Apple Prores 4444 having issues and might need to convert to prores 422hq?

Ok sorry for this one but not sure what to do....

So I converted a bunch of my 7d footage from h264.mov files to apple prores 4444 and unfortunately I am having some issues. The footage comes in fine to FCP 7

I cut my short film and when I send it out to be a quicktime movie (I do this by going file/export/quicktime movie...which has movie self contained checked) Now once the movie is made I pull that quicktime movie back into FCP 7 and have it reset the sequence and I get a GREEN LINE over my entire cut. This basically means I need to render this sequence out...which I shouldn't have to do. I check the settings of the sequence and the settings of my clip and they match (both 1080 and apple pro res 4444)

so I have no idea what is going on here. I actually will then create a new sequence and do all the settings manually and this time I get a faint green line which I am not even sure what that means. When I take one of the clips that I cut together and throw it in a new sequence first it sets the sequence up correctly and has NO GREEN LINE above the clip. I then take my quicktime movie that is made out of several of those clips and throw it in that same sequence and no luck the GREEN bar is over all the footage except the original first clip I put in the sequence.

apple prores 4444....not sure about this one

so if someone has a fix for that great please share?

if not my other question is basically I went into compressor picked apple prores 422hq and did the send to and the movie came out great and is an apple prores 422 hq movie. My question is does this degrade the image at all? I don't want to loose quality here and is this conversion from apple prores 4444 to apple pro res 422hq taking my quality down any lower than what 422hq would be anyways...i'm ok if the quality difference between apple prores 4444 and apple prores 422 hq exist...but I don't want to loose more quality because I am converting the files from 4444 to 422hq

I want it to be what 422hq would be if I started this whole cut this way??????

if someone could let me know what is going on in either of these situations I would really appreciate it

cheers and thanks in advance Ron

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 4 gigs of ram

Posted on Jun 27, 2010 5:34 AM

27 replies

Jun 27, 2010 9:22 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

so I dug a little deeper here and this is what is happening with the clips...they are turning up three different ways when i file export self contained movies and I am not sure why each thing does what.....

you were right...I went looking into the clips by hitting...item properties/format and looking at the Alpha channel.

if there is no bar rendering and the file works in the sequence under ALPHA it says NONE

if there is a green bar over the footage under ALPHA it says STRAIGHT

If there is this really faint green line over the footage under ALPHA it says BLACK

I have no real idea why the clips are coming out in these different ways and how this affecting the footage.

Maybe something in the timeline is causing the different results....

is there a way to just turn off the alpha channel so I get the NONE????? that is the question and would make this all work out smooth...

I appreciate the help here....this really makes me wish I would have went apple prores 422hq or 422

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,796 points

Jun 27, 2010 10:54 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi -
In the browser, select the clip(s) that you want to modify the alpha status.
Scroll the browser over until you see the Alpha column.
Control click on the Alpha for the clip(s) you have selected and choose the Alpha you want.
It will be applied to the clip(s) that you have selected.
!http://www.spotsbeforeyoureyes.com/SetAlpha.jpg!
Hope this helps.

Jun 28, 2010 11:47 AM in response to Meg The Dog

This actually worked....I was able to go in once the quicktime movie was put into final cut pro.

The sequence was set to an apple prores 4444 timeline.

If the clip had a green bar or slight green bar I just went into the sequence right clicked on the clip/ went to item properties/format

that opened up a new box and I went into the alpha channel and right clicked and set it to none and that got rid of any render bar.

I'm not sure what the alpha does or what it is for exactly but this makes it work for me. Thanks to everyone for the help I really do appreciate it.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,779 points

Jun 27, 2010 5:46 AM in response to companyfabric

First, there is no reason to use 4444 with this media. Second, there is no reason to use HQ with this media. Standard ProRes 422 is perfectly adequate and should be what you convert to.

Zak Ray

Level 4

3,469 points

Jun 27, 2010 11:38 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Heck, ProRes LT will suffice for the low bitrates of the 7D.

Zak Ray

Level 4

3,469 points

Jun 27, 2010 12:48 PM in response to Ronsterfilm123

Thanks for the advice.

Jun 27, 2010 12:58 PM in response to Zak Ray

I'm a part time professor....

My students tell me I am very clear and to the point...I like it when people are that way with me 😉

cheers

Zak Ray

Level 4

3,469 points

Jun 27, 2010 1:06 PM in response to Ronsterfilm123

Understandable, but statements like "that is incredibly unhelpful" and "because it seems difficult for you" aren't necessary to make your point.

Cheers

Jun 27, 2010 1:24 PM in response to Greg Penetrante

My edit is done...can't I just do this on the final movie...basically just do a send to compressor from the sequence and pic apple prores 422 or 422hq?

that should work right?

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,779 points

Jun 27, 2010 6:13 PM in response to Ronsterfilm123

I think you're students are lying to you.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,779 points

Jun 27, 2010 6:15 PM in response to Jon Chappell

The colored bars, as Jon says, simply indicate what needs to be rendered for output. Anything that isn't red will playback in real-time to most degree or other.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,779 points

Jun 27, 2010 7:27 PM in response to Ronsterfilm123

"didn't get the bright green bar but got a hint of a green bar"

Can you post a screenshot of this?

The clip's item properties will tell you the alpha channel settings.

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Apple Prores 4444 having issues and might need to convert to prores 422hq?