Capturing from an SD card

I have footage that has been recorded Sanyo Xacti HD2. They are MP4 files on a SD card. I'm trying to teach someone Final Cut Express using these files, but when we import these MP4 files into FC Express, they need to be rendered. Is there any way to capture them as QT movies and not have to go through the rendering process?

He has been using Imovie up until now and is able to bring the MP4 files in Imovie and work with them without rendering.

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

[www.squared5.com]

mpeg4 is not recommended for editing. Convert it to ProRes with mpg streamclip.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hi Strypes,

My friend who has the Sanyo Xacti HD2 has been using IMovie and Movie Studio (Windows) with these MP4 files without having to convert them.

He wanted to upgrade his editing system to FC Express and now it seems that we have to convert the MPG4s to QT before working with them. His line of work requires that he turn 10 minute movies around for the internet in less than an hour. It's taking 4 minutes to convert a :30 clip so this is not going to work.

I was hoping that there was some setting or some other way to capture that would convert the MP4 to QT upon importing to FC Express. Is there any way to work around this?

How do the news editors turn things around so quickly? I thought they were all recording to cards and brining the files directly into FC without having to do the time-consuming conversion.

Seems weird that IMovie and Movie Studio would not require conversion, yet the more upscale editing system FC Express makes it more labor intensive.

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

A faster alternative, is to batch convert them in Compressor. Much much faster if you are running multiple cores. Although I don't think this option is available with FCE.

I think batch converting is an option in Streamclip... Gotta double check on this.

>I thought they were all recording to cards

I haven't worked with in news, but if I do, I'd expect them to shoot to Solid states or P2 cards, NOT AVCHD or mpeg4, as heavily compressed formats can cause a lot of problems in post production, from quality issues to export issues to taking extremely long to render... Not to mention, heavy compression on acquisition means a heavily compromised end quality.

You CAN edit Mpeg4 in FCP (and similarly in FCE), but it is not recommended, and you may run into issues. FCP works best with a supported post production codec in a Quicktime format, and similarly, all good editors prep their footage before they work on them.



www.strypesinpost.com

> I think batch converting is an option in Streamclip... Gotta double check on this.

Yes, it is -- APPLE-B to activate the list, then APPLE-E for QuickTime Export or CONTROL-APPLE-E for MPEG-4, etc, etc. A 30-second clip should only take around 45 seconds to a minute.

In my tests with Compressor, QuickTime Player and MPEG Streamclip, converting movie files at the same quality, it seemed to me Compressor gave the highest quality while MPEG Streamclip was the fastest. I was using a Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 and Compressor 2, though, so newer hardware could
yield different results. Compressor 3 is a slow, lumbering beast on that G5.


www.derekmok.com

We were able to use MPEG streamclip to convert the MP4s to QTs. When I bring them in FCS I don't have to render them. But my student is using FC Express and when he brings in the converted files he still has to render them once they are placed in the timeline.

Is the reason I don't have to re-render and he does related to the different features of FC Studio and FC Express or could there be another reason? Our User and System Preferences match.

I have a Mac Pro with 6 gigs of ram and he is using a MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of ram.

Thanks

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

Shelley,

Is the reason I don't have to re-render and he does related to the different features of FC Studio and FC Express or could there be another reason?

I think the reason is that FCE is DV and HDV only while FCP has a ton of codecs that Apple is constantly updating.