AVCHD and FCP7

[Tim Lawrence]

Hi All,

I bought a JVC GY-HM100 from B and H, but I am still within the return time frame. So far I like it, except I think the Panasonic HMC150 is a better camera overall and I am considering getting that instead. I am a bit weary about the AVCHD and FCP7 workflow.

I have a MB Pro with i7 processor and 8 RAM and FCP7.

My big questions are:

How long does it take FCP7 to transcode to Pro Res?

Once transcoded to Pro Res, is the footage as easy to work with as .mov files or does it constantly need rendering for every little edit, transition, etc?

Is there a quality loss when transcoding?

I'm new here, love the forum, thanks for any help you can offer.

TL

[Casey Krugman]

Welcome to the forum,

As for transcoding, I can't give you an honest assesment on how long the transcoding will take with your laptop, however, it should be much less than real-time.

Once it gets in to Pro-Res, the workflow is simple, you will not need to render on cuts, and should have preview for basic dissolves and such. Use anything more complex, and it's just like every other video codec, it needs to be rendered.

The advantage is that even IF it took real time to transcode, you can load multiple cards on to one hdd and queue up as many cards as you put on the HDD.

Hope this helps.

[Tim Lawrence]

Can you rename the clips or are you stuck with the numbers (clip #1, clip #2, etc)?

[Guy McLoughlin]

Originally Posted by Tim Lawrence

I think the Panasonic HMC150 is a better camera overall and I am considering getting that instead. I am a bit weary about the AVCHD and FCP7 workflow.

I have a MB Pro with i7 processor and 8 RAM and FCP7.

Hi Tim,

We've been discussing Cineform's NEO SCENE as a low-cost way of handling AVCHD video on the Mac in another thread, and I thought I would add my 2cents to this thread.

Originally Posted by Tim Lawrence

How long does it take FCP7 to transcode to Pro Res?

I use a desktop PC that uses the i7 920 CPU ( the cheapest i7 CPU that Intel makes ), and transcoding AVCHD video shot with my HMC150 to the Cineform CODEC happens at 1.5x real-time, so an hour of video takes about 40 minutes. I imagine transcoding will be about the same speed on your i7 based MB Pro.

Originally Posted by Tim Lawrence

Is there a quality loss when transcoding?

Properly done, there should be no change to the original video. Cineform states that their CODEC was designed to have no visible image quality loss with many generations. ( I can't find the quote right now, but I remember 30 generations being mentioned )

Also, being able to work with the same identical AVI or MOV file on the Mac or PC without having to use Apple ProRes ( so no transcoding on the Mac ), is a big deal for me. I don't expect to be editing everything I shoot, and sometimes the person I want to use for part of a job will be a Mac editor.

One other thing that sold me on the Cineform NEO SCENE software is that Cineform also produces CODECS costing up to $4,000 ( for motion picture and broadcast work ), so they kind of know their stuff.