Multiple Codecs in Single Timeline ---Sequence Settings

This has to do with determining the correct sequence setting when using source material that is originally compressed in different codecs, some of which has square pixels, some ntsc "rectangular pixels," many of which are compressed at different fps.
Is it best first to transcode all the source material to a single codec, with a common frame rate and pixel aspect ratio? And, if so, which codec?
A good deal of the material is standard dv 720x480, 29.97 fps.
Should that be the base codec? Should my sequence settings reflect that and have everything else conform to it? Or should I conform everything to something different?
What I'm aiming for is to avoid constant rendering when I bring these different sources into the timeline.
And, more generally speaking, is there a tutorial regarding codecs and mixing them in a single timeline?
Thanks.
david

Is it best first to transcode all the source material to a single codec, with a common frame rate and pixel aspect ratio?
Yes...absolutely.
And, if so, which codec?
ProRes NTSC. Or DV50.
A good deal of the material is standard dv 720x480, 29.97 fps. Should that be the base codec?
No. DV *****...lowest end SD format that is broadcast acceptable. Don't do with the lowest common denominator...go with a GOOD codec. What are the others?
Shane

Similar Messages

Mixing Timeline Sequence Settings

Hey all,
I have this sitcom that I've filmed. Episodes 1-4 are shot with a Sony HDRFX7. And then for Episode 5 (finale) we filmed it with a different camera. JVC HD something.
Problem is, our opening title theme song clip is made up of clips from episodes 1-4. (works fine in those episodes)/
But the same clip show must be used in episode 5 (with clips from episode 1-4). But the timeline sequence settings are different now. So the opening theme got all messed up when i copied it into the episode 5 timeline.
Is there anyway to fix this issue? I haven't tried manually fixing it. But is there anyway to have two different sequence settings? Or any other suggestions?

Please provide detailed sequence settings AND footage settings... (in this case two footage settings). select your footage, hit command-9.
Frame Size?
Aspect Ratio?
Pixel Aspact Ratio?
Anamorphic?
FIeld Dominance?
Editing TImebase?
Compressor?
Audio Settings? Rate/Depth

Sequence Settings for "Apple Lossless" codec !?!?

Help,
I am editing a project and the material was delivered to me in the "Apple Lossless, stereo, 44100 khz DV, 720x480 (640x480), millions
Is there a Sequence settings I can use to edit this without having to render it in the timeline ?!?
Many thanks,
David Berry

o maybe FCP is only able to work in certain formats without having to compress ?o maybe FCP is only able to work in certain formats without having to compress ?
All the formats in the EASY SETUP are what it works with basically. But you can create custom setups..but they will NOT be realtime. That is what that trick is all about. If that trick doesn't work, then it is a format that FCP isn't gonna work with without recompressing. But audio still needs to be 48Khz 16-bit aiff files.
There are other NLEs out there that do this...Vegas, SpeedRazor...you can look into using them if you are constantly going to be dealing with odd codecs.
Shane

Wrong sequence settings used on my timeline; can I copy the timeline to a new sequence with correct settings?

The clip properties are Frame size 1440x1080, 23.98 fps (yes a problem for FCE), Compressor: Apple Intermediate Codec, but unfortunately I did all of my hard work on a 30 minute film on a sequence that has SD settings (Frame size 720x480), 29.97 fps, compressor: DV/DVCPRO- NTSC. I first noticed there was a problem when I could only get the exported quicktime movie to appear as a 4:3 when it was supposed to be a 16:9. I have overcome that problem by exporting using quicktime conversion and customizing the settings to reflect the correct item properties of the original clips.
But my concern is that my project is still fundamentally based on a timeline that was created in a sequence with SD settings and that maybe I have lost some resolution quality. I am sitting here looking at the iDVD preview and I am not always sure it looks as sharp as the same clip viewed in FCE dropped in a sequence with the right settings. But maybe iDVD preview isn't as sharp, or maybe it's just myimagination. Any thoughts?
Ideally, what I would liketo do is to copy my timeline out of the first sequence with the wrong settings,and to copy it into a new sequence with the proper settings. But I am wondering if that timeline is now "infected" with the wrong settings,and brings these over to the new sequence. The guy on the Apple help linetold me this was unfortunately the case. Am I really going to have tocompletely do this work over again to get a completely correct workflow?
Any way around this?

