Working with .avi files in FCP

Hello guys,
I have a challenge.
Friend of mine has .avi footage, codec is DV PAL 720x576 at 25 fps.
I need to edit it in FCP 6 and create video for YouTube.
What would be the best way of doing this?
Should I leave it in DV PAL 720x576 at 25, edit the footage in this codec and frame rate and export it as it is?
Or should I set Timeline settings to DV NTSC 720x480 at 29.97 and export it as that?
Or any other codec, like H.264?
What would be the best way?
I don't want the video to be stretched into HD on YouTube or anything like that. Just simple, most effective way without loosing much quality.
Thank you so much for any tips.

Hi Michael, thanks for your note.
I actually do not need to have 24 fps, I just thought that it will make a better performance on YouTube.
But if it doesn't make any difference, then I gues 25 fps is fine.
So in that case, all I need to do is to export my DV PAL sequence with current settings and then convert it in Comperssor to H.264/
So I will end up with H.264, 720x576, progressive, 25 fps ? Is that correct?
Thanks again Michael for your support.

Similar Messages

Quicklook doesn't work with .avi files

Hello, i've got a little problem right here on my mac. The thing is that I used to have Snow Leopard as a OS and quicklook used to work great, it opened all the extensions I used to work with. The thing change when I format my HDD and installed a clean copy of Lion OS. Now quicklook works fine as it used to but not any more with .avi files. I remember that this feature was working great on my previous OS, and it's really important for me to find a solution because quicklook is an absolutely amazing feature of our Macs.
I've tryed to download plugins, restoring permissions or even trying it with a guest user, but no success.
Please help me. If you need more info about specs or something i'll be glad to give them to you.
Thank you!!!

Also doesn't work with Grapher (.gcx) documents (an Apple format).

Help: Working with .MOV files in FCP and forced to RENDER FOR EVERY EDIT

I'm working with .MOV files from my digital camera in Final Cut Pro and every time I make a new edit, I have to render it in order to see it in the canvas.
How do I make it so that I don't have to render every edit in order to see it?
(I've worked with files straight from a DV camera, and editing went fine. I'm assuming it has to do with the .MOV files)

DV Cameras are not the same thing as a Digital camera. Digital cameras offer video on a limited basis and it's usually highly compressed in a non-editing format such as MPEG-2 or similar. NLEs are made to work with video cameras, not still cameras which is why you're having trouble.
That's not to say you can't edit video captured with a digital camera, but you need to know how to prep it for editing. Some digital cameras shoot at odd frame rates and they all use some form of compression that is not typically used in editing. This means that you'll likely need to convert your clips to an editable format first using Compressor.
Andy

Quick Look no longer works with AVI files.

Hi
For some reason, quicklook no longer looks inside avi files. I get a black screen and audio, but no visual. This is a recent problem, nothing has changed on my system other than itunes 9 being installed. AVI files worked fine with quicklook but have now stopped.
Anyone have any ideas what could cause the problem? I've rolled back to itunes 8 but the problem persisted.
thanks

Hi there
I had this problem too but I think that I have a good solution for ya!!! Ok do you have "Perian"?
If so then go here; http://www.perian.org/#support and at the line that say's "removing obsolete QuickTime Components" just do this and voila it should all come back to normal.
Hope this will help ya, let me know!!!
Serge

What is the best way to work with avi-files?

Hallo all,
I'm new to this forum so before asking my question I'd like to say some words about myself:
I'm not a native english speaker, so please excuse language mistakes I'll possibly make and feel free to ask if I'll write something which you don't understand due to this fact.
Half year ago I bought a HD Cam from Canon (Legria HF 200) which - in my opinion - has a good quality (good enough for my hobby films), and realized that cutting HD films on Windows would require a lot of expensive high end hardware. So I bought a MacBook and Final Cut Express - a decision I'm very happy with.
After the first disastrous tries to make a small clip I bought Tom Wolsky's "Editorial Workshop for FCE" and now I'm more happy than I was before (because I've seen that you're posting here: thanks for the great book!)
But now to my question:
I have 9 old PAL DV tapes (containing family clips which I'd like to cut now) recorded with my old JVC, which has a FireWire port only. Unfortunately my MacBook doesn't have such, so I have to capture to DV avi using a PC with Pinnacle Studio.
1.) The avi files are very large (between 13 - 18 GB). Because I'm not able to recapture due to the missing FireWire port I'd like to archive the material on an HDD. How should I convert the AVI to make it smaller without a great loss of quality but keeping the ability to use it in FCE (especially when reconnecting after creating the subclips from the original)
2.) I'd like to keep the whole captured tape content as master clip and work with subclips from it. Yesterday I converted such an AVI to Film using QuickTime (the size didn't change noticable) and used the DV-Start/Stop detection. Unfortunately that didn't work correctly - some of the markers have been set in the middle of the shots instead as expected exactly between them. Should I do this on the original AVI file to make it work? And if, is it possible to reconnect the subclips created this way to a MOV created from the original AVI?
3.) On the PC I get an xml file containing the correct position data of the subclips (as timecode, if I remember correctly). Is it possibly, to use this data in FCE to mark subclips? Maybe by putting it manually into an xml project file or something similar?
4.) Or is there any other way to solve my problem?
Sorry for the big post and thanks in advance,
André

