hd1a and final cut pro not working together. at DVinfo.net

Luc Meisel · October 26th, 2006, 06:18 PM

Greetings all

I am trying to get some Hd1a video into FCP.

I have not been able to get FCP to see the cam, but i was able to drag and drop the footage from my external HD into FCP.

Then FCP refused to work iwth the footage unless it was rendered!

8 hours later after rendering, FCP still refused to function and merely beachballs till its frozen when any attempt is made to edit.

Does anyone knwo a workflow to get this cam working with FCP.

It works fine in iMovie except for the uhh crashes! every ten or 20 minutes.
Say! thats not a good sign either is it?

Chris Wells · October 26th, 2006, 10:17 PM

Have you tried conversion with MP42AVI prior to import?

Luc Meisel · October 27th, 2006, 08:13 PM

Hi thanks for the reply.

i havent tried to convert it,

What would I convert it to?
and why?

it imports into iMovie.
Why do it need rendering?

thanks for the help

Steve Nunez · October 29th, 2006, 06:26 PM

You can't use the files straight out of the camera.....use MpegStreamclip and export them out to HDV- then you can just use the same HDV preset in FCP.

You can then delete the original files and keep the HDV versions for editing.

Luc Meisel · October 29th, 2006, 06:42 PM

mmm interesting...

I tried directly importing them into iMovie and got so much artifacts, not at all
like what is the orginal is. I dragged the clips onto my external drive then imported into iMovie...

That didnt work :)

So I have to convert them to HDV but doest that destroy the 720p to go to HDV which is 60i, interlaced..

what work flow do you use?

Thanks for the help.

I hope that app works for Mac,

does this have something to do with the whole MUX vs UNMUXED situation?

Steve Nunez · October 29th, 2006, 07:54 PM

Actually you can export to 720P HDV. Anytime you convert there will be some loss of quality- but MpegStreamclip is really superb- just export stills from the raw footage and compare to the newly exported HDV clip and compare.

Luc Meisel · October 29th, 2006, 09:20 PM

I exported as 1280x720 de interlaced with apple dv 720p compression, in Streamclip.

what setting to you use, there are SO many different ones to choose from.

The video looks good but there is still the red line of render that needs to be done for scrubbing to work in FCP.

I dont think that was a problem in iMovie.

Feels so stange that iMovie handles this but not FCP.

Thanks for the help also! :P

Steve Nunez · October 29th, 2006, 09:33 PM

If FCP throws a red line above the footage when you've dropped it into the timeline- then either the sequence settings are off or you've exported it to non-standard 720P HDV format.

Once you've got both set right- editing it will be a breeze and you'll have the full power of FCP with you- allot better than iMovie. It's worth the hassell to get it sorted out...let us know how you like it.

Luc Meisel · October 29th, 2006, 09:39 PM

Hey steve

thanks again for the very helpful tips.

Your website is amazing and I know you hear that often.

You are a true artist.

I was a storyboard artist and used to work for comic companies.

before moving onto scriptwriting and now a hopeful director and producer who is starting his own production company.

You every do any large matte painting or such stuff?

i will try out a few setting, if you see any websites that specify the exact settings, let me know that would be more useful than hunting through trials and error.

Steve Nunez · October 29th, 2006, 09:45 PM

Your too kind thanks...just trying to help out a fellow video enthusiast.

I don't have your camera but did use MpegStreamclip to get my ole Everio MC500's .mod files into a standard DV format and I know there's HDV export options- so getting your footage into a standard HDV complaint format should pose no problem. Keep at it and let us know how it goes.

Todd Pinsonneault · December 21st, 2006, 11:30 PM

I have been using Final Cut Pro for years. I recently picked up the HD1A and started editing in FCP.

You can drag movies from your hard drive into your project. You can view them in the viewer, but then you'll notice that FCP wants to render your audio and video before you can edit it in the canvas. I have found a way to not have to do this and to work natively with the XACTI's video.

If you right-click (or control-click if you have a 1 button mouse) on the movie sequence, then select settings, you get a window to open up that allows you to change the project settings. For frame size, choose HDTV 720p. For pixel aspect ratio, choose square. For compressor, choose MPEG-4 Video. Leave the rest of the settings alone.

When you press OK, you will notice that any video you work with now does not have to be rendered, as it is already in the correct format.

Later on, when you want to export, you can export in whatever format you want.

Editing in the way mentioned above causes no quality loss before you edit. Nice, eh?

Chris Harris · December 23rd, 2006, 12:30 AM

So you can edit the MP4 format in FCP natively? That's amazing! I wonder if you can do the same with AVCHD!

Jerry Jones · December 23rd, 2006, 10:07 AM

Can you edit natively using Final Cut Express?

Or is Final Cut Pro required?

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

Todd Pinsonneault · December 23rd, 2006, 11:47 AM

I was wrong. Guess final cut pro is required.

Scott Weston · December 23rd, 2006, 07:26 PM

Sadly FCE doesn't support MPEG4 as a compressor for sequences and only has a subset of those available in FCP so all HD1 clips need to be rendered once they are part of a sequence. You can view your HD1 clips without rendering in the viewer and select the bits of the clips you want to keep and drag them into the sequence but once you want to take a look at the final product you'll need to render. It's the only feature of FCP I would dearly like in FCE, but not so much I'd pay an extra $1000 for it. If I was working on really large projects I could justify it but it's just a hobby for me and my iMac does a pretty good job of rendering when required.