Al,
very much appreciate your time on this. Hopefully just one more question. I am trying to figure out whether or not converting the tremendous amount of footage I have from this project shot in 24p will be worth it. In my mind, it is only worth it, if by not doing it, I will end up with a finished product that does not have as good of a picture quality. At this point, I dont care at all about having the 'film look' 24p is supposed to give you, I just dont the picture quality degraded somehow because FCE doesnt support 24p, and I am using a 29.97fps sequence to edit it.
So with all of that said, my question is this:
1. When you said before that when a clip hits a sequence it conforms to the properties of the sequence, what do you think is happening to the clip? For instance, if the clip in the Browser as you shot it has got 1440 pixels for every 1080 lines and you place it on a 720x480 sequence, is some of that information literally disappearing? That seems hard to believe. I would think that kind of conversion would require a program to execute it and some processing time, but the drag and drop on a sequence is instantaneous. And my HD footage on the SD sequence still seems to look better to me than my SD stuff, although that could just be perception. Same issue with the frame rate. When I drag and drop a 24fps clip onto a sequence set for 29.97 fps, how can the clip now have more frames per second? That would be additonal information that was never captured in the first place. How is that possible? I do believe that the clips are changed in some way that affects the output, but it doesnt seem possible that 'conforming' to the properties of the sequence is the same thing as if you shot the original footage with those sequence settings. Something else must be meant by that right?
2. Will converting the original clips in streamclip change the frame rate..them from 24p to 29.97? If they are still 24p, then don't you still run into the same problem when you edit in FCE? And if they are changed to 29.97, how is that better than just dropping them onto a sequence set to HDV 1080 29.97fps and having it conform to that? What exactly is the upshot of doing the streamclip conversion? Especially if I don't care about the 24p look now.

Exporting multiple sequences from Premiere with Match Sequence Settings...

If I individually select a sequence in Premiere and Export Media I have the option of checking Match Sequence Settings but with multiple sequences selected the option goes away. So I have to individually select the sequence, check the Match Sequence Settings box and add to the queue for every. darn. sequence. All I want is to export multiple sequences to Media Encoder with Match Sequence Settings (or add multiple sequences to the Media Encoder queue, same thing). Am I missing something? This seems like it would be used a lot...

For PC users, of which I am one, the Preview Render codec in the Sequence is usually MPEG so best to avoid it. If you can actually use ProRes, then it's understandable that you'd want to "Match Sequence" if possible.
Check this link - http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/pro-tip-exporting-a-finished-video-from-premiere-pro/
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Codecs and sequence settings in FCE

Hello.
I'm making a video for a local theater. All of the video is coming straight out of Adobe After Effects render queue. I've been having some issues however.
The default codec out of quicktime is the animation codec. Which produces a good quality image. However the preset codec in FCE is the DV/DVC Pro codec. So when i add it it squishes the video and makes me render it, it just looks bad (the video is 16:9). I changed the codec in AAE to the DV/DVCPRO codec, and it worked, as in it kept the aspect ratio and didn't require a render), however the quality kind of *****. I tried to change the sequence settings in the Easy Setup to match something else (like animation or the proress codec) that AAE can export out of the render queue, but none of these exist, unless i'm overlooking something.
So my dilemma is that i can't get a good quality codec to match up between the programs. The only one that works DV/DVCPRO has less than desirable quality. I always thought that FC was supposed to adjust its sequence to the first clip added, maybe that is only for FCP..
regardless, some advice would be appreciated!

danwayfilms wrote:
... I always thought that FC was supposed to adjust its sequence to the first clip added, maybe that is only for FCP..
Hi(Bonjour)!
FCE is limited to 2 video codec family: DV/DVCPRO for standard definition and Apple Intermediate codec for HD.
Animation codec in million+ color is the best quality you can get fron AE. But resulting movie have to be rendered when inserted in FCE timeline as FCE cannot use animation codec natively.
FCP allow editing in many more codec than FCE.
How do you want to distribute your movie in theater ?
Michel Boissonneault

My 2008 Mac Pro running Lion will not play HDV1080i60 footage in FCP 7. When I open the sequence settings, all HDV codecs are hdv1, hdv2, hdv3, and so forth. Anyone have any idea how to fix this?

