Final Cut Pro and .mxf

S

spunkme99

Active member
Don't even have the HCM 150 yet, barely ordered it today. But had a question about the workflow for FCP.

I read in this pdf (ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/AVCHD_Editing_FCP_2_Workflow.pdf) that you can use a transcoder and convert the avchd files to .mxf then edit in final cut.

I edit with .mxf files all the time at work on Win CS3, and we use XDCam Transfer to import footage from our HD Xdcam cameras on Mac. - and the space used is no where near 1 GB per minute. First off, curious if this would "work" for transcoded HCM footage, secondly if it would even be worth it or would the quality be severely compromised?

Just curious. Never really used a P2 camera with FCP, so I'm not clear on how p2 .mxf files would be different from XDCam .mxf files.

**edit** oh the codec, xdcam uses mpeg2. guess that's the reason for the drastic difference in file size?
 
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P2 and AVCHD use the same workflow in FCP -- you use the "Log & Transfer" window to import and convert the files into FCP-compatible Quicktime files.

You wouldn't use the transcoder software with FCP; in fact, that transcoder software only works on Windows.
 
On a Mac, only Premiere CS 4.1 supports native editing.

My experience with an 8 core Mac Nehalem is that the performance in Premiere is hardly pleasant.

720p seems to atleast provide some editing feedback native, RT. Beyond that, it just doesn't cut it. No pun intended.

Get to an intra frame editing codec as quickly as possible especially for grading, FX, etc.
 
David S. said:
On a Mac, only Premiere CS 4.1 supports native editing.
Click to expand...
Of AVCHD? Or of MXF files, or AVC-Intra? Because MXF/DVCPRO-HD has been in Premiere since CS3, and MXF/DVCPRO-HD/AVC-Intra is in Avid as well.

My experience with an 8 core Mac Nehalem is that the performance in Premiere is hardly pleasant.
Click to expand...
But it screams on a cheap Windows laptop. Perhaps your graphics card is not compatible with its acceleration?
 
AVCHD is what I am referring to.

I have a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB/s of RAM.

Not to argue with you, but "screams" means straight cut editing, or the full editing experience:

native AVCHD PH at both 1080 and 720
grading
fx
real time playback
multiple video tracks

etc.
 
so let me get this straight, there is no more transcoding to prores when dealing with avchd files? is it as fast as it was when working with p2 files in the previous FCP?
 
David S. said:
Not to argue with you, but "screams" means straight cut editing, or the full editing experience:

native AVCHD PH at both 1080 and 720
grading
fx
real time playback
multiple video tracks
Click to expand...
Well, I meant "screams" in that it can play back and do straight-cuts editing in all 720 modes. It doesn't quite handle 1080 in full realtime on my system.
 
FCP 7 still requires a transcode for AVCHD. However, the new pro res LT codec provides for smaller file conversion sizes without compromising quality.

What Barry and I are discussing is native mts/AVCHD files in Adobe Premiere CS4.1 on a Mac.
 
transcoding to DVCPROHD in FCP 6.06

transcoding to DVCPROHD in FCP 6.06

When I log and transfer, I have the option to select either the ProRes or ProResHQ codecs. Is there a way to select another codec such as DVCPROHD720p60?

I usually work with DVCPROHD files. They work well with my macbook.

I saw that I could download some transcoder, but I installed it and saw nothing new. Then I looked and saw that was good up to FCP 6.05. Is being on 6.06 the problem?
 
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