moving project from FCP to premiere: mov problems

[SwankyG]

Hi, I was working on a project for a theater group on a computer running FCP. They have lost the use of the computer so I am attempting to finish the project on a PC with Premiere CS5.

I exported the timelines as XML and they all seem to be working but I'm having problems with the clips.

The footage for the project was captured with final cut as a series of files ex: untitled5-av, untitled5-av-1, untitled5-av-2 etc. Each file is split into pieces, each about 2GB. I used gspot which said they were quicktime files. I added the .mov extension to the first piece of each file (so now I have untitled5-av.mov, untitled5-av-1, untitled5-av-2 etc) and attempted to import into premiere.

The video seems to work, however there is no audio. But when I try to play the file in quicktime player there is audio (but bad picture quality). Also premiere asks me to locate the footage each time I open the project, I don't know if this is because it can't find sound.

I can extract the sound from the mov files, I've tried.

So:
- Can I get premiere to read this footage properly?
- If not can I extract the sound for each clip and then recombine using a different codec to make a new mov file premiere can read?
- Do I need to link the segments of each mov together into one file? If so, how?
- How do I get premiere to stop asking for file locations? What will make it happy?

I hope that's clear and that somebody can help me.
Thanks in advance,
Adam

[edDV]

What is your FCP project video format?

DV?
AIC?
ProRes422?
Uncompressed?

[SwankyG]

I didn't capture the footage and create the initail project so I'm not sure, I think DV...

In Gspot the capture footage says the container is a quicktime mov, the codec is dvc DV codec. The audio codec is twos: 16-bit signed big-endian
Both codec status reports are "Undetermined" in Gspot.

[edDV]

I didn't capture the footage and create the initail project so I'm not sure, I think DV...

In Gspot the capture footage says the container is a quicktime mov, the codec is dvc DV codec. The audio codec is twos: 16-bit signed big-endian
Both codec status reports are "Undetermined" in Gspot.

DV is the easiest to move. I'm not sure if CS5 can directly import DV in quicktime wrapper or containerless .dv

I haven't done this recently with CS4 or CS5. Others would know.

You could use Quicktime Pro on the Mac to export clips as DV-AVI. Or use Enosoft DV Processor on the PC to convert .dv to DV-AVI.

Worse case you can export the clips to DV tape and recapture in CS5.

Once you have the clips on the PC, you then point to them when asked by CS5. Best to use same clip name but with the different extension.

[SwankyG]

I just tried Enosoft DV Processer, it didn't complain when I opened the file but it didn't display anything in the input window either. I'll try mpeg streamclip when I get home.

Is there a possibility it could be a codec problem?

I tried using my media player (jet audio) to rip the sound from the file, that worked. So I can seperate the sound. Should I just demux it and mux it back if I can't convert the file? If so, what do you recommend to use?

[edDV]

I just tried Enosoft DV Processer, it didn't complain when I opened the file but it didn't display anything in the input window either. I'll try mpeg streamclip when I get home.

Is there a possibility it could be a codec problem?

I tried using my media player (jet audio) to rip the sound from the file, that worked. So I can seperate the sound. Should I just demux it and mux it back if I can't convert the file? If so, what do you recommend to use?

DV is DV. Audio is PCM. It is a container problem. There is no loss remuxing into a different container.

[SwankyG]

I'm using mpeg streamclip and I'm getting somewhere. It's converting it but the sound is kind of choppy/wavy and when I load it up in premiere, premiere says the original only had one audio track, the new one has two so it wont load.

I'll fiddle with settings and try some more, one more thing. Should I split the dv files into 2 GB segments like they were originally or recombine them. Each file is about 13GB. Does it affect premiere's handling of the files at all?

[edDV]

I'm using mpeg streamclip and I'm getting somewhere. It's converting it but the sound is kind of choppy/wavy and when I load it up in premiere, premiere says the original only had one audio track, the new one has two so it wont load.

I'll fiddle with settings and try some more, one more thing. Should I split the dv files into 2 GB segments like they were originally or recombine them. Each file is about 13GB. Does it affect premiere's handling of the files at all?

DV audio is uncompressed PCM (16 or 12 bit/48 or 32KHz). There should be no problem. File size should be no problem unless you are on a FAT 32 hard disk.

[SwankyG]

I'm still getting this choppy sound. Sound is fine if I play it in quicktime. When I convert it with mpeg streamclip the audio is choppy, continuously cutting in and out. Also premiere still says there it cannot be linked as there are two audio channels but the clip was created with one. I've tried lots of different settings and combinations of in MS but it's the same result every-time.

[edDV]

Don't know. I'd delete one audio channel, then try. If it connects then import the stereo audio next.

[minidv2dvd]

is mpegstreamclip converting the audio to 32Khz? that's the only way it could have 2 stereo channels in DVavi.

[SwankyG]

I've fiddled some more and the sound doesn't seem to be choppy anymore. I'm still getting this two channel thing. All the footage is 48k. The original DV's audio is: 48000 Hz - 16 bit - Mono
If I use MS to convert to DV>DV it makes the audio: 48000 Hz - 16 bit - Stereo
If I convert DV>avi I can make:48000 Hz - 16 bit - Mono

...but this still has the same result, premiere saying it has two channels.

Thanks for your help so far BTW; I'm getting there!

[edDV]

Try changing (right click) clip properties in Premiere to stereo


Sometimes it is easier just to dub the clips to DV tape and recapture.

[SwankyG]

I've finally got it almost fixed!

For the sake of future generations, here's what I did.

Start up the project in premiere. Link to the original footage (no sound).
Convert original footage with mpegstreamclip DV>avi.
In premiere, right click on each clip. Select replace footage, select the avi.
Wait for premiere to conform sound etc.

I'm still getting prompted for the location of the clips, each time I start up premiere but if I click cancel it seems produce no problems.
At last I can finish this project, it's only going to be about a year overdue!