You're welcome, and thank you for the reply.
2) Yesterday I made the subclips with the In-Out Points and Command-U, the benefit is that I've seen the clip before naming it. Now I'm using markers, it's benefit is that I can write comment and (the later) clip name at once, the drawback is that I have to view to the next shot's beginning before knowing what the shot contains.
But now I found out that I can reconnect my clips independently to the format I converted the master clip to. I reconnected the media to the original AVI file and it worked, too! The more I work with, the more I'm sold on it... - although it doesn't seem to be able to read and use the date information within the DV AVI.
1) Ok, I tried something similar within FCE. Just worked, but the file size still remains. Which codec settings should I use? Is the export to DV in MOV with a quality of 75% acceptable for both file size and quality? Or would be encoding as H.264 with best quality an option for archiving, knowing that I have to convert it back to DV if I (maybe) wan't to use it for editing later? Or anything else?
Thank's in advance again,
André

Working with WMV files in FCP 5 Timeline

I know Flip4Mac Studio Edition allows for importing and exporting into and out of FCP 5 in WMV format. What I'm not sure of, is can you do intensive editing on the WMV files in FCP 5 without any glitches. Will FCP run smoothly?
I am asking because I work at online company that will be receiving wmv files on its servers. This is a high volume workflow with an intense turnover rate. We are receiving hour long clips and re-editing them down to 2 minutes. There is no time to go through lengthy WMV to MOV conversions. We need to receive, edit, and output all in WMV.
Can FLip4Mac with FCP 5 edit an intense environment like this? Where everything is done in WMV? Or Is Flip4Mac primarily for converting WMV into MOV so that editing in FCP is done with MOV files, and then at the end exporting as WMV again.
Is FLip4Mac the only solution. Are there others? After recommending and praising Macs, I may be on thin ice if FLip4Mac isn't a sufficient workaround!!
Thanks Curtis

Saving a WMV as MOV in QuicktimePro is simply putting a MOV wrapper on the WMV so FCP will better handle it. It's a Save As not an export so there's no additional compression.
Ultimately you will have to render though, most likely because it's not one of the video formats natively handled by FCP (DV, DVCPro50, etc). It's not just the physical settings, the "video" codec itself must be supported. BTW if you were to edit in HDV you'd have to render too for output (to create new GOP structure in that case though).
Hi Craig,
Thanks for the advice, a few things though....
"Flip4Mac Player Pro allows you to edit WMV in FCP."
The problem is that I need to render when I import
WMV files into FCP, even though I have matched all of
the parameters in the sequence settings (ie. pixel
aspect ratio, frame rate, frame size, etc.)
I don't know for sure, but my understanding is I have
to render because there is no WM9 option under the
"compressor" parameter in the Sequence Settings.
Because of this it is impossible to import WMV files
without rendering even with FLip4Mac, because I have
it installed and can still export as a WMV file.
Have you discovered a way to import WMV files into
FCP without needing rendering? This is critical for
me because the environment I'm in doesn't allow for
long render times, as it will slow down the workflow
of the whole newsroom.
"I can also open WMV in QuicktimePro (with Flip4Mac)
and save the file as MOV. I find it works smoother
that way."
But doesn't it degrade the quality when you convert
to .MOV? And for me, going from WMV to MOV back to
WMV will result in degradations at each step won't
it?
Curtis

Help Please! working with avi files.

I need to import an avi file (320 x 240) into FCP 3. The clip will be composited with a title that was originally in eps format which I have converted into a PSD file.
When I put them on my sequence it both need rendering. I have adjusted my sequence settings to match the files but still rendering is necessary.
The avi properties are:
320x240
30 fps
6.8 MB / S
Alpha : none/ignore
Composite: normal
pixel aspect: square
Compressor field is blank
Sequence Settings are:
320x240 Multimedia (large)
30 fps
Data Rate field is blank
Alpha field is blank
Composite: normal
pixel aspect: square
Compressor: DV/DVC Pro - NT
The PSD file also needs rendering to view. This is when they are just individually side by side on the timeline, not even stacked above one another. How can I get both the avi file and PSD file to play without rendering?
My deadline for this intro clip is tomorrow and I need help quickly!

