Workflow options for OSX

zcream

zcream

Well-known member
EDIT:- After looking at many options I use this workflow for OSX that does not need any paid app.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...sless-conversion-to-m4v&p=2240811#post2240811

Just reviewing whats available for GH13 on OSx using iMovie for AVCHD files. I am also looking for iMovie options as this is for beginner editors who need the simple iMovie interface.

ClipWrap
VoltaicHD
Toast
Neoscene
Aunsoft Video Converter

The free workflows

1. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...removal-amp-transcoding-workflow-via-AviSynth
using VirtualBox. Essentially a Windows workflow on OSX using emulation or a VM.

2. Handbrake - Open the mts file and convert to mp4 with codec H.264. This is an actual conversion.

3. There is another free workflow using JES Deinterlacer, ClipGrab and Rewrap2M4V.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2380085&start=0&tstart=0
Clip Grab - http://clipgrab.de/download_en.html
JES Deinterlacer - http://www.xs4all.nl/~jeschot/home.html
Rewrap2M4V - https://public.me.com/catservant

Download and install these apps.
1. Download and install these apps.
2. Then copy the Stream folder from the SD card to an archive directory on your Mac.
3. Select all the mts files you want to convert and drag the mts files to Rewrap2M4V
4. It will give you a .m4v file WITHOUT encoding and save it in the same directory as the original files.
5. These files can be used by Quicktime, iMovie, FCP etc as needed.
6. Just check the file sizes after conversion, if the files are converted properly they will be be approx 6MB less in size as compared to the original file. i.e. 1.12GB mts files give 1.06GB m4v files.


Here is an excellent tutorial for this. (Just ignore the 50p/60p stuff if you are not shooting 50p/60p)
http://ianperegian.com/My_FZ35_38_Webpage/Edit_1080_50p_and_burn_a_disk.html
 
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zcream said:
Just reviewing whats available for GH13 on OSx.
ClipWrap
VoltaicHD
Toast
Neoscene

There is a free workflow
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...removal-amp-transcoding-workflow-via-AviSynth
using VirtualBox.
I dont want to drop the money for FCE or FCP.

Am I missing something ?
Click to expand...

What NLE are you using... CS5 Premiere Pro seems to do ok with 'native' AVCHD support... one needs to set the playback settings to 1/4 resolution, to get 'real time editing' playback to work sufficiently well... This does not affect the resolution of the final edit... just the 'playback' during editing.

There was a recent bug that I may have run into where there was a conflict between cineform import module and AIC/ProRes media files. I don't quite understand it, as I had problems after setting up Neoscene, and then went back to 'native' use of MTS for my most pressing project.

I'll be testing later this week to see if my issues are 'gone' with the latest CS5 PP update.
 
I ended up buying Neoscene. With the Videoguys 10$ discount, and my cashback card, it worked out to be 88.15/- all together. Best value!
 
From my understanding, JES does not recognise avchd .mts files. I think you may be recording in MJPEG.
 
NeoScene + iMovie is a good combo because NeoScene addresses some of the issues of editing in iMovie.

1. You want to convert your video to progressive before you bring it into iMovie. NeoScene does a decent job of de-interlacing and is preferable to the crappy de-interlace method in iMovie. JES de-interlacer is the other way to go, but as has been pointed out JES doesn't work yet with .mts files. Perhaps ClipWrap + JES might be another option to de-interlace .mts files if JES can read ClipWrapped files.

2. Cineform's codec is cross-platform compatible and uses a 422 colorspace. AIC is neither of those.

3. You can upgrade to NeoHD and use the very cool Lightroom application for color correction. But you may have also moved up to something like FCP or Premiere. At anyrate it's a cool option that does work.

CAVEAT!!! - I use NeoScene and NeoHD on the Mac, and while I think they are great, they are also a little fussy and can be unstable, even on a brand new, freshly installed machine. And also beware, it's not a "Mac" program in terms of user interface. Still very rough around the edges.

notes:
- File sizes: AIC is roughly equivalent to Cineform Medium and ProRes LT.
- Cineform Low is roughly equivalent to ProRes Proxy.
 
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Michael. I agree. I have NeoHD and bought Neoscene for my brother. At 88.15/- USD its a no brainer (thats the price I got it for, after all discounts)
 
Yeah, but iMovie is just the suckiest piece of crap ever for editing anything, in my experience. Buying an add on for it that transcodes HD but costs the same as Final Cut Express doesn't make any sense at all, even if FCE doesn't have ProRes. At least you can do a decent frame-accurate edit in Express.
 
But how do you really feel about iMovie?

I think the latest iMovie (iLife '11 version) is excellent. Certainly not a full-featured NLE but not everyone needs or is even best served by a full-featured NLE. I have FCS and Premiere CS5 on my Mac but I still like using iMovie when I want that simplified workflow (although I do log and transfer my clips in FCP to transcode them to ProRes, which iMovie happily edits natively with no losses.

TidBits ran an interesting article a few months back about restoring the timeline in iMovie, to give it a more traditional editor look and feel. I run mine with this UI and really like the way it returns iMovie to a more standard NLE layout like FCP/PP and the old iMovie HD.

Some of the best looking and most artistic video I've seen online was edited in iMovie. It's not the editor, it's the Editor.


Lucas Adamson said:
Yeah, but iMovie is just the suckiest piece of crap ever for editing anything, in my experience. Buying an add on for it that transcodes HD but costs the same as Final Cut Express doesn't make any sense at all, even if FCE doesn't have ProRes. At least you can do a decent frame-accurate edit in Express.
Click to expand...
 
For an intial edit nothing beats iMovie. I am editing my first film. And I will edit on iMovie, get a rough cut done. Then export the XML and take the files to my friend and finish off on FCP.
The project sharing between iMovie and FCP is a hidden bonus.
 
Hmmm. I have nothing against it in principle. I just find that laying stuff down in FCP is easy and fine, right the way through.

Actually, I've just downloaded the 30 day trial of Adobe Production Suite with Premiere CS5, and it seems so intuitive to me, whereas iMovie was so frustrating at times. I did use it for several years - I even championed it once like you, but not since about 6 years ago when I learnt Final Cut
 
CS5 has a killer app with the rotoscoping in AE. I saw the videos.
Finally, I can remove operator shadows :-)
 
Hmm. Can I confirm what you are doing ? You have a .mts file that you open with JES deinterlacer and then you convert from 60i to24p/30p.
Then what ? Do you end up with a .mov or a .m4v ?
I must missing something obvious here so please bear with me..

majikfraug said:
Why would I be reverse telecining 720, 30fps footage pre-hack?
Click to expand...
 
Reverse-telecining? That makes no sense at all to me in the context of video. Reverse telecine implies burning video to film, presumably for projection or archive.
 
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