Final Cut Pro X - Import AVCHD?

My clips are always 59.94fps so I can't confirm that there is a problem. Do you process real 60fps clips?

Do you process real 60fps clips?

Not sure what that means.

Maybe I understood this wrong:

Tom Wolsky wrote:

For some reason it's deciding to make the media 59.94, when it isn't.

I assumed your media was 60fps but it was displayed/treated as 59.94fps.

It seems it wasn't 60fps - so what was it?

The media is/was 29.97.

Oh - I will test this as soon as I'll have a 29.97 clip.

factualfilms wrote:

why not just import direct into FCPX and optimise Media in the usual way...this all seems so complicated what's the point I don't understand. if you want to back up frst create an archive and then import. I think it's all there in the sotware this all sounds like incredibly hard and convoluted work to me.

Jakob Peterhänsel wrote:

And yeah, I don't understand why people go all this way to use it in FCPX, unless they messed up the SDcard structure!

FCPX, during import, copy (if you so chooce) the original media and transcode to ProRes[Proxy] that is Much faster to work with.

Reason one:

Many new Mac users have years of AVCHD .m2ts files on their PC hard drives that iMovie, FCP, and QuickTime player won't touch.

Option 1: They can use ClipWrap or Media Converter to quickly rewrap the AVCHD files into .mov container and the process takes about as long as copying the files over to another drive. Also, the file sizes stay pretty much the same. The rewrapped files now can be used for iMovie and FCP projects and QT will play them smooth on Mac with i3 or better processors.

Option 2: They can reimport all of their .m2ts files back to the camcorders to recrete the original SD/drive structure, providing that they have all of the .modd files that stored the info needed, so that iMovie or FCP can transcode all of them to AIC or ProRes the NORMAL way. This process is extremely time consuming and file sizes balloon 6 (AIC) to 8 (ProRes) folds at the end.

Which option will you or most people choose?

Reason two:

A 60-minute event covered by three cameras means only 1/3 of the footage will ever be used in the documentary timeline. Importing the NORMAL way takes a long time and you end up with 250GB of transcoded files vs. rewrapping 38GB. The rewrapping method means at the end only the footage used will be rendered not all of the clips. Backing up several copies of 38GB footage is a lot cheaper than 250GB in labor and drive costs.

Time is money, whatever method that help cut down on the overall time spent on the project is good business.

Okay thanks for this. Reason One I kind of get if you have loads of old footage you need for a specific project. Sorry I'm not with you for reason two. Why not just import everything, decide what you want and don't want in the edit in the usual way and then consolidate your media once the edit is complete? One of the things I really like about FCPX is being able to work on stuff before it's actually "there" - it takes no time at all. I suppose if you were really worried about storage you could just Import proxy iles in the first instance and then do an "online" once all the decisions have been made but a 500GB drive is pretty cheap...I kind of like having all my stuff imported in full rez. Jus not really with you...wish I understood the rationale a bit better. It does beg the question though...is it possible to "offline" with proxy files and then reimport optimised files for "online" in the old way?

A.Y. wrote:

factualfilms wrote:

why not just import direct into FCPX and optimise Media in the usual way...this all seems so complicated what's the point I don't understand. if you want to back up frst create an archive and then import. I think it's all there in the sotware this all sounds like incredibly hard and convoluted work to me.

Jakob Peterhänsel wrote:

And yeah, I don't understand why people go all this way to use it in FCPX, unless they messed up the SDcard structure!

FCPX, during import, copy (if you so chooce) the original media and transcode to ProRes[Proxy] that is Much faster to work with.

Reason one:

Many new Mac users have years of AVCHD .m2ts files on their PC hard drives that iMovie, FCP, and QuickTime player won't touch.

Option 1: They can use ClipWrap or Media Converter to quickly rewrap the AVCHD files into .mov container and the process takes about as long as copying the files over to another drive. Also, the file sizes stay pretty much the same. The rewrapped files now can be used for iMovie and FCP projects and QT will play them smooth on Mac with i3 or better processors.

Option 2: They can reimport all of their .m2ts files back to the camcorders to recrete the original SD/drive structure, providing that they have all of the .modd files that stored the info needed, so that iMovie or FCP can transcode all of them to AIC or ProRes the NORMAL way. This process is extremely time consuming and file sizes balloon 6 (AIC) to 8 (ProRes) folds at the end.

Which option will you or most people choose?

Reason two:

A 60-minute event covered by three cameras means only 1/3 of the footage will ever be used in the documentary timeline. Importing the NORMAL way takes a long time and you end up with 250GB of transcoded files vs. rewrapping 38GB. The rewrapping method means at the end only the footage used will be rendered not all of the clips. Backing up several copies of 38GB footage is a lot cheaper than 250GB in labor and drive costs.

Time is money, whatever method that help cut down on the overall time spent on the project is good business.

Reason two is wrong!

1: Import to FCPX only takes the time it takes to import(copy!) the original files! As fast, or faster than rewrapping, since you do not need to spend time importing to FCPX after..!

2: FCPX transcodes to Optimized and/or Proxy in th background, and the user can then choose to use that when it's available. Yes, it takes op storage while it's there, but:

3: You can always simply delete the Proxy or Optimized files in the Finder when you are done with editing! You can always ask FCPX to regenerate them, as long as you have the Original files in the Event!

If you choose not to copy the original files to the Event, you will need to make sure you have backups of the SD card(s), as FCPX then simply makes Aliases to those - but then it only takes seconds to have the media in the Event..

So, the 'wrap up': 😉

1: Import directly to FCPX as long as you have the SDcard structure!

2: Us ClipWrap etc if you for some reason only have the MTS files, and need to go that way.

That would be the most eficient workflow!

I suggest you switch to time-lapse video instead. No issues on importing there. No rewarpping, no pre-transcoding, no reconstructing camera archives, no need to work with proxy files. And by the way, the best way to reconstruct a camera archive of already existing MTS files is using RevolverHD.

You suggest to move to JPEG files for each frame?? Aka, buy a totally different, new camera.. ?!?

Is this a joke, or are you just being ironic.. I'm not sure.. and a bit frustrated how this is a solution to get already filmed AVCHD content into FCPX...

Time may be money, but quality is king for most clients. Most professional effect and color correct every shot in a production. You can do much better work and get much pretty results, oh and render and output much faster, using an I-frame, high quality intermediate like ProRes. The proxy and optimized media doesn't have to archived, and the standard practice is to charge the client for the production drive space.

How do you get FCPX to regenerate thse files once deleted/offline please?

Select the clips, right-click, choose trancode media.

So in fact if you chose to just import Proxy (I understand it imports the original files anyway) you could delete and then retranscode media to Optimised if storage were an issue. Say in the event you had hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage. But can you replicate the "old" workflow of just transcoding the clips you have used in the timeline/project rather than everything in the Event? Kind of offline/online scenario?

Thanks for the replies by the way.

If you archive the project by duplicating it with only used clips, then when you transcode you'll only have to transcode clips that are in the project.