October 26th, 2006, 06:18 PM	#1
Luc Meisel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	hd1a and final cut pro not working together. Greetings all I am trying to get some Hd1a video into FCP. I have not been able to get FCP to see the cam, but i was able to drag and drop the footage from my external HD into FCP. Then FCP refused to work iwth the footage unless it was rendered! 8 hours later after rendering, FCP still refused to function and merely beachballs till its frozen when any attempt is made to edit. Does anyone knwo a workflow to get this cam working with FCP. It works fine in iMovie except for the uhh crashes! every ten or 20 minutes. Say! thats not a good sign either is it?

October 29th, 2006, 06:26 PM	#4
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	You can't use the files straight out of the camera.....use MpegStreamclip and export them out to HDV- then you can just use the same HDV preset in FCP. You can then delete the original files and keep the HDV versions for editing. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 29th, 2006, 07:54 PM	#6
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	Actually you can export to 720P HDV. Anytime you convert there will be some loss of quality- but MpegStreamclip is really superb- just export stills from the raw footage and compare to the newly exported HDV clip and compare. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 29th, 2006, 09:33 PM	#8
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	If FCP throws a red line above the footage when you've dropped it into the timeline- then either the sequence settings are off or you've exported it to non-standard 720P HDV format. Once you've got both set right- editing it will be a breeze and you'll have the full power of FCP with you- allot better than iMovie. It's worth the hassell to get it sorted out...let us know how you like it. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 29th, 2006, 09:45 PM	#10
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	Your too kind thanks...just trying to help out a fellow video enthusiast. I don't have your camera but did use MpegStreamclip to get my ole Everio MC500's .mod files into a standard DV format and I know there's HDV export options- so getting your footage into a standard HDV complaint format should pose no problem. Keep at it and let us know how it goes. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

October 26th, 2006, 10:17 PM	#2
Chris Wells Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kelowna, Canada Posts: 148	Have you tried conversion with MP42AVI prior to import?

October 27th, 2006, 08:13 PM	#3
Luc Meisel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	Hi thanks for the reply. i havent tried to convert it, What would I convert it to? and why? it imports into iMovie. Why do it need rendering? thanks for the help

October 29th, 2006, 06:42 PM	#5
Luc Meisel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	mmm interesting... I tried directly importing them into iMovie and got so much artifacts, not at all like what is the orginal is. I dragged the clips onto my external drive then imported into iMovie... That didnt work :) So I have to convert them to HDV but doest that destroy the 720p to go to HDV which is 60i, interlaced.. what work flow do you use? Thanks for the help. I hope that app works for Mac, does this have something to do with the whole MUX vs UNMUXED situation?

October 29th, 2006, 09:20 PM	#7
Luc Meisel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	I exported as 1280x720 de interlaced with apple dv 720p compression, in Streamclip. what setting to you use, there are SO many different ones to choose from. The video looks good but there is still the red line of render that needs to be done for scrubbing to work in FCP. I dont think that was a problem in iMovie. Feels so stange that iMovie handles this but not FCP. Thanks for the help also! :P

October 29th, 2006, 09:39 PM	#9
Luc Meisel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 33	Hey steve thanks again for the very helpful tips. Your website is amazing and I know you hear that often. You are a true artist. I was a storyboard artist and used to work for comic companies. before moving onto scriptwriting and now a hopeful director and producer who is starting his own production company. You every do any large matte painting or such stuff? i will try out a few setting, if you see any websites that specify the exact settings, let me know that would be more useful than hunting through trials and error.

December 21st, 2006, 11:30 PM	#11
Todd Pinsonneault New Boot Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lake Placid, NY Posts: 5	Final Cut Pro Works Great I have been using Final Cut Pro for years. I recently picked up the HD1A and started editing in FCP. You can drag movies from your hard drive into your project. You can view them in the viewer, but then you'll notice that FCP wants to render your audio and video before you can edit it in the canvas. I have found a way to not have to do this and to work natively with the XACTI's video. If you right-click (or control-click if you have a 1 button mouse) on the movie sequence, then select settings, you get a window to open up that allows you to change the project settings. For frame size, choose HDTV 720p. For pixel aspect ratio, choose square. For compressor, choose MPEG-4 Video. Leave the rest of the settings alone. When you press OK, you will notice that any video you work with now does not have to be rendered, as it is already in the correct format. Later on, when you want to export, you can export in whatever format you want. Editing in the way mentioned above causes no quality loss before you edit. Nice, eh?

December 23rd, 2006, 12:30 AM	#12
Chris Harris Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: San Francisco, California Posts: 487	So you can edit the MP4 format in FCP natively? That's amazing! I wonder if you can do the same with AVCHD!

December 23rd, 2006, 10:07 AM	#13
Jerry Jones Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Boise, Idaho Posts: 54	Can you edit natively using Final Cut Express? Or is Final Cut Pro required? Jerry Jones http://www.jonesgroup.net

December 23rd, 2006, 11:47 AM	#14
Todd Pinsonneault New Boot Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lake Placid, NY Posts: 5	Express I was wrong. Guess final cut pro is required. Last edited by Todd Pinsonneault; December 24th, 2006 at 10:20 AM.

December 23rd, 2006, 07:26 PM	#15
Scott Weston New Boot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 8	Sadly FCE doesn't support MPEG4 as a compressor for sequences and only has a subset of those available in FCP so all HD1 clips need to be rendered once they are part of a sequence. You can view your HD1 clips without rendering in the viewer and select the bits of the clips you want to keep and drag them into the sequence but once you want to take a look at the final product you'll need to render. It's the only feature of FCP I would dearly like in FCE, but not so much I'd pay an extra $1000 for it. If I was working on really large projects I could justify it but it's just a hobby for me and my iMac does a pretty good job of rendering when required.