Work Flow formats and conversions

[James Hester]

Hi all - really new to all this but am filming videos for the magazine I work for - just interviews, drummers tuition pages and some product stuff.

As this is fairly new it has taken me to a long time to hit upon a full proof work flow, however, I feel the video quality could be better, the flow better and the time taken improved. I was wondering if anyone can help me out here - I could be making some severe errors...!!!

Videos are filmed on my Canon HD camera which produces MTS files. Why I can't take this into FCP right away, I do not know so this is what I do:

I use either Prism or Voltaic to convert them to .Mov - in Prism I can't opt for ProRez Codec but if I use Voltaic I can. Prism is so much quicker though...

From there, If I have converted in Prism I have to take it into iMovie and then export it again to get it into a codec that works in FCP.

Once I've edited my movie I export to Quicktime Movie from FCP then import into iMovie as it's the most reliable way to upload to Youtube.

So are there any stages that I need to change/alter, is there a better work flow? What should I be exporting to including format and codec. Please bear in mind I know NOTHING really about what I'm doing - trial and error has led me to this but I am in no way an expert or even a beginner....

Any help gratefully received!!

JH

[edDV]

What is the "Canon HD camera" model number and format?

mts is usuallly HDV format

m2ts is usually AVCHD

iMovie will take in both formats and convert to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) which is 8 bit luma and 4:2:0 color sampling like HDV and AVCHD. Make sure you cap to 1920x1080i AIC, not the 960x540 default.

Prores422 would require resampling to 4:2:2 which is a lossy process. This is normally done only to insert 4:2:0 formats into high end timelines (e.g. film or broadcast projects). If Youtube is your goal, Prores422 is the wrong intermediate format (requires two resamples). Use AIC.

[James Hester]

Hi - thanks for the reply - I understood some of it...!!

The camera is an HF100 - the file that is on the SD card is an MTS file.

Ok, I'm going to try and digest what you've said. So far I've worked out that I need to export my finished video from FCP as AIC - which should I use, 50, 60 etc?

Thanks for your ehlp here, sorry to be soooo dense with this file formats stuff, it beats running in from SVHS like the old days but still utterly confusing...!

[James Hester]

I've just had another check here, imovie 09 won't import these MTS files that are on the SD card - have I possibly missed something? I want to edit in FCP anyway in the long run so getting it into imovie is not vital...

[edDV]

Normal import into iMovie v9 is via USB2 from the camcorder.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3290

Once the file is in AIC format, it can be moved between iMovie and FCP with small loss. Your original issue was loss of quality due to multiple format conversions.

Once you have finished editing, you would export h.264 25p for Youtube.

Suggest mod move this thread to Mac Forum to get more input.

[James Hester]

Ah - ok, so you'd suggest that rather then converting the MTS to a Quicktime with ProRez422 that I do it to Quicktime AIC? would that be correct?

Sorry if I posted in the wrong place, team - there's so much stuff out there, I'm really appreciating the help here!

[edDV]

Yes, AIC is the more appropriate format for AVCHD. Also AIC works in both iMovie and FCP. Prores422 is FCP only.

[poisondeathray]

Most people would bring it into FCP as prores

File => Log and Transfer

[Cornucopia]

That Canon Vixia HF100 camera is AVCHD. I agree with poisondeathray, it should be easy to import directly into FCP with only 1 conversion: to ProRes422.

From the MacRumours forum (after having googled "avchd into fcp") (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=592939):

It's really very easy to import your AVCHD footage - you plug in your camera, bring up the Log & Capture Transfer window (see attached image), select the clips you want to import and off you go. FCP will convert them into ProRes 422 or AIC, depending on what you choose (but FCE will only convert to AIC). What you do have to be aware of is that the import process can take some time on slower computers, and that the imported footage takes up massive amounts of space. I can't remember the exact figures, but I think 8GB of AVCHD footage can end up as something like 50GB once converted to ProRes 422. Once converted, FCP has no problems with the footage - other than it being slower to work with than something like DV in regards to rendering etc.

Don't waste your time or your quality doing any other roundabout conversions.

Scott