Workflow - AVCHD - Arrange in AE - Transcoding?

Hi,
I've been reading these forums for hours - so I am very sorry if my question has already been asked before.
I plan to record with my Panasonic camcorder and edit the MTS' in Premier.
When all the clips have been careful edited and cutted I want to arrange my movie inside After Effects.
So.. what to do?
Transcode my unedited MTS' to DVCPRO-HD with panasonic's tool? (before starting the editing).
Transcode my edited MTS' from Premier to animation Quicktime with alpha?
Transcode my edited MTS' from Premier to Mpeg2 ?
Or..?
Premier CS5 and After Effects CS5.
Hope someone can clear this out for me.
Thanks a lot

then i export back to Premier Pro for final encording and editing.
No need to "export back" to PPro; Dynamic Link is a "live" connection, so anything you do in AE will be immediately reflected by the AE comp item back in Premiere. Try it with a test sequence, and you'll see what I mean.
This suggest that I edit my sequences together inside Premier Pro and only use After Effects for post edititng. I know that is what most people do, but i'm a lot more familiar with After Effects than Premier Pro - that is why i want to set my movie clips together inside AE.
Correct; do your editing in Premiere Pro. After all, that's what it's there for. You'll find it much easier to do the layout of your sequence in PPro instead of AE. Use AE for doing your final effects and compositing; you can do some minor editing in AE (as you are probably aware), but to nowhere near the capability and flexibility of PPro.
My final output is 1280 x 720, but the clips are recorded at 1080 x 1920 - so i was thinking about doing this:
Import my 1080p MTS' to premier pro - do all the cutting and export them as 720p quicktime animation for editing inside After Effects.
I'd keep everything at 1920x1080; edit in a Premiere Pro sequence at that resolution, and do your AE work in a comp at the same size. Then, you can export your final finished video to 1280x720; this gives you the flexibility of easily doing a 1080 export if you ever need to.

Similar Messages

Workflow - AVCHD to DVD but without optimised footage?

I am an enthusiast and I have a few Panasonic prosumer camcorders with which I shoot basic AVCHD and ultimately I burn DVDs - which people tell me look just fine.
When importing I have “Leave files in place” checked and I create Proxy files ONLY as obviously these work best for multicam editing. I used to create optimised files too (someone told me I should) but they don’t seem to do anything for me - am I wrong?
After editing, I click on Share to create a 'Master File' from which I go on to author the DVD iso. I leave the 'Media' on 'Proxy’ (is there any reason to ever change that?) and all by itself I get a file with the following characteristics:
Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Codecs: Apple ProRes 422, Linear PCM, Timecode
Color profile: HD (1-1-1)
I’m very happy with that but my question is: should I be creating optimised files too? If so, WHERE in my workflow would they come into play?
Many thanks in advance!

Sounds right to me.
AVCHD should work fine in up to date date Macs.
Using Proxy (without switching) in the Timeline will give you a sub-standard DVD as that will be the size of the export.
Roughly 30% of original.
Al

Workflow: AVCHD to Proxy editing (no optimizing), Export from original media. Any disadvantages?

I've been reading AVCHD threads for FCP 7 and now FCP-X for a year or two. I understand the concepts. Now with FCP-X, I don't see any advantages to optimizing media to Apple Pro Res 422 on import. I'd be using the Pro Res Proxy and then ultimately exporting out with the original source files. The Proxy files will make editing fast, the export from source files removes any chance of generation loss, and not optimizing to Pro Res 422 at import will save a ton of backup space over the years. I realize the final export may take a bit longer from the raw AVCHD files vs. from Pro Res 422 media (how long I don't know yet).
Based on this scenario, any good reasons as to why I should be also creating the Apple Pro Res 422 files? Am I missing anything?
Thanks,
Dave
Hardware: Brand New 2011 MacBook Pro i7 17" with external eSata drives.

