0biwan
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: editing origial .mov from 5d too slow!

Hi,

 

I'm new to the movie editing scene so this is maybe a dumb question, but I would appreciate some help here

 

I have a macbook pro 13", c2c 2.4 with 8gb ram. I have some movies I've made in my canon 5d mark 2 to edit.

 

What I've done was editting the original .mov files, but this made the program too slow, I can't preview the movie normally it plays it too slow, any action I try to do like inserting a clip from library to the timeline is slow (the mouse stops to be responsive for some seconds), etc...

 

When I exported the movie (12 minutes) I selected stereo and 720p has the project properties, and  h.264 format in the export settings and it still have 980MB.

 

My questions are:

how can I reduce the video size for youtube with best quality?

 

do I need to do any compression/change on the files before I edit them in FCX?

 

Is my mac too slow to edit videos and that is why I can't playback it at normal speed, or use the program without stops or this has to be with file format?

 

what is background render? I have it on, should I turn it off?

 

any more tips?

 

thanks again!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 5, 2012 11:32 AM

by Paul Cuciti,Solvedanswer
Paul Cuciti Paul Cuciti
Level 2 (385 points)
A:

Suppose you have a clip of a news reader sitting at a desk, with a box over her shoulder showing a second clip of a news item. At the bottom of the frame is a colorful moving band of video with a title across the the face of it.

There you have four sources of video from four different locations on the HDD - possibly from four different drives. The processor has to call up that info and coordinate its delivery in real time - and the hard drive has to access all that data at the same time.

 

Can you see the point in rendering to a single 'composited' clip now?

A much smaller ripple in the force, Obiwan.

Posted on Mar 6, 2012 6:46 AM

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0biwan

Q: editing origial .mov from 5d too slow!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by andynick,

    andynick andynick Mar 5, 2012 11:45 AM in response to 0biwan
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Mar 5, 2012 11:45 AM in response to 0biwan

    Bit of both.

    Your Mac is not really powerful enough - and h.264 is very processor-intensive, so you're making it harder for the mac.

    ______________________

     

    This is my pet checklist for questions regarding FCP X performance.

     

    FCP X 10.0.3 runs very well on my 2009 MacPro 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 16 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB.

     

    First, check that you have at least 20% free space on the Hard Drive that your System and your Media, Projects and Events are on.

     

    Check the spec of your Mac against the system requirements:

    http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/specs/

     

    Check the spec of your graphics card. If it's listed here, it's not suitable:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664

     

    If you are getting crashes, there is some conflict on the OS. Create a new (admin) user account on your system and use FCP X from there - if it runs a lot better, there's a conflict and a clean install would be recommended.

     

    Keep projects to 20 mins or less. If you have a long project, work on 20 min sections then paste these into a final project for export.

     

    Create Optimised media - most camera native files are highly compressed and need a great deal of processor power to play back - particularly if you add titles, filters or effects. ProRes 422 takes up much more hard drive space but is very lightly compressed. It edits and plays back superbly.

     

    If you are short of drive space, use ProRes 422 Proxy (FCP X Preferences > Playback) - but remember to select High Quality when you export your movie.

     

    Hide Audio Waveforms at all times when you don't need them (both in Browser and Storyline / Timeline). They take up a lot of processor power. (Use the switch icon at the bottom-right of your timeline to select a format without waveforms if you don't need them at the moment, then switch back when you do).

     

    Create folders in the Project and Events libraries and put any projects you are not working on currently, in those folders. This will help a lot.

     

    Move your Projects and Events to an external HD (make sure it's formatted OS Extended - with journaled on or off) and run from there.

     

    The biggest single improvement I saw in performance was when I upgraded the RAM from 8 GB to 16.

    Andy

  • by 0biwan,

    0biwan 0biwan Mar 5, 2012 12:27 PM in response to andynick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 12:27 PM in response to andynick

    Thanks

     

    My Graphic card is not on that list, so it supports fcx, and my mac have the recommend+ settings

     

    I have more than 120GB of free space in my 250gb hdd

     

    I have no crashes on fcx

     

    I've used your recommendadtion and turnef off the waveforms.

     

    this is my only project (and first)

     

    so, what should I do to convert the videos do ProRes 422? I should go to import -> select files and select create optimized media? or this convert the file to other formats?

     

    and still this questions:

    how can I reduce the video size for youtube with best quality?

     

    what is background render? I have it on, should I turn it off? If the video is rendered in the background (when the option is on) and the in -> out format is the same, why does it take some time (15-20m) to export the video?

