FCP and HMC 150

I know that this is probably mentioned in a million other places, but is native avchd editing planned for future FCP releases? This is pretty much the only thing holding me up from purchasing this camera.

Thanks, and sorry if the question is redundant.
 
that is not completely correct, fcp 6.0.5 does to hmc150 footage the same it does to dvcpro files, if you are using log and transfer with a p2 camera, log and transfer puts a quicktime wrapper on those dvcpro files, it does the same to hmc150 footage but now it converts it to prores files, not exactly native but if you are a final cut user and use log and transfer for hvx p2 footie, editing hmc footie is almost the same, at least to me it is

hope this helps and does not discourage you from buying the hmc150 which is a great camera

Gymnut808 said:
No, have to transcode to Pro Res or other codec of your flavor ie Cineform, AIC.
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That's what I was alluding to, it transcodes to Pro Res, there is no SUPPORT for native AVCHD editing in FCP.
 
How I do hope that when FCP gets updated, it will include avchd native editing. I mean, if Adobe CS4 and Edius does it natively, it only makes sense that FCP would follow suit.
 
I certainly hope so too, and hope that Avid jumps on the ship as well. With Apple, however, they've sort of left their pro apps in limbo, as evidenced by Shake. I just hope they don't decide to give up entirely on this section of the market, now that they've spread themselves a little thin.
 
Gymnut808 said:
I just hope they don't decide to give up entirely on this section of the market, now that they've spread themselves a little thin.
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People keep listing things like that as a concern but frankly I wouldn't worry about it. Final Cut Server just came out recently so obviously they're still thinking about fcp users. They've got divisions just like any other company, the guys who make fcp are not forced to make ipods when it gets busy. Final Cut has a fairly large paying install base, not to mention the pirated install base, all those people are tied up in apple hardware, apple isn't letting them go anytime soon.
 
I shot an hour's footage in the studio today, and after archiving the SDHC card's footage (a few minutes) I transcoded the AVCHD footage while I made a coffee.

Personally, the fact that FCP does not edit AVCHD files natively is not a problem at all. I acknowledge that I might be biased (in the sense that I know FCP and don't feel the need to learn a new system) but compared to a lifetime of tape-based systems, I do not find transcoding a problem at all. I use a quad G5, and fast external drives.

So, @ vocare, I feel this is not any kind of disincentive, at all. Cheers, kl
 
some1shero said:
How I do hope that when FCP gets updated, it will include avchd native editing. I mean, if Adobe CS4 and Edius does it natively, it only makes sense that FCP would follow suit.
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Not certain about Edius, but my tests with Premiere show that Premiere doesn't play AVCHD RT even among the fastest of computers on either platform.

If you look around here, I believe only one user is getting decent results with Premiere.

And it doesn't support anything 720.

That being said, editing pro res after a transcode is absolutely beautiful.

That's what most people are doing on both platforms. Moving to a 10-bit codec in a different color space
 
Gymnut808 said:
I certainly hope so too, and hope that Avid jumps on the ship as well. With Apple, however, they've sort of left their pro apps in limbo, as evidenced by Shake. I just hope they don't decide to give up entirely on this section of the market, now that they've spread themselves a little thin.
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Apple has sold 1,000,000 seats for FCS.

There aren't any signs that it is leaving the market. Shake is still being used in major films
 
Thanks for all the reply. from what i read, you need to convert the file from avchd to quicktime and edit in fcp Pro Ress 422. do correct me if i am wrong.
 
Great news Barry! Thanks for keeping us informed! Now if Panasonic will start releasing Mac based updates we can all be happy and go back to talking about settings and production and the stuff we all enjoy!
 
Barry - can you quote a source for that information? The only story I saw (and now can't find) was a report of one of the product managers referring to AVCHD being supported in the 'next release.' It wasn't clear from the context whether this was referring to the AVCHD-to-ProRes transcode that appeared in the minor point release that followed, or full native AVCHD editing in a forthcoming major release.

I'm very keen for the latter to be the case, but I don't believe I've seen a direct, attributed quote referencing native AVCHD editing.

I'd love to be wrong.
 
My recollection of it was the terms "native codec" support in the "next release". This was announced at IBC 2008, and presumably wouldn't include the 6.0.5 update.

But maybe it does?

That would be profoundly disappointing.

But apple supports native HDV in FCP (although you have to rewrap the file as a quicktime) and this is what I would be expecting for AVCHD support. However, no, a quick google-around didn't find the announcement I was looking for...
 
Kit:

Good to hear that workflow flows, but don't you end up with about four times the space requirements once transcoded? That could be quite the drag for long for documentaries with hundreds of hours of footage.

Thanks,

Dan

Kit_L said:
I shot an hour's footage in the studio today, and after archiving the SDHC card's footage (a few minutes) I transcoded the AVCHD footage while I made a coffee.

Personally, the fact that FCP does not edit AVCHD files natively is not a problem at all. I acknowledge that I might be biased (in the sense that I know FCP and don't feel the need to learn a new system) but compared to a lifetime of tape-based systems, I do not find transcoding a problem at all. I use a quad G5, and fast external drives.

So, @ vocare, I feel this is not any kind of disincentive, at all. Cheers, kl
Click to expand...
 
puredrifting said:
Kit:

Good to hear that workflow flows, but don't you end up with about four times the space requirements once transcoded? That could be quite the drag for long for documentaries with hundreds of hours of footage.
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Unfortunately that is the only drawback for me with transcoding, the proress files are twice the size of the original. I cannot wait until FCP edits AVCHD without having to transcode. Oh what a happy day that will be.
 
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I understand your concern, but the nature of AVCHD requires some pretty heavy lifting with the CPU and some extent, the GPU.

I almost prefer a transcode to Intra frame and 4:2:2 color space 10-bit.

Remember as well that eventually you need to deliver the footage. And you can't delivery it as AVCHD.

With HDD per gigabyte space so cheap, you might to look at a transcode until Apple decides what it may do.
 
What program can I use to convert my native AVCHD files to a format (Quicktime?) that I can work with.

Does Final Cut Studio 2 has already a software included?

I also read that the computer must be working on Leopard, is it true? I have OS.
 
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