Harmonica_Lessons wrote:
Questions:
1. When you are ready to export, you MUST switch the playback to Original Material so FCP-X knows not to export with the Proxy files? I've seen posts implying this might be true and also that FCP-X will know to export using the source files and not Proxies.
No. You don't have to do this. Playback is just that, playback. When exporting, FCP X will not use transcoded media as the source. You do of course need to have the original source available/on line for FCP X to access. However, switching back and forth is a simple and quick operation so even if you did have to,
2. Once I set up a new Event and point it to the original source files and create the Proxy files, can I assume that since the Proxies are created, FCP-X won't need to reference the source files again until export time? If this is the case, I can easily work on my laptop's internal drive without lugging around an external drive until I'm finally ready to export.
Yes, this is true. You can either do the method you described (copying the event to/from external to internal drives), or have the event on your laptop with the original source media on the external drive. Proxy media would be generated and stored in the Event folder (on your internal drive) while source media remains on the external drive. Just don't select 'copy into event folder' when importing the source media.

Convert AVCHD to H264 without transcoding?

Is it possible with PRE 9 (or 10?) to bring in AVCHD clips (MTS's) and output a H264 file without transcoding (decompressing and recompressing). I am trying to get the highest quality and highest resolution file that is Quicktime compatible and/or playable on Apple TV. Thanks

PrE does not do smart rendering, in that it WILL Transcode on Export/Share.
I would look into Apple's QuickTime Pro (US $ 29 upgrade/unlock), as I believe that it will do just what you want.
Good luck,
Hunt

FCP 7 Transcoded AVCHD files offline. Please Help!!!

So, I recently cleaned up my desktop and a FCP project went offline. The original footage is all still on the same external drive in AVCHD format. I'm thinking that I must have deleted the transcoded files. I have since re-transcoded but this has not helped? Where do the transcoded AVCHD files go after transcoding? Is there a way to reconnect these files? Any info is very appreciated!!! When I attempt to Search/Locate FCP crashes. Major bummer.... This is an effects-heavy short film and I REALLY do not want to start from scratch.

and if you select the clips in the browser or in the timeline and control click and choose reconnect, you can have fcp search all available drives for the material. The problem with this can be that when you use fcp to log and transfer, it does not give clips a unique name, but fcp will give you an error message if you try to reconnect a clip to a file that doesn't exactly match the attributes of the original clip. Also, if you've saved the project with a unique name (instead of the default untitled project) before you log and transfer, the material will be in a folder with the project name within the capture scratch folder.

AVCHD workflow and quality loss

I have been trying to establish a workflow with imovie and my Canon HF100 to make a BD with menus. I tried the Canon program on windows that edits AVCHD natively, and it is miserable. I still keep parallels around just in case I decide to use the Canon program again, but I probably need to move on for the power of iMovie and FCE. I absolutely love the new iMovie for really quick edits and I have FCE on hand for the advanced stuff.
The reality is that using iMovie entails quality change. I have been spending weeks looking over clips on my PS3 and 52" panny plasma to decide which workflow to chose. I am sharing my experience for anyone who cares and please comment.
I have taken screen shots, because they are easier to show differences, but the missing comparison would be MPEG compression noise, which I will comment on. The lighting and backgrounds were chosen to show the differences more clearly. I watched many more video clips than Im showing, but the findings are all pretty consistent between clips.
http://picasaweb.google.com/robanderi/CanonHF100AVCHD17mbpsIMovieComparison#
A. The 1st set of cat pictures were done to test the workflow AVCHD -->import to AIC -->export to mp4 18mbps --> Burn Blu-ray disc using Toast 18mbps. I think the end product is ~8% inferior due to a what you can see in the pictures (brightening, maybe a loss of detail and more ...green?) PLUS this test had the largest increase in MPEG compression noise during playback.
B. The second set of pictures shows: AVCHD --> import to AIC --> export to AIC --> Burn Blu-ray 18mbps. The changes seem to be similar to the first test, but the MPEG compression noise was not as bad after the conversion. I would call this 5% inferior. Whatever percentage YOU give test A, I would say B will always be slightly worse by a tiny margin factoring in the MPEG noise.
C. Same as B.
D. Adding an h.264 conversion to another h.264 conversion changes the picture ever so slightly as I mentioned before, but you cannot see the MPEG noise that is the biggest deal.
E. Importing the media from AVCHD to AIC in Imovie seems to not be that big of a deal, except the picture darkens slightly resulting in the loss of information upon subsequent conversions.
CONVERSION TIME: Doing TWO h.264 conversions takes longer than going from AIC --> AIC then AIC --> mp4.
SPACE: Option B consumes massive space, because then you have TWO collections of AIC's plus space for the end video. My hour video thus needed 110GB! 50 + 50 + 10.
END RESULT: Option A: you can keep the best copy for viewing on the computer and have a BD. Takes longer, but you get two products. BD is not as good. Option B: Faster and better BD, but you really only have a BD and no copy for the computer (unless you fish out the .mts files). You would have to convert the iMovie again for a computer copy.
The last option is to eliminate the double conversion and just not have a BD with a menu. Will a regular BD player play a straight mp4 file?

