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  1. Member
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    Dear reader,

    I have two mkv files that I want to edit together. Not simply merge, though - I want to lift an audio track from one and have it bridge the join into the other (fade in fade out sort of job). I might even need to add a few seconds of blank screen in between, for this purpose.

    I understand two things: one) that I will probably need to convert the mkv files and two) that I will probably need sophisticated video editing software. Can you recommend the best way I could do this (i.e. best file type, best software)? I have no previous experience of editing other than muxing, splicing, and menu editing so the simplest software will probably do better at not overwhelming me.

    Final Cut Pro, so far, has been the only software recommendation I have had for this task. Are there any others? How would you go about this task?

    Thank you in advance.
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  2. FCP or FCPX are your best bets because it gives you a visual representation of what you're doing.

    Lay the pieces into the track.
    Slice them up as needed
    Re-order as needed
    checkerboard audio tracks as needed (alternate 2 or more audio tracks depending on complexity and necessity)
    refine edit points and transitions.

    Easy to describe, takes a while to learn.
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  3. Banned
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    In the future, post Mac specific posts in the Mac forum so it gets tagged with a special symbol on the main page rather than just putting Mac in the subject line. We have Mac gurus who specifically look for Mac forum posts, so doing that gives you the best chance for one of them to reply.

    Final Cut Pro has been your recommendation because typically on Mac, there are only one or two programs that can do anything. EVERYTHING is harder on a Mac. I say this as an IT professional who gets paid supporting Linux boxes at work and I have an iMac at home, but I also run a PC with Windows where I do 100% of my audio and video work because Windows is where the tools are.
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  4. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    I'm moving you to our mac section.
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  5. Member
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    Yes I had considered the mac section, of course, but I wanted more advice specific to editing too and simply 'Mac' seemed like too large an umbrella. Also I have posted in the Mac section before, and forum users still responded with Windows recommendations. Anyway, I'll use it for all future references if that is what you would prefer. Thanks.

    FCP it is, then. I was just wondering whether Adobe or anything else of that ilk might trump it?
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  6. Premiere is great too, more expensive than FCPX on an ongoing basis. (Do you really mean FCP7?)
    Last edited by smrpix; 5th Jun 2014 at 12:24.
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  7. Member
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    Which software would you recommend to convert mkv to prores? Freeware appreciated, if there is any.
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  8. Originally Posted by lapsang View Post
    Which software would you recommend to convert mkv to prores? Freeware appreciated, if there is any.
    ffmpeg

    -i yourfile.mkv -vcodec prores -profile 2 -acodec pcm_s16le yournewfile.mov

    profiles explained here:
    https://code.google.com/p/ffmbc/wiki/ProResEncoding
    Last edited by smrpix; 5th Jun 2014 at 16:47.
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    Thanks, but dare I say less taxing freeware? And am I right in thinking that mkv to prores will produce the best quality import option? (After closest to lossless quality conversion).

    (If not less taxing and free, something with a price tag but cheap?).
    Last edited by lapsang; 5th Jun 2014 at 17:43. Reason: Not necessarily freeware if needs be
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  10. There are a number of fly-by-night converters that claim to do it, I haven't tried them. Mostly they are illegally charging for a front end to ffmpeg.

    Your list of requirements: Free+mkv+mac+prores+user friendly is a near-impossible combo. (learning ffmpeg may be a lot less effort.)

    You may want to look into perian (discontinued, and may not work on current OS) allowing it to open in QTPro or compressor.
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  11. Member
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    I've found a software relatively cheap, which I have downloaded. The problem with prores, it seems, that converting my 33GB MKV becomes 120GB prores 422!! So, with my projects requirements in mind (see initial post), is there another format I can use that won't take up so much HDD space?

    Thank you in advance.
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  12. And that's probably just the standard prores, not HQ . Filesize will be larger with HQ or 4444 varieties of prores (higher quality, less quality loss)

    In general, the higher the quality, the larger the filesize will be when you re-encode. So Yes, you could use lower quality formats , AIC, or even Prores proxy (lower quality, but smaller filesize) - quality might be "good enough" for your purposes you have to try it out. So basically you will have to decide on some tradeoffs (filesize vs. quality)

    You can try re-wrapping it to a MP4, or MOV - the filesize will be about the same - but might not work , or maybe decoding errors in FCP depending on what settings were used in the MKV. Prores really is the preferred format for FCP

    Or visit a friend that has PC and edit the MKV's natively in freeware like aviutl. There would be no additional generation loss (only the loss when you re-encoded, not twice like you are getting with prores - albeit it's minimal loss when you use HQ) , and the input filesize is the same because you are doing native editing
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  13. Member
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    OK, I tried FCPX 10 and all seemed to be going fine. After half a day of getting to know the software I was able to achieve everything I wanted by trimming the images, expanding the audio and cut/copying/fading.

    I am not used to ignoring my knee-jerk reaction to hit cmd s every few minutes. I kept Googling 'save fcpx project' and each time being assured there was no need as the software does this automatically.

    Finally finished, I clicked the button to export to master file then FCPX CRASHED. I reopened the software and, to my horror, my event was still there - with the correct films imported - but my precious project COMPLETELY EMPTY. SO MUCH FOR AUTOMATIC SAVE!

    Further Googling suggested that there would still be a backup file somewhere in the Movies folder. The only file remaining with a time stamp before the crash is an event backup file (shouldn't it be a project file I'm looking for? In fact, I can't see a backup project file anywhere!). It's only about 350KB big - is that enough? So I replaced the CurrentVersion with this file, reopened FCPX - no joy.

    Another Google - 'delete the flexolibrary file in the package contents'. I would do, but THERE IS NO FLEXOLIBRARY FILE TO BE SEEN.

    Have I just lost all my work? How do I prevent this from happening again? Please excuse the text shouts - but if there was only some form of save option this wouldn't be happening right now. It's counter-intuitive and if Apple are going to take that function away they ought to make totally certain their software works.

    Phew. Hope you can shed some light. Thanks in advance.

    - I might re-post this in another thread. It seems like a different topic. -
    Last edited by lapsang; 8th Jun 2014 at 17:12. Reason: Suggesting new thread
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