Open Format Timeline - What Codecs?

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Open Format Timeline - What Codecs?

I'm very excited about this Multi-Format Timeline idea, but I'm having some trouble. I've got a bevy of clips in assorted formats - some h.263 FLVs, some Sorenson MOVs, and some DV Streams. I put them all on the timeline, and FCP wants to render them all, just like the old verion would.

All of these movie formats play through Quicktime just fine. I understand that FCP does not support every codec for realtime playback. However, I can find no list of supported/unsupported formats. Do I need to transcode everything to DV-Compressed MOVs like in FCP5?

Thanks for any hints you might be able to give!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5), Final Cut Studio 2

Posted on Dec 18, 2007 1:22 PM

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Answer 1

ADCNR_Tim

Level 2

460 points

Dec 18, 2007 1:35 PM in response to momo_the_monster

The open-format timeline is not designed for DELIVERY codecs like H.263/4, FLV, WMV, etc. Video compressed with delivery codecs is not meant to be edited. It would have to be converted in order to be edited, but you should use standard codecs of the videos (DV25, DV50, HDV, uncompressed, etc) if you can.

tim

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Answer 2

Dec 18, 2007 1:41 PM in response to momo_the_monster

The issue is the sequence setting you have selected and how far your other formats need to be moved, so to speak, in order to conform to the sequence. The further from your sequence settings, the more intense the live transcodee has to be and that is determined by your processors, RAM, and drive speeds.

It is strongly recommended to transcode various formats to a common denominator codec for many reasons but mainly you want to reduce the amount of processing. What format you convert to and when in the workflow you decide to do it is dependent on lots of external factors, mostly your delivery format and when you will reintroduce the original media back into the flow.

The manual has some guidelines but this stuff is specific to projects, each one will need a diferent treatment. But we can't be bothered with the hassles of keeping track of multiple formats, we transcode everything immediately to DV. This would be different of course if we were using different sequences but 99% of our stuff is simple DV.

bogiesan

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