Open Format Timeline Question

Hello,
I'm planning on switching to FCP soon. I am editing on premiere right now and if I get a positive answer to my question I will probably make the switch really soon.
I have a project coming that includes SD footage, HDV and XDCAM EX. Would I be able to edit in real time in Final Cut Pro even without any cards (AJA or Blackmagic)?
Thanks a lot.

Yes.
Will you need to eventually render? Yes.
Will the quality be EXCELLENT on all formats? No. SD blown up to HD won't look the best.
Can you mix frame rates? 23.98 and 29.97...25? Well, it will work, but it won't look good. Mixing formats is one thing, frame rates is entirely different. Best to match frame rates before you edit, and if you do that, might as well make the codecs match too. Because mixing frame rates is a BAD thing. Avid doesn't even let you do it. FCP does, and people think that they can then get away with it and are shocked when it looks juttery and horrid.
Shane

Similar Messages

Problems with Open Format Timeline

HEllo to everybody.
I have a little problem with the open format timeline editing.
I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can.
I'm editing a project which will output as PAL 25 Uncompressed 8-bit, letterboxed, through an Aja LH to IMX tape
I'm editing different formats, PAL 25 and HDV 720p.
I'm now doing the online editing. I used media manager to create an offline project and I'm recapturing my media at high quality.
My timeline settings are PAL 25 Uncompressed 8-bit. I'm recapturing my PAL 25 footage Uncompressed 8-bit and my HD footage via component through the Aja with the setting 720p 50 Uncompressed 8-bit.
On the timeline though, my HD footage shows cropped on both sides. Meanwhile when I open the master clip from the browser it is in his 16:9 aspect ratio.
When I re-edit the clips in the timeline they are no longer cropped but show in their 16:9 aspect ratio.
My question:
is there a way to recapture the clips from my timeline in a way that they already show in their original 16:9 aspect ratio?
Or the only thing to do is to swap all the clips on the timeline with their corresponding master clips in the Browser? The project is an hour and 20 minutes, and the second option is quite time consuming and greatly boring.
I would greatly welcome any suggestion
thank you
nicola

Thanks Tom.
I suspected it might be as I heard it flowing glibly off the narrator's tongue.
Incidentally, your fame is spreading over here.
Last night at our club meeting we were visited by a neighbouring society. One woman happened to mention to someone that she was having problems with FCE 4, so she was directed to me.
I mentioned the ADFs and your name, to which she responded, "I'm working through his book at the moment!"

Open format timeline problem

I have about 10 gigs of 720p quicktime files, all encoded with the photo-jpeg option at 95%. I also have around the same amount of 720p quicktime files, encoded with the H 264 codec. When I drag h264 clips into a timeline created with a photo-jpeg clip, it says I have to render the media before playing back in real time. The same goes for the other way around. Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought Final Cut Pro 6 has an open format timeline. I am not even mixing HD and SD, all the files are the same size: 1280 x 720, with square pixel aspect ratio. The only difference is that some are encoded with photo-jpeg, and some are H264. Why do I have to render the other format in my FCP sequences? Right now my only option is to re-render the original clips.
Because I work with both macs and pcs, my video workflow is a little annoying. I import 1080 60i HDV on a pc, convert to 720p quicktime. I ran out of disk space on my laptop, so I chose h264 for some of the clips, to reduce the size of the files.
Does FCP 6 not support 2 different video codecs in the same timeline? I am confused, any help is appreciated.

Thanks for the tip. I found my answer in the manual: Apparently H264 and mp4 are not supported by FCP's Real Time playback engine when used in mixed sequences. Bummer.

Open Format Timeline - What Codecs?

I'm very excited about this Multi-Format Timeline idea, but I'm having some trouble. I've got a bevy of clips in assorted formats - some h.263 FLVs, some Sorenson MOVs, and some DV Streams. I put them all on the timeline, and FCP wants to render them all, just like the old verion would.
All of these movie formats play through Quicktime just fine. I understand that FCP does not support every codec for realtime playback. However, I can find no list of supported/unsupported formats. Do I need to transcode everything to DV-Compressed MOVs like in FCP5?
Thanks for any hints you might be able to give!