I was going to wait till you bumped your post again.
Don't do that.
Please.
There are dozens of AVI codecs that have been obsolete for ten years and even more that never made it to the Macintosh. QT may or may not be able to open them. If you can play them, export from QTP to conventional DV and bring the newly created copy of the movie into a conventional DV sequence in FCP. There are other AVI conversion utilities.
bogiesan

Working with AVI files

Is it possible? My camera renders AVI files. I can import the files fine, but they just show a blank white screen as they play. Is there anything I can do or do I need to get a different camera or software? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.

Hello Carskill,
your AVI files need to be converted before it's possible to edit them in iMovie. AVI is a so-called container - within that file there can be any one of many codecs used to compress video (the same goes for Quicktime .mov files).
Try opening the file Quicktime and looking at the Movie Info window (cmd + I). It should show what codec was used incompressing the video and according to that you'll need to choose the software for conversion.
One tool that recognizes many AVI files is FFmpegX
http://www.homepage.mac.com/major4
For more info on AVI files have a look at Dan Slagles Unofficial iMovie FAQ: Working with DivX and AVI files
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/qt_plugins/3000.shtml
hope this helps
mish

Quicklook no longer working with AVi files in 10.7

Howdy,
Mysteries abound! Updated to 10.7, and ever since, I have been having two problems:
1. AVI files no longer open open using QuickLook; all I get is is the AVI icon, and the "Open in VLC" button.
2. The icon preview for AVI files is no longer displayed as well; only the generic VLC icon shows (and yes, I have the "Show icon preview" box cheeked in the Finder preferences).
Is anyone else having the same problem? Does anyone know how to remedy this? Thanks in advance! (^_^)

Flip4Mac (installed) and Perian (installed) provide this support. As a matter of fact, I can play AVI and WMV in Quicktime 10.2 and 7.6.6. It's the Finder or the QuickLook subsystem what has a problem.
Besides that, having those QuickTime components installed, there are no problems in a new installation from scratch in a nother disk. But I'm trying to avoid that and to restore in Mountain Lion part of the functionality of my Mac under Snow Leopard.
There should be a preference, cache, temp file or something like that that is impeding QuickTime or the Finder to access the necessary components to preview and quicklook AVI and WMV files.

Working with Photoshop files within FCP

Did anybody havinga problem with the psd file? I created some layers (20 to 40) in Photoshop, then import it in FCP. Find out some of the layer's position is shifted just a little bit. Any of you experts know why? Thanks.

Blimey! What a pain in the butt!
Mmm... I really don't know about PC -MAC photoshop compatibility...
Whenever I use photoshop for FCP freeze frames, layers etc, I always crop my final photoshop image to the edge of canvas, even if everything i created is within the screen space... When you reposition a layer in photoshop, even if its just a tiny amount, to get your image looking the way you want it, the alpha channel still exists, which will now be outside of your 720x576 boundery. You could have a tiny image in the centre of the picture, and maybe move it a little bit to get its position just right, but the alpha channel is still part of that whole image... I don't know... i might be leading you down the wrong track here...especially if you have the same problem after rendering!!! that's just bizarre!!!

Premiere Pro CC CUDA rendering working with avi output only

Hello All,
on my system Premiere Pro CC is only using GPU rendering with AVI output formats.
All other formats like MPEG2, Quicktime, H.264 are unfortunatly fully CPU rendered (=slow).
I just upgraded from trial to payed mode and when Premiere started the CUDA was already enabled (might have activated it during trial already).
But anyway I checked if my card was in the support txt file and also used the cuda.zip auto tool to make sure I had no typo.I did this for Premiere Pro CC and also copied the list into the Adobe Media Encoder directory.
No matter what I did - no hardware rendering.
So I started playing with input and output formats.
It turned out that CUDA is currently only working with AVI output. I installed GPU-Z to check my GPU usage vs CPU usage in the task manager.
As soon as I pick any other output format than AVI - CPU usage during rendering is up to 80-90 and GPU at 0%.
With AVI output GPU ist around 30 and CPU in the 40ties or less as it should be.
What is going wrong here?
One of my old applications Cyberlink Power Produces 11 is doing the h264 rendering in half the time.
Any suggestions?
My System is running on:
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe with 16GB Ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (with current Driver - 332.21 )
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit (with Media Center) and latest updates
Current entry in CUDA*.txt file (as printed by Adobe GPUSniffer):
GeForce GTX 660 Ti
And already tried:
GeForce GTX 660Ti
GeForce GTX 660
Best regards
Moongate
P.S. I already followed the instructions on this page http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

I now understand that Premiere Pro CC is only using my GPU for accelerating complex effects during editing giving me the possibility of a live preview during editing?
From the editing in other apps I know that the final rendering can also eat up much time which is why they try to accelerate it via GPU rendering. I see that Premiere is "outsourcing" this task to the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) so that you can continue working during rendering.
But I believe what tricked me into asking this question is that in the AME there is also the option to choose between software and GPU assisted Mercury Engine. So there must be a purpose for it and it sounds resonable that it is for GPU assited rendering.
So when the encoder is not using the GPU to speed up completion of rendering - what is he doing with that option?
Would it not be clever to cut rendering drastically using the GPU - its hard to believe that Adobe is only using it for previews?

