Final Cut Express and Raw HD Footage

[David Delgado]

Does anyone know if Final Cut Express can handle HD - 1080p or what the issue is?

1. This is a mac - Needs more ram but that is not the point
2. When I get footage from an Aiptek Action-HD GVS - 1080P HD Camcorder and I put it into the timeline I have to render the raw footage.

3. I am trying to avoid having to render the footage before editing.


From what I have read, the camera (http://www.aiptek.com/Products/GVS/)
records in 1440 x 1080 H.264 Video @30fps.

I understand the 1.333 aspect ratio...

I am trying to figure out how to set it in the timeline without having to render it....? The render on a 5 minute clip was about 2 hours... I know edits have to render but raw footage???

I know in premier if I set it up with the right properties that it wouldn't have to render the raw footage........

any help would be appreciated..

[cmchamp]

I don't have FCE, but do have FCP
On easy setup, have you chosen HDV - 1080p30 Firewire Basic?
On Sequence Settings, is the Frame Size 1440 x 1080 and Aspect Ratio HD (1440 x 1080) (16:9)?
In the QuickTime Video Settings (still in Sequence Settings) is the Compressor set to HDV 1080p30?
If the capture settings are correct, but the sequence settings are not, FinalCut feels the need to render the captured video into the sequence settings.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. I also did a quick search of Apple Support and the FCE overview document and 1080p is not a supported format, which may also be the problem as it needs to render it to 1080i. 1080p is supported in Final Cut Pro.

[David Delgado]

I think i found the answer -- thankt CMChamp - your post triggered some more questions that eventually let me to the answer...

" Importing AVCHD footage into FCE4 is simple and straightforward. But we need an Intel-based Mac to do it. We connect our camcorder and navigate to Final Cut Express 4's new Log and Transfer window. Next, we choose our camcorder in the Finder window and watch our clips pour in. Since our camcorder splits up our video files individually, we pick out only our favorites to transfer. Now, this spiffy new window is made only for grabbing our AVCHD video. The Log and Transfer process transcodes our AVCHD footage into a more editor-friendly video file. Get ready to wait a little while, as transferring plays out in about real-time (an hour for an hour), like capturing tape. We have to fret a little, since we have a new hard drive camcorder that should help make this process faster than tape, but the advantages aren't as fruitful as we hoped they'd be. Final Cut Express 4 doesn't allow native editing of HDV or AVCHD. As an alternative, FCE4 changes our video into Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) video files. These are ‘frame accurate' and act like good ‘ol DV25 video, which is great for editing. It's really a "pay now" or "pay later" situation: we wait at the start instead of waiting for native AVCHD that has to constantly to re-render during editing. As and added bonus, the new Log and Transfer window gets us yards closer to a true "Batch Capture" feature. This allows us to select only certain parts of our video for import, cue them, and lets us walk away to leave our computer to do the work. A startling omission to Final Cut Express 4 is a mature HDV Capture window. Only a one-line dialog box appears, with few features. In the end, Final Cut Express 4 delivers video that we can edit more accurately than the native video captured by our AVCHD camcorder, but it simple HDV capture features leaving us wanting more"

From http://www.videomaker.com/article/13673/

[David Delgado]

So according to this article I can not edit HD footage with my non-intell based mac.

How do I downgrade the video for it to work in final cut express.

I have tried everything I can think of...

I think it may be worth it to keep this camera because it has an microphone input, and even if I do downgrade the video it should still look ok.

Should I even bother?

[cmchamp]

We do everything now in Anamorphic 16:9 SD. Since most people in our area don't have TV's with large enough screens to take full advantage of the 1080, we don't bother to shoot it. We don't do IMAG in our service, and any clips we might show are just run on an XGA projector.
Unless you're specifically needing 1080 for full blown BluRay production, I guess I wouldn't bother. It would definitely speed up your work flow to down-grade the resolution on shooting before capturing.
C.

[David Delgado]

SO what are the setting for that in FCE. I transcode the video and I don't have to render.
Took a while and still working out the bugs.

It really made little difference in final output.

thanks for the help Cory!

[ww927bin]

Final Cut Express doesn't actually edit AVCHD, it imports it and converts it to Apple Intermediate Codec, which is a much more editing friendly HD supporting codec.Your biggest problem will be storage. For doing that type of work AIC takes a lot more space then AVCHD. figure a multiple of 3-7x the file storage size for a single video file, then multiply that by 3 or 4 to account for working space.
The Pavtube was recommended to me by a local woman who specializes in Mac computers as I was having problems downloading from my new video camera to my software program. The conversion speed and quality are very good. It was so easy to use. I I can say it was very easy to figure out right away and I really appreciate that.I've had good results converting the .mts files to .mov, with the settings h.264, 1200, 1280*720, 25fps, aac.

[zactommo]

So 1080p is the only format the camera can record in? Doesn't have any settings to record in 720p, or 1080i, or even SD?

If not, then I'd be downloading MPEG Streamclip. I'm not 100% sure if it supports reading AVCHD, but i'd say probably, and it can transcode into a large variety of FCP/FCE compatible formats. You need to transcode the video files into whatever format you have your sequence set to, as cmchamp described above.

[Les Wilson]

Principle #1: To avoid rendering imported clips, the format of your FCE Sequence needs to match the format of your clips.

Principle #2: You can adjust the settings of your timeline in the Sequence Settings to match the clip

Principle #3: If you can't match them using #2, then the clip is not an editable format and has to be converted to one of the many editable formats in your version FCE. Easy Setup lets you pick from many different supported formats. Which one you pick will determine how long the conversion takes

Principle #4: Your camera may have a Downconvert feature that converts the HD footage to DV on the fly as it plays it out thru the Firewire port. That lets you setup a Sequence for DV and import the clips in the same DV format using Principle #1

Principle #5: I doubt handling HD has anything to do with requiring an Intel Mac but rather everything to do with the version of FCE you have installed on your PPC Mac vs your Intel one. Everything.

[kate59588]

FCE 4 handles AVCHD footages shot in 1280*720 and 1440*1080. So when your footages are shot in 1920*1080 and Final Cut will only handle AVCHD files when it finds them in their original file structure (either by connecting the camcorder or using a memory card reader), not isolated .mts files.

I found Pavtube MTS Converter for MAC very useful for trasform my HD videos. Mac users have big problems with all the video formats, but with Pavtube software I can convert every kind of video in a Mac compatible version. Very easy and complete variety of video formats.

[Les Wilson]

Originally Posted by kate59588

...Mac users have big problems with all the video formats, ...

Strongly disagree.