The issue is the sequence setting you have selected and how far your other formats need to be moved, so to speak, in order to conform to the sequence. The further from your sequence settings, the more intense the live transcodee has to be and that is determined by your processors, RAM, and drive speeds.
It is strongly recommended to transcode various formats to a common denominator codec for many reasons but mainly you want to reduce the amount of processing. What format you convert to and when in the workflow you decide to do it is dependent on lots of external factors, mostly your delivery format and when you will reintroduce the original media back into the flow.
The manual has some guidelines but this stuff is specific to projects, each one will need a diferent treatment. But we can't be bothered with the hassles of keeping track of multiple formats, we transcode everything immediately to DV. This would be different of course if we were using different sequences but 99% of our stuff is simple DV.
bogiesan

Multicam editing "open-format" in FCP6??...& can an iMac C2D 2.8 handle it?

Hello. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but...
In FCP6, is the multicam editing feature "open-format"? In otherwords, can you multicam edit HD (HDV) and SD (DV) resolution video together?
I've read that in previous versions (FCP5, I believe), this was not possible. But I believe the timeline wasn't open-format back then either. Just wondering if this limitation regarding multicam still exists, before I plunk down $1300 on FCS2. (I currently am trying to learn FCE4, but realized I may have blundered in that purchase, as much of what I want to edit is multicam in nature--i.e. concerts, interviews).
Also, on my machine, about how many "angles" could I have running in a multicam edit? (I have an iMac 24" Aluminum 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo). Could I say, do a multicam edit of 2 HD streams plus 2 or 3 SD streams (for a total of 4-5 angles)?
Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the bump! At least my "open-format" question seems like something someone with FCS2 should be able to answer.
Anyway, your questions regarding my setup are good ones. (Just added some of that to my profile)...
I currently am using a G-RAID2 1TB external drive, connected via FW800 to the iMac, as my scratch drive (http://www.g-technology.com/products/G-RAID2.cfm). (The iMac also has a FW400 port which I use to import video from camera). If necessary, I could always add another G-RAID2 (or something similar), if having two scratch drives would help (it would either have to be daisy-chained to the existing drive, or plugged in via FW400--not sure which would work best for multicam).
Honestly, I'm not sure about the exact formats. I'd have to look into it. But I can tell you the HD footage is from Canon HV20 camcorders, which use mini-DV tape to record HDV. This I have imported into FCE4, using, I believe AIC as required by FCE4. The footage is 1080i, I believe. If FCP6 handles the importing differently or uses a different codec (It doesn't, does it?), I can always re-import, if necessary.
The SD footage is/will be from standard, run-of-the-mill consumer mini-DV cameras. I believe one camera is anamorphic 16:9, and another (must've been an older camera), appears to do 16:9 by simply letterboxing the image.
All NTSC, no PAL.
And, yes, I'd like to avoid having to "upscale" the footage from the SD cameras, for time, pain-in-the-arse, and storage space reasons. (I read somewhere on the web that this was a suggested workaround for FCP5 users). The SD footage will mainly be used for occasional cut-away/alternate angle shots. Would prefer not to have to go thru THAT much trouble for that footage.
Thanks.

I have created a movie of vacation pictures on my windows movie maker (vista op system). When I open the timeline, select audio, and drag a tune from i-tunes, windows movie maker shuts down and no song is transferred. Are these systems incompatible

I have created a movie of vacation pictures on my windows movie maker. ( Windows vista) When I open the timeline, click on audio, and drag a song from itunes, windows movie maker shuts down, and the song is not transferred. Are these systems incompatible? Can I upload the movie to I tunes somehow and then add the music tracks? Thank you...

You may need to convert the file to mp3
iTunes: How to convert a song to a different file format
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1550
Correction, I was able to add m4a files to Windows Live movie maker in windows 7, but not sure about your version
Message was edited by: polydorus

Multicam Audio Sync Open in Timeline

Hi everyone. I will try to keep this simple.
I have a 2 camera setup, each with audio plus one external audio track. (3 total audio tracks)
When I create a multicam source sequence I sync via audio. I then open the source sequence in the timeline to make sync adjustments. However, it only plays back audio from Track 1. When I place this source sequence on a multicam Target sequence, I get all of the audio tracks to play.
My question is "Can I not get all of the audio tracks to play when I click "Open in Timeline"?"
I've been reading on this all day and can't seem to get anywhere.
Thanks for your help.

If you want all audio at once, after you multi cam audio, you'll have to alt\opt+leftclick+drag the audio down below the master to duplicate it (do this once for every Camera). You then do the alt\opt+rightclick, go to multi cam and select a different camera for each of the tracks. Now all audio will play.
NOTE: With one track you can cut through with razor, and switch cams where you cut. If you cut your multi cam the automatic style, cuts will be made in audio track as well, that line up with video switch. You can adjust these edit marks to your desire the same way you would when using trim or roll, and you could switch Cameras from the alt\opt+rightclick menu. Using automatic mode to cut video, you will cut all LINKED audio at the same point. You can apply this to multiple tracks by linking them all to the video track before you start your camswitching. Afterward, you could adjust, delete, trim, roll and switch through your audio to your hearts content.

