MXF to Mov conversion - is there quality loss?

D

Daniel.Valle

Member
I have shot a few things on P2, nothing serious, but I'm now producing a feature documentary, and I currently have 25 hours of 720pN on my 1 Terabyte HD. This amounts to something around 600 GBs.

I want to import it all to FCP, and as we all know it has to convert the files to mov.

My question is: is there any type of quality loss, noise increase, anything that "diminishes" the quality of the original footage? I have imported other footage before, but I didn't notice if there was any difference.

Somehow deleting my original files just gives me the creeps. My HD won't be able to handle the 25 hours in both formats, I think. And my other HD I'm using for other projects.

PS: I know about Raylight and similar software, but at the moment I just don't have the money. Won't Apple ever offer native MXF support?
 
Zero quality loss. All FCP does is copy the footage over, marrying audio and video and putting them into a Quicktime container.

And don't delete the original files after you import. And don't use Raylight on the originals. You need two sets. What if your hard drive died? You'd be screwed. Back up the camera originals, and edit with either the FCP converted files, or copies of the card contents using Raylight or HD Log. HD Log is great, as it also transfers the Metadata into columns in FCP.
 
Your original files aren't deleted unless you choose delete when doing a log and transfer.

You should always work from a back up in any case.
 
Shane Ross said:
Zero quality loss. All FCP does is copy the footage over, marrying audio and video and putting them into a Quicktime container.

And don't delete the original files after you import. And don't use Raylight on the originals. You need two sets. What if your hard drive died? You'd be screwed. Back up the camera originals, and edit with either the FCP converted files, or copies of the card contents using Raylight or HD Log. HD Log is great, as it also transfers the Metadata into columns in FCP.
Click to expand...

I am wondering how long the conversion takes? I am planning on picking up the HPX170.
 
HD Log makes the alias' rather instantly. Then the XML creation takes seconds.

This would really be good if you create SCENE FILES that you then load into the camera. That is what HD LOG can map for you...including clip names that aren't odd numbers and letters.
 
Raylight creates a bunch of alias' in the CONTENTS folder. But that's not the point. The point is to NEVER edit with your originals...ever. YOu lose a drive...bye bye footage. Always back up the P2 to another drive, and copy over the Card Dumps to your media drive for editing.
 
Remember that your backup HD does not have to be fast or expensive- just large.
An $89 500 gig USB drive from Best Buy will do the job and give you a lot of peace of mind.
 
yes.. nothing worse than loosing footage due to a drive failure. What I do at a minimum, is copy the P2 to a drive... leave that alone, then I convert to the DVCPRO quicktimes on another drive. There is atleast a backup MXF incase the editing drives goes south. Since I also use the small P2 cards... I also back them up to DVD.
 
Shane Ross said:
Raylight creates a bunch of alias' in the CONTENTS folder. But that's not the point. The point is to NEVER edit with your originals...ever. YOu lose a drive...bye bye footage. Always back up the P2 to another drive, and copy over the Card Dumps to your media drive for editing.
Click to expand...

My understand is that you get set that creating of alias to another folder rather than the contents folder.

It's a preference.

In the p2 options, don't click "Store Links In Same Location As Source Files" or Store Links In Root Of Card Images.
 
Just to clarify, these are digital clones that you are making of your original footage. The point is don't edit with your only existing footage files. It doesn't make a difference whether they're original files but whether they're the only files.
 
Simple analogy -

P2 Data = your negative

FCP QT Movie = your working master

Store your negative somewhere safe any you'll be right...
 
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