Importing Video for best quality?

[JamesMay82]

Hi Guys,

I have been using final cut pro x for importing for all my home videos from our HD camera and basically using Final Cut as my main viewer for watching the videos etc.. I rarely edit anything together anymore.

My question, which program imports video at the highest quality Photos App or Final Cut? or do they do the same?

we have a new baby so filming loads more stuff and want to make sure I'm importing the files in the highest possible format.

Where do you guys store all your home movies as well.. do you leave them photos or Final or just keep them in iTunes?

Thanks

 

[kohlson]

Hi Guys,

I have been using final cut pro x for importing for all my home videos from our HD camera and basically using Final Cut as my main viewer for watching the videos etc.. I rarely edit anything together anymore.
My question, which program imports video at the highest quality Photos App or Final Cut? or do they do the same?

...

Where do you guys store all your home movies as well.. do you leave them photos or Final or just keep them in iTunes?
Thanks

Almost certainly FCP offers better codecs than Photos. I strongly suspect that Photos uses the default "iMovie/QT" system codecs, while FCP offers a step up on these, both for more editing flexibility and for "improved" output.
Have to say that I haven't heard of FCP being used primarily as a viewer, but if it works for you ...

I have our family videos in mp4. Someday I will finish editing them. This is something that may make more sense to you once your first-born starts up with youth soccer, or similar.

 

[Gwendolini]

Maybe check what format your camera records first and which application will make a 1:1 copy of the footage, which normally will be Image Capture and Photos.
FCP X will, if selected to do so, TRANSCODE the video during import, but it will transcode it to a vastly superior format and codec, which will take up more storage capacity than needed for simply storing your video.

Modern video camcorders, including smartphones, record their video data as H.264 stream inside an .mp4 or .mov file or AVCHD container.
If you use Photos, those will simply be copied to the library and nothing will be transcoded.

PS: Transcoding the footage via FCP X will not make your footage look better, as there is hardly any hidden information inside consumer HD video streams regarding image quality.