XA10 and preferred editing suite?

[Geoff Holland]

Aya, that 5m 31s clip took 12 seconds to import from the flash card to the hard disc. I'm pretty sure my old Mac (2006!) is USB 1 only so it should be quicker via USB2. Some say you have to leave the camera / card plugged in until transcoding is finished... I don't think that's true, in fact I'm fairly certain once the file is dumped onto your hard disc, it all works from there, not the camera. But TEST FIRST!! Transcoding to proxy (h.264, quarter size) took about 5 minutes (maybe a bit longer, I didn't time it that closely).

I don't analyse anything coming in.... that can be done "as necessary" after you've reviewed the footage.

I can't think of a good reason to create optimised media coming in. That will create a huge ProRes file. I create proxy to work with, and before exporting / sharing, click "Use optimised OR ORIGINAL media". Then what happens is all of the titles, transitions etc. have to be rendered, but FC uses the original media to work with when converting for output, which saves a lot of disc space.

I can't really help with the re-connect issue... I'm still learning myself and haven't come across that issue yet. What I have done though is managed media direct from the finder, which is easier for me. For example, if I'll just delete events and projects from the FC folders on the hard disc (when FC is shut down) and when I relaunch, voila, they're gone and I can start again! Saves getting things "muddled".

Finally, I can see how you may think you're being pushed to iPhoto, but in fairness it's just a convenient way to get photos in. My photos browser allows me to pick from Aperture, iPhoto or photobooth! As my photos are already sorted into albums in Aperture, it makes it so much easier (especially as I don't re-name photos usually). You can always "import file" if you have pictures elsewhere.

Hope this helps a little, and good luck!

[Aya Okawa]

geoff, thanks for your advice about the optimized media setting. so i could do all the editing, and then only use the optimized media for the export? that is *REALLY* good to know, because importing the optimized media takes a long time. when i import the clips (probably since I have import optimized media set), it 'imports' them quickly, but i can't see them in the program at all; all i can see are the red unconnected media squares. i'll change my preferences and do a re-test. thanks!

also glad to know that you can move footage around in the finder. a demo i watched said to always move files around from within X or it will unconnect the links, so i've been hesitant to do it. but within final cut it doesn't show you the total file sizes being moved, which seems crazy because it is clearly impt to know how large or a file you're moving.

as an update to the editing issues i've had with the FCPX trial, in case this is helpful for anyone... in fcpx if something 'imports' it is not necessarily transcoded and copied into the file, but its imprint is still there, so you can't just re-import it. thus, after i 'imported' my clips, but not all of the clips were copied and transcoded, i ended up with a bunch of unconnected media. still, fcpx would not allow me to 're-import' the clips. i finally figured out that you just cannot reconnect media in fcpx like you would in legacy. you have to delete the unconnected media files first (select them and then use command-delete), and only then will the system allow you to reimport, and transcode and copy the files into your 'event folder'.

other than these import experiments, once the footage is in, it seems really easy and fast to work with, and i really love the background render thing. there is a lot to be said for how quick and functional the set up is, and i can see what people are liking about it.

however, i am really missing the lack of viable subtitling plugins for fcpx. if anyone knows of X workarounds for subtitles, i'm all ears!

[Geoff Holland]

Aya, I'm not a "Pro", so use any of my advice with caution! Optimised turns the AVCHD (.mts) file into a ProRes 422 file, which is greatly de-compressed, and therefore considered by many to be easier to work with. If you have masses of disc space it seems to be the way the Pros go.

I don't have the disc space, and my final "delivery" doesn't need PR422, so I avoid it. It can multiply the file size by 5 or 6, easy!

If you create optimised media when it comes in, FC will use that to transcode into whatever you've chosen for output. Because I don't create it, FC uses the original media (provided that is selected in playback preferences before export) which is h.264 pulled in from the AVCHD camera files. Doing this saves me gigabytes of space, and lots of time.

You won't be able to work with your clips until they're transcoded. Using Proxy takes very little time, using ProRes takes ages.

The advice about moving footage is sound.... you're better to do it from within FC as it will keep track of where stuff is. However, if you get stuck, and want to start again, don't be afraid to go to the finder, get hold of the event or project file, and delete as necessary..... make sure your original footage is somewhere safe! I generally "archive" from the camera and use the archive as the "camera" when I'm ready.

As to importing, there is an option on the import window to save a copy into the events folder. If you don't it will be a referenced file. If it gets moved, FC will need help finding it!

[Aya Okawa]

Geoff, thanks again for this feedback. As an update, I did try to do another import, and still have been having slower import times than you reported. I had 40minutes of footage that took about an hour and a half to transcode to proxy media. It 'imports' in a few minutes, but the clips aren't usable in the system until the transcoding to proxy is complete. I'm really not sure what the problem is. Perhaps it could be that my 4gb of ram isn't enough for X? Maybe I need to upgrade to 8gb ($400). If so that would put me about in the same price bracket as just getting Premiere...

[Scott Brooks]

I've kind of hit a wall today. I use FCPX.

Last night was the first chance I've had to shoot anything with the XA10 and even then it was just a wide shot ... about 90 minutes worth. I shot directly to the camera's built in memory. I hit create proxy media, but wasn't sure if that was what I was supposed to do or leave everything un-checked. (Final delivery is DVD.) I simply used the "import from camera" feature ... did not drag anything to my computer.

I let it import overnight and then while looking at it today, the footage does not play back smoothly.

Did I do or not do something properly? Not enough info?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks ~

Scott

ETA: the audio plays back fine ... it's the video portion.

[Don Palomaki]

Many things can cause video not to play smoothly on a computer, ranging form AV software to the configuration of storage media, and just plain lack of raw power in the computer or the graphics card.

Try create a DVD (need not be a long DVD, a few minutes of program should be enough for the test and see how it plays on a system designed for video playback (e.g., a DVD player and TV).

Given that people have no significant issues with the XA10 and other main-stream editing software such as EDIUS, Premiere, and Vegas, the issue is most likely something on you computer and/or the way FXP works and does or doesn't play well with others.

[Geoff Holland]

Aya, I'm going to be taking about an hour of video shortly (I've not shot that length before without transfer!) so I'll have a better benchmark for comparison.... but the figures you're posting do seem a long way off mine. They do say the more RAM you have the better, but I'm using only 5 Gb.

Scott, as Don says, it could be one of a lot of things. One big thing to avoid, apparently, is putting your Events Folder (working clips) onto the same disc as the system / FCPX disc, if you can. It's best to use another internal or an external disc for the clips. Did you play it back in the Events Browser or the Timeline? The reason for creating proxy is that the files are 1/4 size, and much easier for editing. Before you export, you must make sure you click "Optimised or original" in the playback preferences, or you proxy footage will be transcoded instead..... that won't give you a good result.

Both, for detailed FCPX troubleshooting, it's worth visiting the Apple Support Community forum. You'll find a lot of complaints about FC being slow, but also a lot of advice on how to get the best out of it, if you decide to use it and not PP6!!

[Scott Brooks]

I just had my wife shoot an event for me tonight that I was actually in. I'm going to try and find some time to look at it tomorrow and see if I can make this work better. Thanks for the information ... I'll check out my settings. (Always an external drive for me.)