I've been struggling with this for a while. The files from my Motorola Droid are .3gp and supposedly 720x480. If I put those into a 720x480 DV sequence, the video is squished vertically and it takes forever to render. If I use MPEG Streamclip to convert them to DV 720x480, they are squished and the audio is out of sync. What is the best way to get these video files into Final Cut? Any help is appreciated.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Don't convert to DV 720x480 (if, by that you mean a DV stream -where the file has a .dv ending) Convert to Quicktime using the DV codec -a different animal entirely. Better yet, convert to ProRes LT and edit in a matching Sequence setting.
Note that .3gp is a horrible codec intended for point and shoot on a mobile phone with crappy optics. You will not be taking an Oscar home with that stuff as your source.
Thanks!
I should have said I was converting to QT with DV-NTSC codec. Why is it squished and out of sync?
I'll try ProRes (I'm having trouble finding what "LT" means). But it seems like overkill for "crappy optics" footage.
At first the image was squished, till I chaged the pixel aspect to square and unchecked "distort" on the clip.
The audio is still out of sync (the source .3gp files play back fine with QT).
Should the sequence "field dominance" be "none"?
I always assumed ProRes (LT) stood for ProRes Lite, but i could be wrong. There are three flavors of ProRes.
ProRes 422 (LT)
ProRes 422
ProRes 422 (HQ) - Which I understand is high quality.
I use the standard ProRess 422 for my HD files from the Canon XA10. I think HQ is more for higher bitrates (probably the codecs in the Canon FX100 and above series which shoot at 50mbps), and for RED footage.
Since your footage is a lower resolution and lower bitrate (probably not over 5mbps) then ProRes (LT) should keep your files at a somewhat repectable size.
Was the audio out of sync when you converted to ProRes?
Thanks for the info. I don't see ProRes LT as an option.
Yes, the audio was out of sync after converting to ProRes - very much so that siginficant portions are missing from the ends of the clips.
Wow. This went from bad to worse. I adjusted all the audio in FCP, exported and the audio is again out of sync in the exported file. It's fine during playback fo FCP. FCP should never playback differently than the file it will export. This is unacceptable and has finalized my decision to try Premiere as soon as possible.
This is not a difficult problem. What you should do is convert your 3gp to mov or mp4, then import the converted mov or mp4 file to FCP to edit.
On App store, there are so many video converters, and I just got "Total Video Converter" and it works well. Hope this great tool can help you, too.
If your OS is lower than 10.6.6 , Mac App store is not availabel for you, you can go to the official site of "Total Video Converter"
smithfromboston wrote:
This is not a difficult problem. What you should do is convert your 3gp to mov or mp4, then import the converted mov or mp4 file to FCP to edit.
QuickTime .mov is not a codec, it is a container. The video inside can use any one of a number of codecs including those that are unsuitable for editing in FCP.
Mp4 is not a suitable codec for editing in FCP.
See the Easy Setup menu for a list of codecs that work with FCP.
The OP has no need to buy further software to transcode their footage.
They already have QuickTime Player 7 and Compressor, another alternative would be the free MPEG Streamclip. Any of these will do the job.
Make sure you're also converting the audio to 48k 16 bit uncompressed. Some programs will by default just pass thru the audio when converting.
If the problem persists, you might try exporting a 48k 16 bit aiff and synch in fcp and merge the clip.
Best workflow for Droid .3gp files?
