Is it possible to capture with Adobe Premiere, and then import the files to FCP?

My company uses premiere software to edit and capture beta cam SD, but I want to edit the latest project using my personal copy of FCP. Does anyone know how this transfer would take place without incurring considerable loss of quality? I mean, can the AVI files that premiere encodes AV into be imported to FCP without loss?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

FCP can use AVI files to edit, but it's going to be very, very buggy. I'm talking about clicking on your timeline and waiting six to eight seconds before the playhead goes there, and 20-second freezes in playback.

Don't use AVIs. Convert them first.

Back when I was using Adobe Premiere 4, it used QuickTime movies. Has that changed? Or is the AVI quirk because you're using Premiere for PC?

You could use Quicktime Pro to convert the AVIs to quicktime movies. Or work natively - but I would go with the conversion first.

Much thanks for the tips. Am I correct in assuming the conversion process won't result in a loss of quality? The final product will be sold as a DVD so I'd prefer as little loss as possible.

And Derek, you're right. Unfortunately, the company I work for insists in using PCs, so that's why the files will be AVI in premeire.

... But, the only chance is using a mac compatible avi codec, like the following,
[www.mainconcept.com]

Please try the demo of dv codec. This is a possible way to solve the problem for exchange the media between pc and mac.

By using those kind of codec the exported avi file are no needed to re-render before they could be edited in mac.

I use their codec (DV & Motion-Jpeg) for export mostly. It is because most of the pc program still only support the avi format .

I'm not sure for the for captured footage since I don't have Premiere. My last copy of Premiere are exchanged to a free copy of FCP express (Promotion from Apple). And I give this as a present to my best friend=)

Antonio

I was going to suggest Photo-JPEG with the Quality slliders all the way up. That gives you a huge file, but the frames are almost entirely uncompressed.

That glances off a question I posted way earlier. There is no "Uncompressed QuickTime" is there? We get requests for that all the time.

"Save it in Uncompresed QuickTime and send it over on a hard drive."

Can't be done.

Koz

>>"Save it in Uncompresed QuickTime and send it over on a hard drive."<<

What they likely mean is an exact copy of your timeline - aka a quicktime that hasn't been *further* compressed - which is the "export quicktime movie" with 'current settings' option in FCP.

<<< "export quicktime movie">>>

You would think...

However, a PhotoJPEG Quicktime will open up in any version of Final Cut as well as many other programs and even other computers and platforms, whereas a Final Cut Movie may not open up on earlier versions of FCP, or in fact anywhere else.

We usually send both and the success rate has been about evenly mixed. You can't always define the destination.

I would give anything to have a guaranteed "uncompressed.mov."

Koz.mov

> whereas a Final Cut Movie may not open up on earlier versions of FCP, or in
> fact anywhere else.

True enough. I have yet to figure out why two movie files exported from Final Cut Pro using the exact same settings (DV - NTSC 48kHz, etc.) and commands (Export - QuickTime Movie) would respond differently -- one would open in QuickTime Player, the other wouldn't.

Nuts.

For more clear, I created a 2 sec avi video file by using the pc version of Illusion 2.0 with the following spec.
(PAL, 720 x 576, 25fps, with mainconcept DV codec 2.04,)
[homepage.mac.com]

You should found that the avi clip are natively work within the FCP timeline (PAL DV preset), and without any conversion is needed before you could output to video device in real time=)

The only tradeoff is it don't have alpha channel support(well, all dv don't have it...). that is means you need to re-create a matte track for some kind of composite project. However, compare with the old day by using TGA sequence or uncompressed format for exchange propose between pc and mac, I like it very much.

Good Luck,
Antonio Hui

>> whereas a Final Cut Movie may not open up on earlier versions of FCP, or in fact anywhere else.<<

Hmm - weird. I've not had that problem yet. I've moved quicktimes from FCP HD all the way back to FCP 2.0 on OS9 without hassles.

You would think that as long as you weren't referencing a codec that the earlier machine didn't have it should work fine. I can't see why it wouldn't work... I do always add the .mov extension for the transfer though..?

I suppose that the conversion process would be a messy option. Does anyone know whether running the S-video out of the betacam and into a DV then capture through teh firewire to FCP on my laptop would cause a lot of loss?

Replies appreciated.

A little loss, but depending upon end use, could very well be perfectly acceptable. I had occaision to use PAL MII over composite into DV for editing and the picture was more than acceptable - it was acually pretty good, but that's PAL for you - NTSC is a different matter, but s-video would address that.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

End product will be a DVD. The footage is a live show put on by a subsidiary of Disney, shot with 4 cameras. I've done a multi cam shoot with DV before and the result was good enough to sell DVDs. It should be good enough, I'm thinking. Going to a production house to capture will eat into my profits quite a bit.

You're probably ok, but you're going to run into black level issues bringing in a BetaSP tape though a normal DV camera, which may make you want to think again.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

Thanks everyone for all the help. However, I've started the project now, and am having problems with capturing. I'm running S-Video to my Panasonic DVX-100a and then firewiring to powerbook and capturing with FCP. However FCP is looking for a timecode that seems to be non existant. Is this a setting issue with FCP or my camera that needs to be resolved?

Got it. Thanks.