Open in Timeline-how to return to timeline view?

If you select a clip in the timeline and want to see it in close detail, you can right-click to open a menu of options that include "Open in Timeline." Once there, you are seeing a complete view of the whole clip with the trimmed section clear and the ends grayed down.
But this has me stumped. How do you jump right back to the full Timeline edit view? That menu has no ability to return you from whence you came. I have to click on the Project Library, select the current edit again and only then does it open the regular Timeline view.
I can't find anything in the scant Help document and "Open in Timeline" doesn't find anything here.
Any clue as to how to dismiss it?
Escape doesn't work. Undo doesn't work. Well, it does, but it undo's any changes I make, first. None of the other ideas in that drop-down menu seem to help.
Is this a left turn into a one-way cul-de-sac?

Thanks a bunch.
Is that hiding in the docs somewhere?
I found an alternative. Command+0 (zero), twice makes a round trip to the timeline index.

Does Editing a clip after using the "Open in Timeline" command in the event browser alter the source media file?

Does editing a clip after using the "Open in Timeline" command in the event browser alter the source media file?

C5ELEN wrote:
. Didn't we have that in 7? Seems like I remember we could set the number of undo levels.
Legacy FCP has Revert Project to return to the last saved version, and it has Restore Project to go back to one of the autosaved versions. The maximum number of undo's can be set in user preferences. A lot different than X.
Russ

How to modify clip borders after "Open in Timeline"?

I have a little clip in the main timeline history and I make "Open in Timeline". Now I can't modify the clip borders from inside this internal timeline. I thought I could grab the side arrows and extend or shorten this clip but I can't. Am I missing something???

Why would you want to do that?!
There are very few situations where one would be advised to use this.
Instead, if you want to use a larger section of the clip, drag it to a project timeline and extend by draggind the yellow lines at the ends of the clip.

What is the "Open in Timeline" command used for?

If you select a clip in the Event browsers and select the "Open in Timeline" menu command the clip opens in it's own Timeline. However, I have know idea what this is used for. I searched FCP X help for "Open in Timeline" and got no hits. I search the Internet too but only got hits warning about edits done in this Timeline will destroy the original media (ouch!, what about non destructive). Can anyone give me some help on what this command is used for or point me to somewhere that does describe this command in detail?
Thanks

Generally speaking, I'd say using compound clips in the Event Browser is not usually the best way to go, unless you are using them for video/audio sync purposes. However, they certainly can be helpful for certain workflows as long as you understand the plusses/minuses.
To create an empty compound clip, select the event and do the "Create New Compound Clip" command (command-G). An empty compound clip is a compound clip you can subsequently paste things into -- to do that, you would select the clip and do the "Open in Timeline" command. I suppose this would let you reuse a compound clip more easily across projects, if you so desire.
Compound Clips in the Event Browser are most akin to subclips in FCP7, especially if you create them using a range selection from another clip. For example, set an in and out point within a clip, then "Create New Compound Clip" (option-G). You will be prompted for a name, and then a new clip will appear in the Event Browser with that name. It will be just like any other clip except it only will give you access to the media between the in/out points you set.
Personally, I tried using this method for one project but found some drawbacks. While it lets you give unique names to (sub)clips, once in the timeline, you have no handles for the media; to get them back (e.g., remove subclip limits) you need to break apart the clip, which loses the name you might have assigned. Using compound clips also limits your ability to use match frame (shift-F) for that clip. Finally, even though it seems like a subclip, FCPX maintains no internal relationship between the subclip and the clip it was created from. So there is no master/affiliate relationship in the same sense that FCP7 had.
Now I try only using keywords; for example, you could use the keyword "subclip" or "scene" to help break apart a longer clip into shorter ones, which you can then navigate by selecting the keyword and/or setting up smart collections containing that keyword.

I want to put my .m2ts movies (Sony HD recorder) on my Ipad3. It looks they need to be converted to h.264 format. Question is will Quicktime Pro work or are there any better software solutions. Running XP system. Thanks

I want to put my .m2ts movies (Sony HD recorder) on my Ipad3. It looks they need to be converted to h.264 format. Question is will Quicktime Pro work or are there any better software solutions. Running XP system. Thanks

You could try Handbrake, it works quite well.

