Rendering Screen Capture?

So I recorded myself using a program "iShowU" which is a screen capture program. The codec I chose for no particular reason was H.264. I then imported it into FCP 6.0.3, the problem is that the video needs to get rendered and it says its going to take about 3 hours. I have a 2.4 imac with 4 gigs of ram. Also at about the half way point FCP quits. I would appreciate any help as I am a beginner with FCP. Thanks!

H.264 is not an editing-friendly codec. I'm also guessing you didn't capture at the correct frame rate -- frame-rate conversions take forever. Try re-exporting the video with QuickTime Player or MPEG Streamclip, into something like DV NTSC, Motion JPEG A or Photo JPEG. Be careful about the frame size, though -- I'm also guessing your original captured image would be irregular-sized, and to keep correct proportions you'd have to keep the frame size the same.


www.derekmok.com

great I'll try that. Yeah I wasnt sure about the Codec, but good to know. But once I convert it I should be able to Edit in FCP no problem right?

Codecs, capture settings etc. take a long time to learn, so unfortunately we can't offer you the "right way" on a platter. However, if nothing else, learn these concepts:

- Your CLIP settings determine how good the first-generation master is.
- CLIP settings include video standard (PAL/NTSC/None), codec, quality setting of the codec, pixel aspect ratio, frame size (in pixels), frame rate, audio sample rate, audio bit rate.
- SEQUENCE settings impact on the final quality of your edited piece. If Clip and Sequence settings don't match, you will have to render. Also, if Clip and Sequence settings don't match, you may lose one digital generation worth of quality. Think of it as being: Clip Settings determine how big, colourful and clear your "world" is; Sequence Settings are like the size of the hole you're looking through at the world. Sequence Settings can impose a limitation on how much of the original media you see -- for example, if you have clips in DVCPro HD 720p, but your Final Cut Pro Sequence Settings are set to DV NTSC 29.97fps, then your end product will only look as good as DV NTSC.

- Check CLIP settings by selecting the CLIP in the FCP Browser or Viewer, and pressing APPLE-9.
- Check SEQUENCE settings by selecting your Sequence (timeline where you do your editing) in the Browser and pressing APPLE-0 (zero, not O).

As for whether the file conversion will make the material editing-friendly, that depends on what format you're converting to. I'd probably suggest DV NTSC, 29.97fps, frame size 720x480px, audio 16-bit, 48kHz. Try to find a Compressor or MPEG Streamclip preset and this would be a bit easier.


www.derekmok.com