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.

there was a recent software update that seemed to screw HDV up. Do some searching here over the last month or 2 and you'll find a bunch of posts and some possible solutions.
Worst case scenario, do as Shane suggests. But might I suggest you take a look at the user tips section of the forum. there are some great tips on how to prevent these sorts of problems by cloning your startup drive, etc.

Multiple OS options in a single task sequence

Hi
I work as a contractor for a client which has three separate computer models but want their systems set up in almost the same way.
As almost all steps are alike, I tried to set up a single task sequence but with multiple "Install Operating System" steps (one for each model) and filtered them as per model (manufacturer is the same).
Unfortunately it appears that while it displays the correct label for the task, in reality it only picks the top image for the deployment and it keeps using the top image even if I disables that task or include a filter to use the top image if the manufacturer
both is and isn't Fabricam to make sure the condition will never be true.
Is there a way for me to get around this? I would prefer to keep it as a single task sequence as if my client want a change in the deployment, I only need to make the change in one location while maintaining easy overview of all steps.
Peter

The MDT litetouch Task Sequence is designed to have 1:1 relationship with the selected Operating System.
It might be possible to dynamically change the OS during deployment, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Remember, you can "clone" task sequences by taking the ts.xml reference image from your \deployment\share\TS\ts.xml share and copying it to Program Files\microsoft deployment toolkit\templates folder (don't forget to rename it within the <sequence
name"xxx"> element).
You could customize the cs.ini file to auto-select the correct Task Sequence to run based on the platform type, to abstract that selection from your customer.
Keith Garner - Principal Consultant [owner] -
http://DeploymentLive.com

I'm no longer asked to match sequence settings in Premiere Pro CC when dragging clip to timeline

I don't know what happened but all of a sudden, when I drag clips from project into the timeline, I'm no longer asked if I want to match clip settings with sequence settings. How can I re-enable this asking feature?
---Trav

Preferences --> General --> Reset all warnings. For anything beyond that ask in the Premiere forum and provide the necessary technical details.
Mylenium

PP6 Multiple tracks output setting & why MATCH SEQUENCE SETTINGS isn't seeming to work correctly!!

First... can you change a active timeline from stereo to mulititrack 16 channels for instance without creating a new sequence and pasting old sequence into new one.
Also, watch this video...
16 channels of audio... great... try to match sequence settings it changes from 16 channels to stereo. Um... what's happening there???? How do we fix that?
http://youtu.be/EslOPTRk79E

Jim, this is the best place for Mike to post.
This is where the Premiere Pro engineers, testers, and product managers will see questions. It's extremely cumbersome to try to forward a tweet to the relevant expert, and it's even worse to try to troubleshoot and give answers longer than 140 characters (with screenshots) over Twitter.
That said, I'll get someone more familiar with the new audio features to have a look.

Merging old sequence timeline into project with different sequence settings?

I successfully did this yesterday. But when I tried to replicate my efforts, I got different and unwanted results.
I have an old project created in Pro 2.0. It has a timeline that I want to keep. In the old project, the sequece settings did not match the source clip, so 2.0 overscanned in rendering.
I created the proper sequence setting in 5.5. Then I imported the original sequence from the old project. The first time I did it, it took the old timeline and merged it with the new sequence settings--a perfect result. Today when I try to replicate that effort, it brings in the old timeline, but applies the old settings, resulting the overscanned result.
How, step-by-step, do I get the result I want--an old timeline with new settings????
Thanks very much!