Newbie question - how to format timeline to not show hours?

Hello - trying out Premiere after giving up on (gasp) iMovie
I make very short videos - from 30+sec to 5 minutes. I don't need the timeline to show so much detail. The hours are meaningless. I also am not yet trying to sync audio with precision I don't need the fractions of seconds.
Can I control that in the display is Premier 2014?
Thanks!!
Katie

Yes you can controle the timeline but not the way you want.
Its either timecode (more options rightclick on playhead position) or audiounits (1/48000 per second).
Its default set to hours-minutes-seconds-frames.
The more you zoom in on the timeline the more specific it gets.

TIFF Format Specification Question

This isn't a Java-specific quesiton, but I was hoping someone here would be able to help as I have tried numerous other avenues already.
I�m working with (TIFF) images that have multiple layers, and each layer can have different min/max values. I want to store these min/max values for each layer in the .tiff file, in the SMinSampleValue and SMaxSampleValue tags. So if I have 3 layers I need to write 3 mins and 3 maxes down.
The documentation for SMinSampleValue/SMaxSampleValue says:
�Note that a value should be given for each data sample. That is, if the image has 3 SamplesPerPixel, 3 values must be specified.�
However when I use libtiff (haven't tried this in Java yet but it would be similar I guess):
TIFFSetField( newTIFF, TIFFTAG_SMINSAMPLEVALUE, min1, min2, min3 );
OR
===
TIFFSetField( newTIFF, TIFFTAG_SMINSAMPLEVALUE, min1);
What gets written is min1 three times, so if min1 is 40, then 40 40 40 is written, due to a variable "count", I don�t understand where the �count� for the tags gets set, I shall look into that further.
But my main question is how do I write multiple different values for SMinSampleValue and SMaxSampleValue using tifflib? How do other TIFF readers/writers do this (format question), since I want to be compatible with them.
Thanks,
HappyDeveloper

Hi,
I am seeing the similar post in SDN and some replies state the following. Have a look into this
Often this error occurs because the TIFF file you have has been saved with some form of compression. You need to open in a picture edit program and save as TIFF making sure options are set so there is no compression.
Regards,
Venkatesh

Open Directory Migration Question

Setup:
My company has two servers, both running 10.5.6. We are migrating from the server Fubar (xserve) as it has had a lot of problems and we want to do a fresh install on it (I was not the admin who initially set it up).
In order to get a 'fresh' OD going, we are recreating all the accounts on the new server Edoras (powerpc mac pro), making sure to preserve UID of the users.
Problem:
User A cannot change his password on Edoras after Directory Utility has been changed to point at it. He can change his password locally, but it does not propagate to Edoras, nor does a password change on Edoras affect his local machine.
The questions I haven't been able to get answers for are:
* Should the OD search string be different on Fubar and Edoras? Currently our search string is 'dc=fubar,dc=domain,dc=com'.
* Are there other attributes that have to be setup in OD besides UID? I noticed when using the Target tab in Workgroup Manager that there is a GeneratedUID attribute, does this need to match?
Thanks for any information/help.

I did something like this recently. Unfortunately I couldn't get an answer on the Internet and had to re-configure Directory Access on the client machines manually.
I moved our system from a POwerMac G4 with several upgrades (eSATA card, eSATA Coolgear Enclosure, 7200.11 (yeah I know, bad drives to use) Seagate drives, 1.8 GHz PPC 7447 upgrade, 1.5GB of ram) to a new Mac Pro with a Highpoint RAID controller. The old G4 was very unreliable and couldn't hand
I had to go to each machine with ARD, open Directory Access, delete the LDAP entry and re-enter it. This was really annoying and confusing for me as the old server and the new server had:
The same version of OSX (ok, one was a PPC version and I special ordered the Intel version from Apple Tech Support), but they both were running 10.4.11 with the newest security patches.
The same OD Search Strings
The same IP Address for the Server
The same DNS name for the server
and the same user IDs and group settings
and I still had to re-do Directory Access using the client machines. Before re-doing the Directory Access re-binding I would try to login. The "other" icon would appear on the loging window, but when I would loging with the correct username and password the login windows would "shake it's head" and wouldn't let me login.
The biggest pain was that portable directories didn't sync correct anymore, so I had to manually backup, then delete the account, then re-bind, then re-create and restore the portable directory on each laptop manually.
Unfortunately I do not know the unix command to change directory binding to client computers using ARD. If such a command exists it would make things much easier for you. Does anyone know if a command exists?

Open Format Timeline Question

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for