Best way to record movies?

[illegalprelude]

Hey everyone, I run a website which I do a lot of video segments for. They might be product reviews or video unboxing. For this, I purchased a Blue Yeti mic and I've been using the internal iMac camera for the primary camera while I have a Sony Bloggie for a separate angle.

Once I'm done shooting, I take the footage into FCPX and edit away. This isn't normally a problem but what's been driving me insane is how when recording with QuickTime Player X, the file sizes are insanely huge! My iMac doesn't even have an iSight HD and a 5 minute video at Maximum quality can be around 25GB! My Bloggie which shoots in 1080p will do the same thing at maybe 1 or 2GB?

I cannot even use the method in FCPX to video capture because it doesn't give me an option to change the audio to the Yeti. So I'm coming to you guys and gals to figure the best method to capture video with the iMac and my Yeti mic. Are there better programs? I'm open to buying a webcam if I have too. I'm just a tad baffled by these huge file sizes.

 

[Zwhaler]

Can you use a program like Handbrake or Compressor to slim down the files while retaining most of the quality?

 

[ppc_michael]

The difference is your Bloggie camera compressed the video to H.264 while Quicktime either doesn't compress it at all, or uses a much different compressor.

Try recording the video with Photobooth, I believe that records the video to H.264, the same as your Bloggie. You could also use iMovie. I think it records to DV, which is potentially better quality but will still keep the file small and editable.

 

[illegalprelude]

Can you use a program like Handbrake or Compressor to slim down the files while retaining most of the quality?

Yea..I suppose that is one option. Kind of a hassle but possible.

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The difference is your Bloggie camera compressed the video to H.264 while Quicktime either doesn't compress it at all, or uses a much different compressor.

Try recording the video with Photobooth, I believe that records the video to H.264, the same as your Bloggie. You could also use iMovie. I think it records to DV, which is potentially better quality but will still keep the file small and editable.

The problem I've seen with Photobooth, iMovie and to my surprise FCPX is that they won't let you select a different mic which is very annoying.

I tried to open the .Mov file with QT Pro and export as an MP4 with H.264 compression and a 11GB file turned into 28MB....well that's not right lol

 

[Keebler]

Yea..I suppose that is one option. Kind of a hassle but possible.

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The problem I've seen with Photobooth, iMovie and to my surprise FCPX is that they won't let you select a different mic which is very annoying.

I tried to open the .Mov file with QT Pro and export as an MP4 with H.264 compression and a 11GB file turned into 28MB....well that's not right lol

Hi there,

I would go into system preferences - sound and change the input accordingly?

 

[illegalprelude]

Hi there,

I would go into system preferences - sound and change the input accordingly?

I believe you are totally correct. I just did a test and I guess FCPX just whatever sound scheme you have set in System Preferences. I never saw it give me an option within FCPX to change it and so I assumed it was using my iSight mic. I did a quick test with my Yeti mic and noticed that it is indeed picking that up. Still haven't done a long enough test to see the file size difference but this might just do the trick!

 

[Keebler]

I believe you are totally correct. I just did a test and I guess FCPX just whatever sound scheme you have set in System Preferences. I never saw it give me an option within FCPX to change it and so I assumed it was using my iSight mic. I did a quick test with my Yeti mic and noticed that it is indeed picking that up. Still haven't done a long enough test to see the file size difference but this might just do the trick!

Perfect!