AIC is a lossy intermediate codec.
You need to consider moving up to FCP which facilitates pro res HQ conversions.

Native AVCHD support

We need native AVCHD support with no transcode option. if you have a quad or 8 core mac pro it will edit fine.. AVCHD is what the majority of prosumer cameras are and are going to be.. we want tapeless to save us the time and money, we shouldn't have to transcode it (though it should be an option)..
I think apple should realized a free update to support it.. Avid has realized this already and has both native import and AMA support for AVCHD.. now when will Final cut pro? it's making me want to switch to Media composer.

AVCHD not an editing codec. Supporting it would just mean your computer
is wasting processing power doing something silly. It's smarter to
transcode to an editing format and use your processor to do cool
effects and stuff.
geek3 wrote:
everyone is going tapeless.
DVCPRO HD is a professional tapeless codec
that also works well as an editing codec.
So is AVC-Intra.
But not AVCHD.
most people are getting avchd or dslr cameras
It's a great way to get started in video, but
the professionals who sometimes use AVCHD cameras
know the difference between an acquisition codec
and an editing codec.
Here's some interesting discussion on the subject:
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/280/529
And here's how to "fix" the moiré problems with DSLR footage:
http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/article.php/20

AVCHD in FCPX

Can you import AVCHD , create only Proxy media to work with , and then export in AVCHD again with no transcoding ( bar proxy ) to save disc space ?
I currently have massive files of optimized media. If I delete them , will FCPX revert to original media , or on import does it transcode to prores ( as I selected ) and not keep the original.
I am thinking if I delete the optimized media , it will only use the proxy version and not the original AVCHD .
The original files show a .MOV file. ( Not AVCHD ) Is this just wrapped AVCHD ?
Also , What render setting / export setting should I use if the AVCHD original media IS usable without the transcode ?

Yes , EG : 6.67g of original media - ( Proxy ) 6.5G Optimized is stored on an external drive. and I believe 40G . render files for this project are 80Gig !!!
I read somewhere that you can export in AVCHD and it is stunning , so no optimized was needed. I have read a million posts and not sure where I saw this. Also it can be burnt to disc directly in AVCHD , apparently close to bluray quality on a standard disc. So I am questioning , do I need optimized .

Which Imports Faster HDV or AVCHD in FCE and iMovie?

I'm planning on getting my first HD camcorder and I'm leaning towards the HV-20 or HG-10. I'm leaning towards the HV-20 HDV. Tapes are cheap and a good archive medium and I'm leery of small hard drives being robust. Do AVCHD camcorders use similar drives as the iPod?
I've read AVCHD takes some time to import. Does HDV import faster to AIC?
Does FCE 4 import faster than iMovie 8 for both formats?
Thanks for any advice.
Kelvin

Import speed depends on your computer, but I think the the AVCHD and the HDV transcoding is about the same. It's all being done by QuickTime. AVCHD transfer gives you more options in terms of selecting clips and portions of clip, which is more difficult to do manually off tape. But, as you said, tape is cheap and a good archive medium.

Converting AVCHD to MOV

Hello everyone,
I need to convert AVCHD files into MOV in order to be able to not only open them on my computer but to have them in a format supported by FCP 7 in order to be edited.
I tried downloading several conversion software applications but they all failed. Is there an official one from Apple that I can easily purchase at the app store or any other suggestions?
Thank you very much for your help!

