best method for conversion avi to .mov ?

Well, I too was handed a bunch of AVI files from a producer's flip camera and asked to quickly cut a "sizzle" with them. After all sorts of messing about with Compressor, and MPEG STREAMCLIP, I never got things just right. Gotta be some bad voodoo with the flip AVI. ANYWAY, out of frustration I gave up the ghost with FCP and opened Premiere Pro 5.5 and used the files in that...natively. Not the smoothest, but it worked very well.

Not that you can drop everything and get this new app...and the machine that will run it (you are on a G5 I see). I just wanted to point out one option.

Issue I see with this is that 640x480 is 4:3, and PAL is 16:9....720x576. Is the footage PAL .avi files?

ANYWAY...if you have the PAL footage, even though it says NOT OPTIMIZED, it does work, right? I'd go with that. Yeah, the files are bigger, they aren't highly compressed files that aren't meant to be edited...they are now in an editing codec. DV is about 13GB per hour.

The warning is that they aren't OPTIMAL files...they might have something that makes the less than ideal. But they will work.

Just because a camera is easy to use, doens't mean that the files will be easy in post. Typically the easier the camera, the more difficult the post.

Yes. FCP doesn't work with H.264 files.

>Imported the result into FCP and although I have to render it plays fine.

See...you have to render. You shouldn't be doing that. If you convert the file right, it is in a format that doesn't require rendering...so you don't have to drop the clip into the timeline and render before you can work. That's a no no.

When you rendered it, you rendered it to match the sequence settings. Then exported it in those settings. Those settings are in a format that FCP works with...so when you reimported, you imported a file in that codec that FCP uses. But that is a LOT of steps...

Trying to edit H.264 native in FCP will lead to lots of problems. Sluggishness and the final export either cutting off the end, going to black, or exporting footage not in your cut. It isn't supported in FCP. Even if the camera files originate that way, say from a DSLR. Always need to convert to FCP codec...typically ProRes.

Want to edit H.264? Get Adobe Premiere Pro. But if you do that, might as well edit the .avi files native.

The settings are wrong. DV is not 640x480. DV/NTSC is 720x480. DV/PAL is 720x576.

Unless I have the files in front of me, I can't offer settings suggestions. That's a trial/error thing that needs to be finessed.

Adobe CS 5.5 has a free fully-functional demo. It is VERY FCP like...so you should download the demo:

http://success.adobe.com/en/na/sem/products/creativesuite/production.html

Then watch a couple tutorials on the GOTCHA's of transitioning...

http://www.biscardicreative.com/blog/2011/09/transitioning-fcp-to-premiere-pro-g otchas-part-1/

http://www.biscardicreative.com/blog/2011/09/transitioning-big-premiere-pro-inte rlace-gotcha-on-export/

And use the footage natively in Premiere without needing to convert anything. FCP is not the app for the footage you have been provided...Premiere is.

Flip cameras are a pain. The AVI format they produce is meant to be edited with consumer PC software...not FCP. You need to convert for FCP, and be specific about the settings.

Shoot...you have a G5...the CS 5.5 demo might not work. Well, convert to H.264...drop into a DV/PAL timeline...render...export, reimport that footage.

That is not PAL...that is NTSC. No wonder they are 640x480. Convert to DV/NTSC, change the frame size to 720x480...rectangular pixels...not square.

And no...the demo doesn't do water mark. Fully functional for 30 days. But I don't think it'll work on a G5.