Thanks Simon.
Let me clarify. What I'm trying to do is to correct the sequence setting without having to reassemble the whole project.
As I said, I was able to do just that yesterday, but have not been able to duplicate my efforts.

Multiple Formats/Sequence Settings

I have a Premiere Pro 5.5 project that will eventually be saved on standard DVD.
My assets are as follows:
Canon FS300 - 720x480 29.97 fps (0.9091)
Canon 60D - 1920x1080 29.97 fps (1.0)
Canon 60D - jpg 1024x768 (1.0)
The formats are distributed evenly within the project.
Question: Which asset would be best to use as the sequence settings?

I'd use the 720x480 29.97 for your sequence settings. Otherwise you're going to have to blow up your other footage to match your HD footage and it will look horrible. So if you're planning on editing all that in the same timeline then you need to edit using 720x480 29.97 sequence settings. Plus 720x480 is the resolution of DVD's.

Sequence settings help needed

10.6.7
FCE 4.0.1
I've only dabbled with FCE occasionally, but this always seems to trip me up. I cannot seem to get my sequences to match my video reliably. Here is a link to the media file info, and every choice I make in sequence settings still needs rendering, though the clips play fine in the viewer. (Mor info on what I'm trying to do is below the image).
No matter what I do (new project, etc.) FCE does not ask me to match the sequence to the clips being dropped onto the timeline.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/367778/Misc/FCE_01.jpg
I've been trying to sort this issue off & on for a while. If I can get this sorted I'll be a happy guy. I have a Canon HG20 camera that shoots in MTS format. I've tried a few converter apps, and most recently (today) settled on trying to use Brorsoft's MTS Converter, since I bought it a while back AND it now has a FCE export setting specifically. I just can't get FCE to let me work without rendering every single thing on the timeline. I must be doing something wrong here.
Please help!!!

Alchroma wrote:
Frame Size: 1440 x 810
This will never work with FCE correctly.
How did the file get to this size???
Your HG20 should work with FCE directly and you should be able to set the correct Sequence.
Do you know exactly what the camera is set to record and output? This info has a direct bearing on it's operation within FCE.
Al
I know - right?!! It's crazy but all the converter apps I've tried that convert from MTS files to a claimed FCE or FCP preset do so in some screwy way. I wish I didn't have to convert first but FCE won't recognize the MTS files.
The Canon HG20 is difficult to get accurate info on, but:
It appears to be set to 1080i at 60i fps (which it claims is standard).
The "quality" setting I use is the XP+ which claims to be 12Mbps.
Other than that, I get no feedback on what the file type & settings are. Since Quicktime cannot open the files as MTS, the only thing I can check it with is VLC which reports it as 1440 x 1080 (see attached image below). FCE will not let me import the recorded files without converting them with something first.
It's all terribly frustrating. This camera & codec have been out & in consumer hands since at least 3 years ago, and the Mac and FCE still don't want to play nice with it. It sure would be nice to get this figured out and so that I can work with it in as lossless a capacity as possible.
Message was edited by: DaveF - added VLC image for media info

Using Animation in your Sequence Settings ... Amazing!

Well here's the thing ....
And I'll start off by saying I have so much to learn about FCP but this has made a big difference to how my images look, especially graphics and titles.
So I'm working away at my project and the graphic images that I import into the timeline from the viewer are just ok and I'm a bit disillusioned like so many people seem to be on these forums about how the image degrades from the viewer to the canvas. And of course it is apparent later on the QT file and then the DVD that's produced at the end.
So one day, and I can't remember how it came about, I open the sequence settings and change the Compressor in QT Video Settings to Animation! Well what can I say, the image in the canvas was absolutely perfect and in some cases, it's actually a little better than how it looked in the viewer before I brought it across.
I have to produce a DVD where each week, some of the moving footage and graphic images have to be changed over. A total of about 15 minutes and all of it of course is in this Animation sequence. The downside of using Animation is
(1) the rendering time is horrendous, (or is that horrenderous?)
(2) as I'm editing, the playhead disobeys what you ask of it and you get the spinning beach ball quite often (can take 1-4 minutes before you can continue again)
(3) sometimes when you're playing through the timeline the image on the canvas and the sound quality are poor (processor running out of puff I guess)
It's a bit of a nightmare but I have no choice but to use Animation now the Marketing Department have seen the difference and expect the higher quality on the images. Cannot get this quality with any other setting I've tried in the Compressor setting. HDV1080 for instance means the rendering problem goes away but the difference in quality is obvious. The project has many different files and formats from HDV to H264s to Pro Res 422s and lots of various jpegs in various forms. But regardless of the project, I have experimented with unrelated sequences in different projects with the same result.
My questions are..... has anyone else experienced this, is there another setting that would bring about the same results and lastly, would the rendering and the other problems significantly be reduced with say the top-end iMac?
I have to tell you I almost didn't post this coz I have so little experience with FCP but it would be great to get your feedback. The weekly project I produce may take more time than it should but I have to say I'm happy with the results.
Thanks for reading.
Peter L