What camera recorded the material?
What software have you tried? Clipwrap2? Toast?
fwiw - FCP7 can ingest a number of AVCHD variants directly and transcode them to ProRes.
x

Sequence preset for multiple format of clips

I have sources coming from 3 AVCHD camcorders and one GoPro HD:
AVCHD source #1 is 1920x1080/50i
AVCHD source #2 is 1440x1080/50i
AVCHD source #3 is 1440x1080/60i
GoPro HD H264 source is 1280x720/60p
AVCHD footages have been transcoded to ProResLT codec during the Log&Transfer.
H264 footage has been transcoded to ProResLT codec with MPEG Streamclip utility.
My aim is to use all these footages, to get a final output to be displayed on the web/computer screen. So, ideally, I'd want progressive. What would you suggest as a sequence preset, or as additional pre-work before starting editing?

The GoPro footage is meant to be slo mo, right?
I believe this workflow will provide the sharpest image before compression for the web.
Your project will have the following Sequence Settings:
ProRes LT, 1280x720, 25 fps, Square Pixels, Field Dominance - None.
Convert all of the footage except the GoPro in Compressor to those specs, using Frame Controls to de-interlace and downscale. Be sure to change the frame Rate in the Encoder tab, Video Settings; and change the resolution and pixel aspect ratio in the Geometry tab.
In Cinema Tools, conform the frame rate of the ProRes LT GoPro to 25 fps.
Make sure all audio is 48 kHz, 16 bit.

Simple fcs setup

I am looking to use fcs on a mac pro with fw drives attached for storage. no network of any kind is involved. Is there a way to catalog the drives without creating duplicate media . I only edit full quality video and have no need for lower res proxies. My server machine is the same as my client machine.
The media files that I've uploaded thus far give me the transcoded version just fine, but with that said, I have no way of knowing where the original file is located and how to get to it in fcs.
In short, I am looking to use fcs as if it were a sophisticated version of iphoto with better metadata added. This seems to be easier said than done. I've had a difficult time of it trying to figure out how to "dumb-down" fcs. I have a large amount of data going thru my system and just want to use fcs to find assets quickly.
workflow- avchd, camera folder archived on hard drive, l&t into fcp as apple pro res 422, edited and exported as apple pro res--really a very simple flow. I just need better media management and want to get as much out of fcs as possible
any help/advice much appreciated.

happy to hear that it will work. I'm just not sure how to accomplish it. do i use "edit in place" to work with the original asset ? if i pull the proxy from fcs into final cut pro will it import the original asset?
and also should i include the storage location(i.e hard drive name) in the metadata ?

Apple Uncompressed 10 Bit 4:2:2 for After FX7

Hello All
I work in a post product digital facility and we have currently upgraded our department to After Effects 7.
The G5 workstation run on Mac OSX 10.4.8 and have a mixture of Aja Kona and Blackmagic cards.
However we would like to render out Quicktimes to the generic Apple Uncompressed 10 bit which is usually featured in After Effects, but is no longer available as option in either After Effect 6.5 and 7 since we upgraded.
Qucktimes are rendered out from After Effects and then they are layed off to tape via Final Cut Pro.
Please could you tell me where i can download the generic apple uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2 ?
Once codecs are imported where are they stalled is it in User - Library - Preference....somewhere?
Also does anybody know how to import a generic Apple Uncompressed 10 bit codec into After Effects7, is this done through interpretation rules.txt * refer to attached jpeg.
Furthermore how can we import codecs into After 6.5 to use?
Here is a link to an article I have recently read on workflow tips and 10 bit renders for After Effects which has been helpful.
http://www.hdforindies.com/2006/06/after-effects-stuff-workflow-tips-and.html
Advice would be much appreciated.
Kind Regards
i-choi

AIC is an Apple QuickTime codec and is only available on Apple platforms. It is an all-iFrame format and is normally used for high def video (HDV and AVCHD). FCE automatically transcodes HDV and AVCHD video into QuickTime/AIC when you capture/ingest the video from your camcorder.
AIC supports 16:9 aspect ratio, 8-bit 4:2:0 and can handle variable data rates. Supported frame sizes/rates are 720p30, 1080i50 and 1080i60. There is a bit more info in this article: Final Cut Pro 5: About HDV and Apple Intermediate Codec.
You asked this question in the Final Cut Express Forum. FCE can't use 10-bit 4:2:2 video, nor can it use Apple ProRes. For 10-bit 4:2:2 suppport you would need ProRes and Final Cut Studio.

