Is compressing needed?

S

Shenanigans

Member
So I picked up a HPX170 about 2 weeks ago, upgraded from a 7D. Owning the 7D made using this camera so easy and watching a couple tutorials. So Ive been doing a bunch of test shots. First time I imported I didnt really know what I was doing, so I imported somehow through VLC, the footage looked so good but there was no sound. So then I imported it through FCPX and the image was there with sound, but it looked more Pixelated then when I imported into VLC. Not noisy, but more pixelated. Ive heard alot people talk about compressing but i just dont know alot about it and if this would fix my problem or something else...and FCP7 seems to be the standard for what Im looking to get into, does anyone know if FCP7 imports footage better than fcpx? thanks.
 
I don't use FCP7 so I am not sure how you are importing your video from the P2 card. I will tell you how I do it. I have an internal P2 card reader http://www.amtron.com/reader/p2card_reader.htm . Plug in the P2 card, import native .mxf files into my NLE project bin (Edius), then drop clips that contain video/audio onto the timeline. Simple as that . The pixelation is probably how you are viewing it, maybe in low-rez mode...I just don't know. All my footage with the HPX170 is crisp and clean. VLC plays back my mxf files fine but not the audio as they are stored in a different folder. Also, if you recorded on your HPX in progressive it looks to me like it plays back with VLC interlaced which is not what it really is which will look much better. Sounds like you need a FC user to respond on thier P2 workflow. Once you finish editing you can export to whatever format your NLE allows which is where it will compress to whatever settings you use.

Just about everything on my video channel link in my signature was recorded with the HPX170 if you want to view some samples.
 
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No, compressing is not necessary- that's only done at the time of export.

I'd try a new thread with a better title ("Trouble importing HVX170 footage into FCP7/FCPX", or whatever) possibly even in the FCP section. There may be more traffic there than here.
 
There maybe better ways in a more modern world but this is tried and true and you don't need a card reader. Do you have P2CMS file importer from Panny? This free software imports directly from cam and verifies your files at the same time. The software is a bit clunky, like a bad Japanese movie with subtitles, but it ALWAYS works. Once the file is imported and verified, simply import to FCP7 in whatever codec you want to work with such as all the ProRes variants . I have never had any issue doing this, EVER, NOT EVER.

Grant
 
Hey thank you everybody for your input, but i figured out my problem. On FCPX under preferences theres 2 playback options. Better performance and high quality. Mine was set to "better performance" i changed it to high quality and now my image looks perfect.
 
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