Best HD Settings?
- Thread starter JS25
- Start date
Can you define "boxy" for us? Perhaps even post a still or some sample footage? Pretend like we cannot see your computer.
As for HD settings in FCE... well, what are you using right now? Further, what format/frame rate are you shooting with the T2i?
FCE is lousy for T2i footage, just so you know. It does not support the proper codecs for editing. But again... what workflow are you using right now?
As for HD settings in FCE... well, what are you using right now? Further, what format/frame rate are you shooting with the T2i?
FCE is lousy for T2i footage, just so you know. It does not support the proper codecs for editing. But again... what workflow are you using right now?
Do you mean pixelated?
Yes, I'm sorry, I meant pixelated. It was really late last night when I posted this thread. :\ Here's an example of what I mean.
Right now in FCE, I'm rendering at 1920x1080, 30fps, Best quality, H.264, Keyframe 24,
Why is it lousy? Can't I just download the proper codec? What would you recommend to edit with on a Mac?
Right now in FCE, I'm rendering at 1920x1080, 30fps, Best quality, H.264, Keyframe 24,
Why is it lousy? Can't I just download the proper codec? What would you recommend to edit with on a Mac?
As 97% of that still is completely out of focus, and is pretty much white, it's hard to discern anything in the image. However, I do see banding. You're rendering things in h.264, so you're taking your heavily-compressed h.264 camera files and re-compressing them... a lot. You need to convert your camera's files to a better codec for editing.
Unfortunately, FCE does not offer much in the way of HD editing. It was designed to be used primarily with consumer HDV, and DV/DVCAM.
One question you still need to answer: what format/frame rate are you shooting with on the T2i? 1080p30? 1080p24? 720p60?
Which codec would you recommend? And do you mean I should convert my .MOV files from the T2i to another type before editing?
So which program on Mac would be good for HD video editing, Final Cut Pro?
I'm shooting at 1080, 30fps. Now I know I should never do this, but I mixed some clips in the video (some 720, 60fps). But I also tried rendering with all 1080 clips, still bad quality.
FCE converts all your footage to Apple Intermediate Codec for editing. With FCP, you would convert to pro res, which more robust.
I strongly suggest you spend some time understanding why the T2i footage should be converted to pro res.
For example: http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1081899
I strongly suggest you spend some time understanding why the T2i footage should be converted to pro res.
For example: http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1081899
DVX100Shooter
Veteran
download MPEG Streamclip (its FREE) and convert your clips over to Apple ProRes 422. We just shot a music video with a Canon 5D and I used this workflow to convert the Canon clips and when I brought them into FCP, I was ready to rock and roll with the editing!
That's all well and good, except that we're talking about Final Cut Express which does not Support ProRes. To be able to edit ProRes, it will be necessary to move to Final Cut Pro.
AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) is a perfectly reasonable solution for many editing needs -- the difference between AIC and ProRes is not likely to be a factor in material shot with a T2i. Using AIC in FCE should work for you.
Absent the discussion here -- and critical -- is the issue of export data rate. It is well and good to talk about frame size, and frame rate, and codec ... but without identifying the data rate, the rest of the information is not informative. Frankly, I wonder at all the advice you're being given without knowing what your output choice was. An h.264 file with a data rate of 300K, all other things equal, will look awful compared to one of 2000K. A source file (using AIC as an example) of 1 gigabyte cannot be compressed down to 20 megabytes and retain any visual quality -- but you can probably have it look OK at 100MB and pretty darn good at 200MB.
Work with AIC, keep as many of your file parameters the same as your source as you can, and output at the highest data rate you can stand. Consider outputting from FCE in AIC, then use QT Pro to convert your AIC file into something more compact.
Cheers,
GB
Perhaps we should ensure that the footage is going into FCE properly first? It seems that the OP is trying to edit the native camera files from the T2i without conversion:
That means editing files in h.264, which is not an editing codec, and then exporting to an h.264 file which just re-compresses the video.
Exporting from Final Cut using QuickTime conversion, by the way, is the worst thing that can be done on export. Always export a QuickTime movie at current project settings and make it self-contained. Then, use something like MPEG StreamClip to convert for the Web.
Far as I know, you can't edit h.264 natively in FCE -- not just you shouldn't, but you can't -- so if the OP is editing in FCE it is already being converted to something editable at some stage.
I haven't used MPEG StreamClip for conversion and will give it a try, but Quicktime Pro is pretty verstatile, and should get the job done.
Cheers,
GB
MPEG Streamclip will not [change to 'does not on my OSX / FCP 7 system' after reading comment below] convert h.264 material, so it is of no use for reformatting at import, and FCE will not export as MPEG2 so Streamclip would be of no use after export ... the tutorial describes how to convert a Transport Stream from a DVD into a format that can be edited. Seems designed for Mpeg2 only. To accomplish the same thing with h.264 AVCHD material you'd use something like Clipwrap.
Cheers,
GB
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Well, no one told that to my copy of MPEG StreamClip. It handles h.264 just fine, in both directions. And there are many other Canon DSLR shooters out there who use MPEG StreamClip to convert the camera files for editing, including Philip Bloom.
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Curious. The version I just downloaded won't do it on my system, though ClipWrap will without any issue. So something in my configuration is blocking the process. So I'll withdraw my 'will not' and change it to a 'does not on my OSX / FCP7 system' -- maybe I'll take a look at how to get my system to use Streamclip when I've got time to fiddle, meanwhile ClipWrap costs $50 but works immediately.
Note that I still doubt that this is the OPs issue, as they were able to import and edit the material -- I suspect the export options were the culprit.
Cheers,
GB
It does indeed. And yet Streamclip delivers this message 'File open error: unrecognized file type' when I point it at an MTS file encoded with h.264 from some sort of AVCHD camcorder. Out of curiosity I told it to open the file anyway, which has begun a long and unexplained process that may in fact be opening the file, or maybe freezing the computer. I'll add to this as I learn ...
For the record, it worked away at the file for 20 minutes and finally 'opened' it, though without picture and described in the info window as an MPEG1 file. I don't have time to experiment any further -- ClipWrap opens & converts it to ProRes in about the same time. The system I'm using is a vanilla MacBook Pro C2D with Leopard & FCP7, QT 7.6 Pro and very little else. Works fine with Sony EX files using either of their software tools, imports AVCHD files through Log & Transfer when the camcorders attached, et cetera.
Not sure what's up with Streamclip, but it doesn't work for me.
Cheers,
GB
GB
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And there's the problem, I do believe. MTS is a wrench in the gears for applications like iMovie and Final Cut, and that may be one of the few file types that MPEG StreamClip cannot handle. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I seem to remember struggling with MTS at one point while helping some one get the files into an editable format for Mac.
I think the Mac issue is that video apps like iMovie and Final Cut are looking for files with a QuickTime wrapper, which MTS is not.
I think the Mac issue is that video apps like iMovie and Final Cut are looking for files with a QuickTime wrapper, which MTS is not.
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