FCP Worflow

Douglas Joseph · May 6th, 2009, 12:32 PM

I transcode all my H.264 files to proress422(hq) in compressor, then bring them into FCP. Proress looks slightly better, and it just works better overall, like you guys said earlier. In my sequence settings, should I have the field dominance set to "None" when working with proress? and should the audio settings be 48, 44.1? I thought FCP knows best which settings to use. Haha. It would be nice to know if I should change any of that up.

Wayne Avanson · May 6th, 2009, 02:30 PM

Just watched one of those Lynda.com training tutorials on this and they say top field dominance and 44.1 for the sound.

Avey

Nigel Barker · May 6th, 2009, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Avanson

Just watched one of those Lynda.com training tutorials on this and they say top field dominance and 44.1 for the sound.

Avey

On the Lynda tutorial they are working with the native H.264 files straight off the camera. Douglas was talking about files transcoded to ProRes.

Nigel Barker · May 6th, 2009, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Joseph

Nigel, what's the point changing your timeline to those settings? I thought FCP, automatically adjusted all footage to its exact settings, because it's an "open timeline". I could be wrong, but that's what I've always been taught. I'm definitely gonna test out that easy set-up, though for sure.

I am no great FCP expert (I leave that to the wife:-) but I thought that this was a quick way of ensuring that all the relevant settings were correct. Otherwise what is the point of any Easy Setup preset?

As I said I am no great FCP expert so I was just doing what the trainer on the video told me to. I am assuming that he is a FCP expert. He at least seemed to know what he was talking about.

Nigel Barker · May 19th, 2009, 09:20 AM

We have been having little niggly problems with editing the native H.264 files off the camera (stuttering clips & FCP crashing on exporting any file amongst other problems) so switched to using ProRes. This has worked pretty well but even using Qmaster & sharing the work between two dual quad core Mac Pros it still has been taking a hell of a long time to convert.

I was a bit dubious about the benefits of Cineform NeoScene but having downloaded the trial today & done some testing then I have to admit that I am now a convert. NeoScene works just as well as ProRes in FCP (& even iMovie!) but the conversion from native .MOV file to NeoScene is really fast. In fact it's just a bit less than real time which means getting footage into FCP is taking only a little longer than when we were using the the Canon XH-A1 HDV cameras. So for just $129 NeoScene seems worth the money. I haven't yet tested NeoSceneHD but as that costs $499 then ReMaster & First Light will have to be something really special to justify that price tag.

Nathan Troutman · May 19th, 2009, 02:59 PM

Can anybody here explain to me why progressively shot footage needs to have a top field dominance in FCP? This doesn't seem to make sense. And then if you convert to pro-res and take that footage into FCP now it has no field dominance. What gives?

Ryan Mueller · May 19th, 2009, 05:06 PM

I would also like to know the logic behind this ^^^

May 6th, 2009, 12:32 PM	#16
Douglas Joseph Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Zanesville OH Posts: 205	I transcode all my H.264 files to proress422(hq) in compressor, then bring them into FCP. Proress looks slightly better, and it just works better overall, like you guys said earlier. In my sequence settings, should I have the field dominance set to "None" when working with proress? and should the audio settings be 48, 44.1? I thought FCP knows best which settings to use. Haha. It would be nice to know if I should change any of that up. __________________ "Warriors... Come out to play..." www.importexporthd.com

May 6th, 2009, 02:30 PM	#17
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	Just watched one of those Lynda.com training tutorials on this and they say top field dominance and 44.1 for the sound. Avey

May 19th, 2009, 09:20 AM	#20
Nigel Barker Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,531	We have been having little niggly problems with editing the native H.264 files off the camera (stuttering clips & FCP crashing on exporting any file amongst other problems) so switched to using ProRes. This has worked pretty well but even using Qmaster & sharing the work between two dual quad core Mac Pros it still has been taking a hell of a long time to convert. I was a bit dubious about the benefits of Cineform NeoScene but having downloaded the trial today & done some testing then I have to admit that I am now a convert. NeoScene works just as well as ProRes in FCP (& even iMovie!) but the conversion from native .MOV file to NeoScene is really fast. In fact it's just a bit less than real time which means getting footage into FCP is taking only a little longer than when we were using the the Canon XH-A1 HDV cameras. So for just $129 NeoScene seems worth the money. I haven't yet tested NeoSceneHD but as that costs $499 then ReMaster & First Light will have to be something really special to justify that price tag.

May 19th, 2009, 02:59 PM	#21
Nathan Troutman Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: Hoboken, NJ (New York metro area) Posts: 105	Can anybody here explain to me why progressively shot footage needs to have a top field dominance in FCP? This doesn't seem to make sense. And then if you convert to pro-res and take that footage into FCP now it has no field dominance. What gives?

May 19th, 2009, 05:06 PM	#22
Ryan Mueller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Highlands Ranch, CO Posts: 336	I would also like to know the logic behind this ^^^