Problem Importing mp4 into Final Cut Pro

Go back and rip it again this time using MpegStreamclip at DV/NTSC (or PAL) and then edit that format.

Throw away your h.264 copy.

CaptM

FCP is an awful expensive program to buy when you don't really know anything about working with video formats.

Why would you spend $1200??

I'd love to help, but maybe the iMovie forum might be better suited to your needs? It's free.

CaptM

Ok good.

Just checking that you actually did purchase some form of FCP.

Please do try to use non-ichat language around this forum. You'll get better help... and you won't have clowns testing you like I did.

Ok?

CaptM

wow, what a jerky response. I'm having similar troubles with this too, why can quicktime pro edit h.264 but final cut and imovie 08 not?

here's what i would suggest you do. it's the work around i'm using, which requires you to convert to a more editor friendly video.

take the file you want to put into final cut, the mp4. open it with quicktime.

in quicktime, choose file export.

choose your location, and where it says Export, use the drop down box to find movie to quicktime movie.

click options.

where it says video, choose settings.

compression type dv/dvcpro NTSC (for most cases this will work fine)

set the quality to best, and the scan mode to progressive

hit ok, then ok. this will give you a DV/NTSC file you can edit in any quicktime video editor you wish, regardless of cost.

I find this helpful if you want to permanently burn on subtitles - if anyone knows a better way that doesn't require using handbrake and going to H.264 and back to dv/ntsc, let us know!

There are appox eleven hundred and forty seven "how do I import material from a DVD to FCP" threads on this forum. It gets asked several times a week if not several times a day. A simple search will yield most of these within a couple of seconds.

Good luck.

x

maybe, but I'm having troubles finding anything related specifically to trying to edit H.264 with FCP. If you know of some info off hand, please enlighten me.

The problem is another department in my office has limited video capabilities, and wants to deliver us "ipod" formatted files.

I thought I remembered doing this in FCP5.1, but now final cut 6.0.4 won't recognize the h.264.

Anyway, it seems better to me that if you don't feel like answering someone's question maybe it's better to post nothing at all.

I expect many users are like myself, they spend 4-8 hours troubleshooting a problem, then they finally just ask in a forum. Then they check their responses only to get a quickly written poorly thought out rant about internet etiquette. if it's a bad question, I prefer it just gets ignored. It's not like we're running out of space here.

As has been noted in many, many threads, h.264 is not an editing format. It is a delivery format. To put it in specific terms - FCP does not support the editing of h.264 material natively.

If you are handed h.264 files by your client, you'll need to convert them to an edit friendly codec before working with them in FCP. In the case of the OP, they need to convert the DVD mpeg2 format to DV/NTSC or DV/PAL from the beginning. Converting mpeg2 to h.264 to DV/NTSC is a very inefficient and destructive workflow.

x

Pablo, listen.

Final Cut Pro.

The emphasis should be on the last word, "Pro". It's short for "professional".
High end software, used by people who know what they are doing and have been doing it for several years. Frankly, it gets a little boring when every other question is "How do I rip a DVD?" or something similar.

Contrary to popular opinion, owning a copy of iMovie does not automatically qualify that person to be a film director.

H.264 is a wonderful high quality codec that delivers great results. But it is not an editing codec.

I am a professional video editor, what in my posts indicated that I'm not? I think I am asking a sufficiently tricky question, which is how can I grab video from a DVD that has subtitles into an editable format without spending all day on one video. There are times when we have to turn around 90-120 clips in 2 weeks, and only recently have we needed to preserve the subtitles. It would take us way too long to go to H.264 just so we can have burned on subtitles and then back to a better editor friendly codec. Since these are clips for education, we like to add our own pre-formatted titles. I am aware that I can do this in Quicktime Pro. So I think it's valid to assume that if I can edit h.264 in quicktime or imovie 08, I should be able to in final cut pro. Why not? I can edit a sequence in H.264. I can output H.264. And we all know Quicktime can read H.264. So why can't Final Cut Pro edit in H.264?

In any case, since I couldn't find the answer, I found this thread unanswered. Someone got a lecture on what video editing software they should use instead of just telling them how to do it. If I can answer a thread, I do it. Who cares why someone wants to use Final Cut Pro? It is made to be consumer friendly. I figured out my way around it in a day. So I think it's fair to expect that some people who aren't professional may be using it. There's no need to be elitist. Just answer the question or move on.

I am of course aware of the disadvantages of going from mpeg2 to h.264 to dv/ntsc. But there are also advantages to be considered. In this case, it's speed an availability of software. Sometimes when you are working with non-professionals you have to tailor a workflow to their abilities, and in this case quality isn't the biggest concern. We had been digitizing old VHS copies to h.264, so I think the loss going from mpeg2 to h.264 is actually going to be seen as an improvement around here.

*if I can edit h.264 in quicktime or imovie 08, I should be able to in final cut pro. Why not?*

I don't know why people keep finding the answer to this question so hard to accept. You've heard the answer... h.264 was never meant to be an editing format... it's a delivery format.

Can you use it in FCP? Yes, but you will likely have issues.
Why will you have issues? Because FCP does not support the editing of h.264 material natively.
Why does FCP not support the editing of h.264 material natively? Because it was created to be a DELIVERY format.

Because we want FCP to do something does not make it so, or mean that it should.
I'm still trying to get it to make me espresso in the morning but the coffee beans keep jamming up the CD tray.... Dam that CD tray!

rh

Just to close off the thread, I found out some more information in the past week that might help others who are finding it difficult to edit h.264 encoded material.

Final Cut Pro will now edit h.264 without issue. I'm not sure if we were all just confused before, it was a bug, or they added the functionality in 6.05, but I am not having any problems cutting h.264 files.

I had also discovered another workaround, which is to use imovie 06. Instead of importing files into imovie by dragging them in, which converts them, you can drop them directly into the project folder. When you relaunch imovie, it will recognize the clips as stray clips, which you can add to the project and edit all you like.

The way you do this is to make a new imovie project, then close imovie. Right click on the project file (.iMovieProject) and select show package contents. Whatever video you want to add to your project move to the media folder inside the project file. Relaunch imovie and drag the clips from the stray window into the timeline or the browser to get them out of the trash.

Encoding will take a long time as you might expect.

In any case, for those who have a good reason to be editing h.264 video, there are some options.