Well... the animation codec is primarily used for sneakernetting files from one platform to another, mac to pc for example. It's a bear for a lot of computers to even play out a file without choking. The concept is make animation file, put on disk or drive, carry across the hall to the pc station, convert to something the pc station can use without choking.
I would suggest you try a little experiment: take your input material and convert it to prores (NOT HQ) before import or WHEN you import (log and transfer) and work with that natively. HDV as HDV is really a cruddy medium. Prores will give you a much better color space and have actual frames all the way through, which hdv does not. Take a one minute section of material, load on some graphics and filters etc, render it out, do your whole production process and see what it looks like. Once you move beyond the artifacts inherent in hdv and h.264 encoding you might be surprised.
Bad mistake to point out to marketing folks how cool it looks. You must be young!

Sequence settings / render confusion

Hi,
One thing with FCP I never seem to understand is the way that it deals with sequence settings. I always find myself thinking: Final Cut Pro is smart, why can't it just figure out what my clip settings are and adjust it so that I don't have to do a render?
Quite frequently, I will get a video, and think that I understand exactly what format it is, etc.. and I will drag it into FCP and set the settings to match, and the red-line will persist, and force me to render... I just don't understand this.
Just now, I used Snap-Z-Pro to do a screen capture, and I recorded audio with my microphone via logic pro.. So I had an aiff and this quicktime .mov file (animation compression, 30fps) 921 x 926... All I wanted to do was combine them together, and export them to compressor so that I could make an h.264 video and upload it to the web.
I brought the video into FCP, told the sequence settings to be Animation.. I got the red line...
I set the resolution to custom, pixel aspect to square.. set the x & y to 921 and 926...
red line...
I also noticed that the clip attributes in the bin/browser show hat it is "10fps" when snapzpro recorded at 30fps, and it certainly does not look like 10fps.
... Anyway.. Lastly, I took a small 5 second clip and exported it to compressor to see how it looked.. And it looks awful. The frame size is super small and surrounded by black--- Even though the frame size of the sequence settings matches the frame size of the video! How do I tell FCP to just leave the original material alone and let me just add audio to it?
thank you!
-p

First off, you need to use Cinema Tools to conform your footage to 30fps. SnapzPro doesn't make a solid 30fps...it wavers when you play back. Cinema Tools will lock the frame rate...basically add timecode to lock thing into place. Dunno why Snapz does what it does.
Next, if you had FCP 6, it would make a sequence to match the settings. Although I am not sure about YOUR settings. FCP is designed for working with tape and tapeless broadcast formats, not strange sized windows. But this might help...Making a timeline with off-codec settings:
http://proappstuff.com/proapptipsvideotutorials/194F4DC2-ACBB-4DD6-A1D0-F46D7D8D CAFC/739BE552-5A0A-474C-8792-537C4082427B.html
Lastly...Animation is not an editing codec. It is an uncompressed codec that makes huge files and requires more than a firewire drive to play back...talking decent RAID here. If you converted to a different lighter codec then playback would be smoother.
Shane

Multiple Codecs in Single Timeline ---Sequence Settings

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