Is Final Cut Express an intensive I/O app

3

321 rollem

Member
Hello, I am building a Hackintosh out of a Q9650, Gigabyte UD3R, 4870 Sapphire Vanilla 512mb, sata drive, Xtreme gamer card yada yada... I bought Mac OS X 10.5.6 and Final Cut Express. My question is; How I/O-intensive is Final Cut Express?

Thanks

321 rollem
 
Well, if you built a Hackintosh you need to download the special HACKED OS installs...like UPHUCK.

Final Cut Express is Firewire I/O...not intensive.
 
Final Cut Express is firewire IN/OUT only...you can only capture from firewire cameras...HDV, DV. Well, I think there is support for AVCHD as Apple Intermediate Codec. It is not as intensive as Final Cut Pro that can utilize high definition capture cards for very high end capture...intensive I/O.
 
O you mean straight from the Cam like my HF S100...

Can I just store the files locally on the Hackintosh and them import them into FCE?

These are AVCHD files.
 
What I'm saying is can't I transfer the files from the SDHC card via USB card reader into the Hackintosh for storing and then take them from the storage folder and import them into FCE?
 
Yes....you copy the files off of the card first, into a folder on a hard drive...this is your archive drive. THen you LOG AND TRANSFER into FCP using...log and transfer. This CONVERTS the AVCHD footage into Apple Intermediate Codec quicktime files. THAT is what you edit.
 
Thanks! Sorry I didn't understand before.

What kind of output files options are there? And why does it change the AVCHD into quicktime files? I kinda don't like that idea - what files come out then?
 
I don't know what all FCE has to offer, I don't use it. I use FCP. You can make a DVD, you can output h.264 for the web, you can output AIC (apple intermediate codec)...send to YouTube as an MPEG-4. READ THE FCE PAGE I LINKED...learn about it.

Why does it convert it? Because AVCHD isn't supported natively in FCE...nor FCP. Don't like that idea? Try Sony Vegas or Adobe CS4...although native editing with CS4 is rocky I hear. Not all camera formats are natively supported....there are just too many and some are rather complex.
What files come out? APPLE INTERMEDIATE QUICKTIME FILES...sheesh...
 
321 rollem said:
What kind of output files options are there? And why does it change the AVCHD into quicktime files? I kinda don't like that idea - what files come out then?
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter whether you don't like it. AVCHD is a recording format, not an editing format. There are differences, and there are reasons for the differences. Mainly, recording formats don't always record complete frames (to save space), but editors need frames so you can edit them (!).

AVCHD was designed to get the maximum video into the smallest space, so it records as few complete frames as it can get away with. When you edit, your editor needs to recreate the 'missing' frames (so you can edit them (!) and that requires work.

You can take the CS4 route (create the missing frames on the fly in real time while you're editing) but, to avoid freezes and all kinds of other cr*p, you need to be thinking fat Mac pro or equivalent. Or you can take the FCE route, which is to transcode (pre-process) the AVCHD into a format that can be edited without bringing your system (and you) to its its knees.

As for not liking AIC - professionals have been working with it for years. They seem to be OK with it.
 
321 rollem said:
Thanks! Sorry I didn't understand before.

What kind of output files options are there? And why does it change the AVCHD into quicktime files? I kinda don't like that idea - what files come out then?
Click to expand...

If you're AVCHD comes from a Panasonic HMC150, or a Sony HDR-S11 (or similar), Final Cut Express will import the AVCHD, and create files in AIC format. If you have shot your AVCHD in 24p mode on the HMC150, what FCE will do is actually create AIC files which are 24 fps... but you are stuck with either PAL 25 fps or NTSC 29.97 fps projects...

If your footage is more standard 29.97 then the AIC file would be 29.97, and your FCE projects should be ok...

As for why 'quicktime'... quicktime is a container format, hence what goes into a file is data, and an indication of the codec the data was coded to. The transformation is to AIC, since FC Express can only work on AIC format for footage that was originally created using the AVCHD codec. At least with FCE 4.0 and an Intel processor you have that going for you...

Don't worry, even with Adobe Premiere CS4 which has 'native' AVCHD editing... it is not worth it... the implementation locks up, bloches up, runs super slow, then locks up... etc. So it is best to convert to the intermediate codec, work, then render out as a final act to whatever is the ultimate destination....
 
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