Mac OS error 824 with AVI File

Hello, all. So I've done a few searches on this subject, which should be near and dear to your hearts. It concerns a difficulty that I'm having with playing several AVI video files back on Quicktime, and since I plan to use iMovie to edit them, I need to rectify this asap.
Now as you can see from the message topic, I'm being told this is due to an "error 824," and I can't for the life of me find out online what this is. But I do know that my roommate, who also uses Mac, can play the same files on his computer using Quicktime, and I can also play them back on VLC on my computer as well, so I know it's not a hardware problem. I have also removed the XVid codecs from the library folder, and all that's done is ruined my ability to play back other AVI files that need it. (BTW, the files in question use the DVSD codec, as they were shot on a Panasonic camera.)
So does anyone know what's needed here? Let me know. Thanks!

It could be a problem in the new Quick Time (QT). My Updater downloaded the new QT 7.4.5 on 5 Apr 2008. I have been making movies in iMovie then posting them to YouTube. In the beginning I uploaded the movies as MOVs but soon discovered AVI files (larger file and added time to upload) had more clarity when viewed on YouTube. Once the new QT 7.4.5 downloaded all my AVIs had picture, but no sound! I downloaded the Perian component as posted in QT discussions. The sound returned to the AVI files. However, when I Exported an AVI movie from iMovie the picture quality was worse than MOV. There is something wrong with the new QT 7.4.5 when working with AVI, my AVI movies look terrible. These AVI files were all downloaded from my Ultra Flip Video camera with Flip’s codec 3vix. Flip is aware of this problem and acknowledged it last Friday. I sure hope Apple is also aware.

Need Help! No Video Just Audio With .AVI Files

i got quicktime for my iPod, just only for that cause i think that quicktime really *****... i searched this whole site for an answer. i found something i thought would solve my problems with .avi files but my .avi files are mpeg-4 layered, and there's only a descent answer for indeo files? or something like that. i really need help cause i want to convert an ordinary .avi file to iPod extension... please please help!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no single codec for movies that have .avi extensions. AVI is a container format, not a specific type of file. An AVI movie may use one of the Indeo codecs or one of the various flavors of DivX, among other possibilities. You'll have to find out what codec was used for the movies you want to view to determine what you need. Note that not all codecs for the various .avi movies are available for QuickTime.
If you want to try "hit and miss", you can try the codecs at http://www.divx.com/ and http://www.3ivx.com/ and see if one of them will work for you

Working with big files

I would appreciate any suggestion as to how best one can work with big files. I have eight one hour tapes containing information about various places I visited. Some contain only one place while others can contain two or more places. As a preference I like to create up to one hour DVDs that contain an identifiable segment; eg either one place only or more but I do try not to break up a place and record it on two DVDs. However, the problem I faced in the past, is that by the time I get to the end of an hour, the program Premiere Elements 7 (PE7) is getting slow and keeps telling me that it is running out of memory. That is despite the fact that I have 3 GM of RAM and over 200 GB of dedicated separate hard drive. I tried saving segments under ‘Share’, ‘DV AVI’ and selecting ‘DV PAL Standard’ (the system I use), but the result, as far as quality was concerned, was very disappointing. There is no option to change or set quality as was the case in previous versions of PE. Nor can I combine two .prel files into one while I am editing.
Is there any other way I can work in segments, say 15 minutes, and combine them at the end without losing on the quality?
Any suggestion would be most appreciated.
Tom

Hi Steve
It is a Sony DCR-HC40E PAL, and they were captured as AVI clips.
The project settings are:
General – not highlighted but it shows DV Pal and 25.00 frame/second
Video – 720 horizontal 576vertical (4/3)
Display format - 25 fps Timecode
Capture – DV Capture
Tom

Is there a way/compressor to work with wmv files?

Im working with wmv files. I have to render the clips to view them - is there a way around this?
My sequence settings are the same aspect as the media files. cheers.

FCP doesn't work with WMV files natively. Shocked you are getting them to work at all. Gotta convert them to MOV files....quicktime.
Shane

Working with .avi files in FCP

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for