Handbrake encoded files can't be imported into FCP

Question

Handbrake encoded files can't be imported into FCP

I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but I find this pretty interesting.

After using Handbrake to encode a clip, FCP simply won't accept it, giving the ol' "Invalid File" error message. I could export as m4v with h264 or even MPEG4, but no joy. What's even more interesting is that if I take this file and export it from QT Player as an MOV of any codec, FCP will STILL have this error.

There's something embedded somewhere in the essence of these files that is preserved even after multiple passes in either Handbrake or QT Player (if Handbrake was the first compressor used).

Anybody have any idea what's going on?

^_^, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 6, 2009 9:01 PM

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Answer 1

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

May 6, 2009 9:15 PM in response to Mike de Awesome

None of those are editing codecs...they are all web and computer playback codecs. For a list of codecs FCP can work with, look in the EASY SETUP list. And Handbrake is not the app to use. MPEG STREAMCLIP is.

Shane

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Answer 2

May 6, 2009 9:41 PM in response to Shane Ross

FCP accepts (and is supposed to accept) H.264 encoded, m4v wrapped files, and if QT Player makes them originally, it works just fine. If Handbrake does it first, even if QT Player re-encodes it as such, it still does not work... so, it's not quite as simple as the choice of codec.

Does MPEG Streamclip support stuff like Xvid MPEG4? I was under the impression that it only did basic MPEG1/2 transport streams and QuickTime stuff? If it supports more, I guess I'll give that a try.

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Answer 3

Andy Mees

Level 6

12,610 points

May 7, 2009 3:48 AM in response to Mike de Awesome

Mike,
FCP should be able to read video from any QuickTime supported codec and for the life of me I don't know why it would balk at Handbrake's MPEG-4 encodes, assuming those same clips open up in Quicktime Player without issue ... that said, Handbrake's rips are not a good format to be using as an intermediate. Better to use MPEG Streamclip as Shane's suggested, and convert your DVD content directly to a more suitable SD edit codec such as DV or DV50. If you have permission to use encrypted DVD content for which you have no other source then you'd probably also need to use Mac The Ripper to pre process the VOB's before using MPEG Streamclip to convert the content to an edit format as suggested. Handbrake would save you a step in this regard but at what cost? Lower quality and some incompatible files it seems. Go with an MPEG Streamclip workflow and you won't go far wrong.
Cheers
Andy

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Answer 4

May 9, 2009 5:42 PM in response to Mike de Awesome

Who says that fcp is supposed to be able to work with h-264 or m4v files? They are not fcp friendly formats. FCP may sometimes play nice with them, but you are playing with fire. Try using compressor to convert to an fcp friendly format like DV.

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Answer 5

Dec 29, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Mike de Awesome

This happens because ffmpeg/x264 place some strange atoms in Mp4 and MooV headers that cause FCP to flag a file as invalid.

While FCP should be smarter than this, ffmpeg should also look at why they place these atoms in their exported files to begin with.

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