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thamalute

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2014
1
0
Oklahoma
I have Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 and I'd like to import footage that I shot on my iPhone 4s. Of course, if you're familiar with any of this, you know that the .mov files that iPhones produce are not compatible with Final Cut Pro.

So, using MPEG Streamclip or Compressor, I'd like to convert the files so that they are compatible.

I know that I can use iMovie without having to go through the trouble, but it's important to me that I learn how to do this as I am most familiar with Final Cut editing software and I may need to do this in the future.

Can anyone help me with a walk-through of the file settings I'll need to check in order to get the video footage converted properly for size, sound, etc?

Thank you so much!
 

Chad3eleven

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2012
144
0
Videos from iphones are compatible with FCP.. BUT.. the h.264 codec that they are compressed in make playback and rendering highly intense for the program.

To stream your workflow, I would use streamclip and convert your videos to Apple Pro Res 422 LT files.. if you opt for a larger flavor of APR you are simply creating larger files.

I just did a quick test with a clip from my phone, the bit rate was 20 MBp/s.. (orig file size is 29 mbs) I then transcoded it (with StreamClip) to an Apple Pro Res 422 LT and a normal 422 file.. both pictures are identical.

The 422 LT file is now 105 mbs with a bit rate of 75 mbp/s.
The 422 file is 156 mbs with a bit rate of 111 mbp/s.

A bit more in depth, but I wanted to give you that background.

NOW.. to your settings.

In streamclip:

Compression - Apple ProRes 422 LT
Quality - 100%
Sound - Uncompressed or IMA
Frame size - unscaled (1920x1080)
Frame rate - leave it blank so it passes through the orig. frame rate (usually 24)
DESELCT interlaced scaling, as these videos are progressivly scanned.

I will say this.. in the past we've had issues if the frame rate of the videos werent EXACT broadcast frame rates (ie. 29.97, 59.94, 23.94, 24, etc) SO.. if your frame rate of your clips are like 24.01 FPS.. or 29.95.. FCP will need to render them, or choke out.. so you may need to override the framerate in the options, and just force it to a solid 23.98, OR 29.97.. whichever is closes to your orig media. Either one will work, it will not affect playback, but will FCP to operate smoothly, and the clips should not require any rendering (if the sequence matches the clips of course)

If you didnt know you can set up a batch list in StreamClip too.. (list/batch list)

let em rip!
 
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