"SEND TO COLOR" DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY

Hi all,
When I use the function "send to color" in Final Cut 6, the sequences are sent to color, but they are totally messed up. I got wrong "ins" and "outs" in each sequence. Does anybody know the answer for this kind of bug?
Thanks a lot.
- Andrea

Several reasons:
I believe that that is referring to as directly IMPORTED media, not SEND TO COLOR sequences. The two are not the same thing. I could be wrong, but that's what that part of the manual is addressing (look on that section heading on the page before).
Then, from page 41:
"Step 3: Recapture the source media at online resolution if necessary If you originally captured your source media using an offline format, you’ll need to recapture the media used in your project at the highest available quality prior to
sending it to Color. "
"If your media was originally recorded using a compressed format (such as DV, DVCPRO-50, DVCPRO HD, or HDV), then recapturing it using the original source codec and resolution is fine; Color can work with compressed media, and automatically promotes the image data to higher uncompressed bit depths for higher quality imaging when monitoring and rendering."
"Note: Some codecs, such as HDV, can be more processor intensive to work with than others. In this case, capturing or recompressing the media with a less processor-intensive codec, such as Apple ProRes 422 or Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), will improve your performance while you work in Color, while maintaining high quality and low storage requirements."
Clearly they included HDV in the workflow and not in a transcoding sense.
Also DV NTSC is approved on that list and it does the same thing.
And if you media manage and transcode to Pro Res it still does it. That would make it one of the approved formats on the list. Problem is still there.
In FACT, the ONLY way that you can get HDV in and out with the right in and out points IS the direct import method rather than send to Color, and its not even supported on according to the list you're quoting!
Sorry its just not that simple. Its either broken or the documentation is faulty.

H.264 and prores proxy question

I've read through a ton of posts about proxy and h.264 workflows but didn't find any that answers my specific question.
My raw video from my camera is mp4 (h.264). I understand that h.264 is not good to edit with, so I have a few options. I use a macbook pro for editing so I have been toying around with prores proxy for editing and it makes a difference on RT playback and rendering while editing, so that's good. When I get ready to output my movie after editing, I relink my project back to the original h.264 source files and that seems to work fine.
I'm wondering if that's not the right workflow though. Should I transcode the h.264 into prores HQ or LT and then ALSO to proxy, edit with proxy and then relink my project back to the HQ or LT files to output? Or is linking back to my source h.264 files and outputing the right way to go?
Since the original files must be in the best possible quality that I'm going to get (since they're my original clips), I assume that relinking to them right before output is the way to go but I really don't know much about codecs to know if I'm missing something.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Thanks for your response. I'm shooting with a Sanyo FH1, mostly in 1080p, but I've scaled back to 720 since 1080 was overkill for what I'm doing to save some space.
The thing I don't quite understand yet is the issue with pointing my project back to the source files after all the editing is finished with prores proxy and just before output. That way, FCP would only have to uncompress the source files to render for final output only one time (besides the initial transcoding), albeit, probably longer than it would be for prores. I'm sold on proxy because it was so much faster to edit with than h.264 and I didn't have to keep any video files after I was finished except my source files....trying to budget hard drive space. I transcoded one file a while back to prores but the file size was more than I wanted to deal with since I only edit on my macbook pro so I didn't try to edit with it. Like you said, maybe just converting to prores and dealing with the space juggling would be the best way to go, or try prores LT to see how the quality is.
Does converting from h.264 to prores buy me any quality or a better final result, or just a cleaner workflow? Don't misread my questions, I'm not arguing, just trying to understand from you guys that know a lot more about this than I do. Making my living as a developer, it's just ingrained in me to understand this one
Message was edited by: kenmoberg (updated macos version)

Workflow - AVCHD - Arrange in AE - Transcoding?

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