problem with H264 Quicktime content from a....

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problem with H264 Quicktime content from a....

...Nikon Coolpix AW100 video. Not working very well for review and editing. I may have wrong sequence settings which are set to native content codec I've set scrubbing to low quality and half frame rate audio to low and I'm still getting stuttering playback and red unrendered and scrubbing is still near to impossible. Any ideas on how to treat this stuff? Thanks

imac 24" 2.16ghz 3g ram nividia 7600, Mac OS X (10.6.1), would like to eventually get big, mean MAC Pro

Posted on Mar 20, 2015 7:00 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 20, 2015 8:54 AM in response to Brian Anderson3

FCP doesn't work with H.264 material native. Even if you have the sequence settings set to match. H.264 is a big no no. You must convert the footage to an FCP editing codec, like ProRes 422. Compressor will do this, MPEG STREAMCLIP will do this. Note: The size of the video files will increase 5x larger than the raw...this is normal. H.264 is highly compressed and not suited for editing with FCP (nor Avid...works for Adobe, but only if you have TONS of RAM and fast processors and good GFX card), while ProRes is much better suited.

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Answer 2

Mar 20, 2015 9:32 AM in response to Shane Ross

Thanks Shane. I'll give your suggestion the GO and hope for good results. If there was a way to import the video by USB (because that's the way NIKON designed it and I'm forced to use PHOTOSHOP to import the QT files. It's a silly workaround. The AW100 is a great inexpensive travel cam that is waterproof and shockproof that allows you quite a bit of freedom to shoot but has it's faults and this is one. Ciao. Thanks again

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Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 20, 2015 9:44 AM in response to Brian Anderson3

OK, this is the workflow.

Copy the video off the camera. Use Photoshop if you have to...Image Capture comes with FCP and that's how I pull video and photos from my iPhone. So if you plug the camera in directly, it doesn't show up as a hard drive or media on the desktop? Does it use removeable media? If so, just take out the card and get a card reader, and it'll show up like a hard drive.

Back to the workflow:

Copy from the camera...keeping the full card structure if possible. How you do this is make a new folder, give that folder a unique name (Like project and date... and card number (meaning first backup of the card, second backup if you used it again, or had another card)...so MyFilm_03-20-2017_01.

Archive that...meaning copy this to a drive that then sits on your shelf as a master. TWO drives is best, as drive fail, and you don't want to lose your media. As my boss says, "If it doesn't exist in two places, it doesn't exist."

Convert the media to ProRes 422, and put that media on your EDITING drive.

Edit.

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Answer 4

Mar 20, 2015 10:01 AM in response to Shane Ross

Thanks for detailing your suggestions. Can I BATCH convert with COMPRESSOR or STREAMCLIP? (both of which I have). I haven't edited in almost 2 years so I'm kind of lost with this H264 conversion, and frustrated figuring WHY FCP can't edit this...???. This video will only be 5 minutes (THANK GOD!) as an iPhone vid so I'll suffer through it now but definitely set up something for future videos captured this way. Thanks again Shane...you're THE man! Ciao

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Answer 5

Mar 20, 2015 10:02 AM in response to Brian Anderson3

BTW...I tried the STREAMCLIP conversion and it worked beautifully!

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Answer 6

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 20, 2015 10:12 AM in response to Brian Anderson3

Compressor does batches....Streamclip...not to my knowledge.

"I'm kind of lost with this H264 conversion, and frustrated figuring WHY FCP can't edit this...???"

Because it's a highly compressed format, and difficult to edit natively. FCP 7 can't do it...FCX can, but it would REALLY prefer you convert it...as it's sluggish to edit with. Adobe Premiere Pro can, but only if you have fast fast processors, an expensive graphics card to enable the Mercury Engine and lots of RAM in order to handle this really compressed format. OH, and because FCP 7 came out 5 years ago and was discontinued 4 years ago...not being updated. Apple is moving forward with FCX.

For future...either convert, or look into other editing apps if you want to edit natively.

And you're welcome

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Answer 7

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Mar 21, 2015 1:07 PM in response to Shane Ross

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