use QuickTime Player to convert the files. You need QuickTime Pro for export functionality, though.
Step by step as follows:
1. Open the AVI file in QT Player, select "File > Export".
2. In the "Export:" pulldown select "Movie to QuickTime Movie".
3. Select "Default settings" in the "Use:" pulldown.
4. Click "Options" right to the first pulldown menu.
5. Click "Settings" in the "Video" pane.
6. Set Compression type to "DV/DVCPRO - NTSC".
7. Set other options (interlaced/progressive) as needed.
8. Click "OK".
9. Set audio options in the "Sound" pane using the "Settings" button. (I don't have an AVI w/ sound here, so please see FCPs DV-NTSC Easy setup for approriate audio settings).
10. Click "OK".
11. Optionally: name the file.
12. Click "Save".
For the remaining files, use the "Most recent settings" option in the "Use:" pulldown of the export dialog.
Unfortunately, while QT Player can export multiple files simultaneously, it has no batch capabilities, so you have to open and export each file by hand.
Also, I'm not sure if QuickTime recompresses the files or just changes the container (even if the codec is the same).
Other than that I always recommend Flip4Mac's Episode for this kinda work. This app even has a conversion preset for this. Also Episode allows for changing the container format (AVI -> QuickTime) without recompressing the frames.
Hop this helps, Oliver