     

    again, thanks for the help

  • by Paul Cuciti,Helpful

    Paul Cuciti Paul Cuciti Mar 5, 2012 12:33 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 2 (385 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 12:33 PM in response to 0biwan

    Background render is there to render things like titles, transitions & effects while you continue to work. if your machine is underpowered for FCX ( as mine is) the BG render is taxing the processor - and slows down the whole editing process. You can wait for renders to finish before proceeding or turn off BG rendering (in the preferences). Then you can render when you need to stretch your legs.

  • by Paul Cuciti,Helpful

    Paul Cuciti Paul Cuciti Mar 5, 2012 12:38 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 2 (385 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 12:38 PM in response to 0biwan

    You should not load your footage onto the system hard drive. It has to work harder in order to serve the application AND deliver the video at speed. Import your video to a separate drive; either internal or a fast (firewire or better) external drive.

  • by andynick,

    andynick andynick Mar 5, 2012 12:38 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Mar 5, 2012 12:38 PM in response to 0biwan

    To create optimised media, right-click a clip in the browser and select Transcode.

     

    You should not need to reduce the size of a movie file for YouTube if you use Share > YouTube.

    What problem are you having with this?

    Andy

  • by 0biwan,

    0biwan 0biwan Mar 5, 2012 2:03 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 2:03 PM in response to 0biwan

    but what are the implications of turning off background render? I won't be able to preview what I've done before rendering? This maybe look ockword but I really don't understant what this render means. (I've tried to search for some video production terms for dummines, but no success)

     

    My mac matches or beat all the minimum requirements for FCX.

     

    So to change the driver of the media I need to change an option no? my videos are in an external hdd but when I import them to FCX it transfers them to my movies folder wich is on my system hdd.

     

    I exported the video in h.264 and it sayd it would have 900MB but it only have 400.

    I've not used that option because my idea was to export the video in a minor size like 350MB (full hd not 720p like it is now) and save it on my library and upload it to youtube. (like 2 jobs in one export)

    but I will try that option and see the size.

     

    as for optimized media I will try it and see if it puts the overall performance better. the files will have the double of the size of the original right? That's also a thing that I don't understand, how can from one file that is not compressed, at least in a way that can be uncompressed, can turn out in another with 2x its size, that is not adding redundant/no necessary info to the file?

     

    Maybe because I'm an informatic engeniering I overthink this things too much

     

    thanks

  • by Paul Cuciti,

    Paul Cuciti Paul Cuciti Mar 5, 2012 2:14 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 2 (385 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 2:14 PM in response to 0biwan

    In theory, while you are editing the end of your video, the BG render is rendering the beginning, so that you can see it later. that's the theory, anyway. Pinnacle tried this approach ten years ago but their NLE went nowhere (Liquid Blue). The fact is, when someone asks me to put in a title, they like to see how it looks right away, and if they would like it adjusted, they want to know how well it works.

  • by 0biwan,

    0biwan 0biwan Mar 5, 2012 2:54 PM in response to 0biwan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 2:54 PM in response to 0biwan

    but rendering is what? making a file with all the clips and animations/texts etc? if so, why do we need to export the project if we want the same file format and resolution that the original files have?

     

    btw, tried the export to facebook, failed (error -50) and for I can see what it does is export the movie with the same settings i've exported previously (with the option export) and upload it for me in youtube, so the file will have the same size, no?

  • by Paul Cuciti,Solvedanswer

    Paul Cuciti Paul Cuciti Mar 6, 2012 6:46 AM in response to 0biwan
    Level 2 (385 points)
    Mar 6, 2012 6:46 AM in response to 0biwan

    Suppose you have a clip of a news reader sitting at a desk, with a box over her shoulder showing a second clip of a news item. At the bottom of the frame is a colorful moving band of video with a title across the the face of it.

    There you have four sources of video from four different locations on the HDD - possibly from four different drives. The processor has to call up that info and coordinate its delivery in real time - and the hard drive has to access all that data at the same time.

     

    Can you see the point in rendering to a single 'composited' clip now?

    A much smaller ripple in the force, Obiwan.

  • by 0biwan,

    0biwan 0biwan Mar 6, 2012 10:17 AM in response to Paul Cuciti
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2012 10:17 AM in response to Paul Cuciti

    absolutely! thanks a lot for the explanation!

     

    a final question: what are media proxies? do i need to use them?