FCPX & Sony RX100V 4K?

[Ray Paula]

Hi, I have a Sony RX100V NTSC and normally shoot in 4K XAVC S 30p 100M. I archived the video straight off my SD card which ended up being imported as an H.264 codec. Being fairly new to FCPX, I would like to know if this is the best codec for 4K XAVC S giving me the highest quality? I’m currently working with my new 2016 15” MacBook Pro with O.S. Sierra and FCPX 10.3. If you have any suggestions in regards to the best import settings for this format, I would sincerely appreciate it? Thanks, Ray

[David Dixon]

Why not just import it as native XAVC? That's what FCPX should do, unless you told it to do otherwise in the import window, or in the archiving process. The only reason to transcode is if your computer is not powerful enough to handle the 4K footage in native format. There are folks here that know far more than I, so give more details and you will get help.

[Nate Haustein]

You're doing it right, Ray. Just import right from the card and it will bring in the XAVC-S files. Sometimes I make proxies when things get pokey, but it usually all plays back fine. I have a similar computer system as you do.

[Ray Paula]

Thanks David & Nate...... I'm assuming the 4K XAVC S 30p 100M didn't import natively due to showing as a H.264 codec. My Sony PXW-X70 footage imported natively as XAVC QFHD 30p which is 4K which shows so under the FCPX codec column in the "Media Import" window. I haven't changed any settings in FCPX.... My 2016 15" MacBook Pro is maxed out and plays back the X70 4K flawlessly. Hopefully someone here can give me some type of an idea what to try next. At this point, all I'm doing is archiving my video on a couple backup drives. Thanks again for all your input and have a great Memorial Day. Ray

[David Dixon]

Maybe a screen capture of your Import window settings??? There's still something going on here that changed it to h.264. That's not a huge problem, but there's no real reason to do it as it will give a small loss in quality. And if your final output is converted to something else that could lose more quality. I have an older RX10 (first version) and it imports the XAVC-S natively, just as with the XAVC-L from my X70. Do you have the latest update of the Pro Codecs on your MacBook?

[Ray Paula]

Thanks David, I did go to the following link.
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1898?locale=en_US
My MacBook accepted the download. I will try importing the video once again within the hour. I will let you know the result as soon as I do. Also, I would send you some screen shots, but I don't know how to in this window. I tried copy/paste which didn't work. Thanks again, Ray

[Ray Paula]

I re-checked my RX100v settings and created a new clip and tried importing directly off the SD card into FCPX to make an archive. Once again, it shows my video as being a H.264 codec instead of XAVC S. The Pro Video Formats v2.0.5 I download earlier only took a moment which showed successfully. I dropped it into Applications in the Finder window. Being fairly new to Mac, maybe I done this wrong. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's just something simple....... hopefully. Thanks, Ray

[Ray Paula]

Interesting..... I just imported off my SD card into iMovie to see what would happen. Comes up as .MOV

[David Dixon]

Yes, in both iMovie and in FCPX, imported XAVC-S clips from my Sony RX10 show up as .mov. On the card they are .mp4. But if you open either in QuickTime Player and open the Movie Inspector window it shows that the "Format" is "AVC Coding." So it's still native, untranscoded clips.

I still can't explain why you're getting h.264. Does the right hand column of your Import window in FCPX look like this one - all default settings and Optimization UN-checked?

Instead of all the downloading and dropping in Applications, just open the App Store app - it is probably in your Dock, but if not it's in the Applications folder. Go to the Updates tab. It will take 10-60 seconds and hunt for any updates and you can install them from there. I'm still not certain you have the latest Pro Formats correctly installed. And you said you had FCPX 10.3 - technically the current version is 10.3.4. But, that will show up in the Updates as well.

I apologize if I'm giving you info that is too basic, but when you said you were new to the Mac I thought it couldn't hurt to make sure. Good luck and hope this helps.

[Ray Paula]

Thanks David,
You're not being to basic at all. I sincerely appreciate your help. By default, I did have quite a bit of the boxes checked. I unchecked them identical to yours and inserted my SD card into my reader once again. Unfortunately, I still have the same problem. I have gone into my System Information which shows the latest version of Pro Video Formats as 2.0.5 I'm up to date on everything as far as I can tell;
O.S. Sierra: 10.12.5
FCPX: 10.3.4
Once I figure out how to create an attachment, I'll send a screen shot of my Media Import window. Thanks again for all your help. Ray

[Ray Paula]

Sorry I double posted....

[David Dixon]

Maybe we're overthinking this. Here's what the Info pane shows on mine once I change the bottom left popup menu to General. In the Codecs line (red box added by me) does it not say AVC coding like this? If it does say AVC, maybe we're worrying for nothing.

One other thought. When you import, are you digging down all the way to the clips? You shouldn't have to. Just select the top level of the SD card and you should see all the clips as shown in my first screen shot. You can then just highlight one or more to import. Sometimes FCPX can be finicky about having the entire intact card structure in order to work with the clips.

And on the attachments, this message board does not seem to like .png files, which is the default format for Mac screen shots. Use Preview or any image editor to change them to .jpg and they'll work. Below the Reply to Thread box under Additional Options click Manage Attachments. Choose your file, click Upload, then it will be embedded at the bottom of your reply like this:

[Ray Paula]

Good Morning David,
First, I thank you for taking the time in helping me out. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it. I do keep my SD card folder intact without breaking it down when importing. My practice is to import directly from my card reader and create an archive. Upon doing so I then save the archived video to a couple external hard drives. The following are a couple screen shots (Huge THANKS to you) for describing how to do it. The first one is my SD card loaded and ready for archiving (named Untitled), with the second one being Info/General. It just seems to me that Apple's (FCPX) software should show the proper codec as it does with the X70. Maybe it's a glitch..... to be corrected. Thanks again and if you have any other thoughts, please let me know. As always, you've been a great help. Ray

[David Dixon]

Glad to help - can you tell I'm a retired teacher? :-)

Well, in your screen shot, it IS showing up as AVC coding, so regardless of what file extension it shows in the Finder FCPX is NOT transcoding it and these are in fact native files - which is what you want.

So, I think I was correct when I said I was overthinking this. I can't explain why some imports of the same format from various Sony cameras show up looking different or in different "wrappers," but I don't think it matters. Just shoot, edit, and enjoy!

Glad to help.

[Ray Paula]

Thanks David.......
Yes, I did in fact know you were a retired teacher. I have read and learned quite a bit from you from other posts in regards to the X70, etc. Knowing that my files are importing natively makes me feel much better about moving forward. Once again you pulled through in helping me out! It's nice to know that there are folks like you and others here at DVInfo that care and help newbie's like me. I'd like to add, I'm currently learning FCPX mainly through purchased Ripple Training tutorial's. Thanks again for all your help!! Ray :)