cx100 interlacing, and finalcutexpress issues..

[avenfoto 0]

ok. im a photog not a videog, and all this codec biniss is foriegn to me.

so im converting all my cx footage to full res mov's with mpegstreamclip.

then ediing in final cut EXPRESS. i have a few questions.

1- is there a way to set the mem usage hihger than 2500mb? ive got a dual quadcore 2.8's and 18gigs of ram, but still dragging ass on the renders, and almost no RT playback... is this a FCE thing? everyone of my video editing friends say i should be getting epic performance out of my hardware.

2- i am constantly having to rerender my entire project in fce on the same machine. when i open it, or even if i minimize the window, post render, to use a different app, then bring FCE back to the front, i have to rerender the entire timeline. this is maddening.
and it only happens on my desktop, not my mbp. wtf?

3- is there a way to shoot on the cx in a progressive mode as opposed to interlaced? these lines on all my footage are pretty lousy as well.

thanks for your input. sorry for the questions. -b

[DSE 5]

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ok. im a photog not a videog, and all this codec biniss is foriegn to me.

so im converting all my cx footage to full res mov's with mpegstreamclip.

then ediing in final cut EXPRESS. i have a few questions.

1- is there a way to set the mem usage hihger than 2500mb? ive got a dual quadcore 2.8's and 18gigs of ram, but still dragging ass on the renders, and almost no RT playback... is this a FCE thing? everyone of my video editing friends say i should be getting epic performance out of my hardware.

2- i am constantly having to rerender my entire project in fce on the same machine. when i open it, or even if i minimize the window, post render, to use a different app, then bring FCE back to the front, i have to rerender the entire timeline. this is maddening.
and it only happens on my desktop, not my mbp. wtf?

3- is there a way to shoot on the cx in a progressive mode as opposed to interlaced? these lines on all my footage are pretty lousy as well.

thanks for your input. sorry for the questions. -b

To which codec are you converting in MPEG Streamclip?
Why are you even bothering with it? FCE can log/import on its own, and will do it properly.
Everything you describe is a codec issue. I'd avoid using third party tools if you're not exactly clear on what you're doing.
For instance, perhaps your MBP has all the necessary decoders installed but your desktop does not, thereby necessitating a render every time.

No, the CX100 cannot shoot in Progressive mode, but none of the problems you're describing are related to interlace vs progressive scan modes.

[avenfoto 0]

thnaks for the quick reply.

1- any help there?

are there specific settings i shouild check? what codec should i be converting to.

what are decoders? and how do i check that? how do i ensure my dtop has them or update them?

am i stuck with the interlaced footge? its beyond annoying. lines on everything...

[avenfoto 0]

wanted to add, i ordered a avhcd workflow dvd from vasst. as per your recommendation in a different post.should be here anyday. maybe thheres some help in there...

[DSE 5]

There aren't lines on everything...I'm pretty sure that you're seeing inverted fields due to your conversion.
There is nothing wrong with interlaced footage, roughly 99% of the content in the broadcast world is interlaced.
If you shot progressive with the CX100 (if you could) it would look like shit for skydiving at 30p. You can deinterlace it with different tools, but the temporal value of progressive at 25/30p for most uses is terrible.
Shoot interlaced at 1920, deinterlace to 1280, you'll be very happy if progressive delivery is your final destination. Many do this all the time.

Use Log/import (you'll see this in the VASST DVD). Or use a better tool like Neo, or Revolver vs streamclip. Streamclip is good but offers too many options and opportunities to screw up. Me? I use log/import and convert to Prores. You'll want to use AIC (I don't think Prores is in FCE).

Easiest way to get all codecs in FCE is to install QT Pro.

[avenfoto 0]

so use log and transfer to convert to prores?

thanks for your time. -b

[DSE 5]

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so use log and transfer to convert to prores?

thanks for your time. -b

log and transfer to Prores or AIC, does FCE offer Prores? I don't have Express, just Studio.

[mnskydiver688 0]

After spending the amount of money to get a system like that, what made you hold off on other editing software such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier Pro? I am running a MacBook with only 2.4GHz and 4 Gb RAM and am able to get real-time playback of AVCHD and the render times aren't crazy considering my system. Invest in CS4 Production Premium and then you can add some stellar motion graphics intro's and credits using after effects.

Sky Canyon Wingsuiters

[avenfoto 0]

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ok. im a photog not a videog, and...

the video is secondary.

www.avenfoto.com
are you importing as prores like dse said?

[peggs82 0]

Final Cut Express does not have ProRes....only AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) as Spot mentioned.

Like he said, Streamclip seems unnecessary. The system you described should be more than sufficient for using Final Cut Express.

My dual 2.8, 4 gigs of ram, 512 graphics is more than enough for real time playback of AVCHD, and reasonable renders.

Good luck!

[avenfoto 0]

thanks for the recommendations everybody.

is there a way to add codecs to express or is this one of the crippled features that makes it "express"

any fcp basics tutorial site recommendaitns.?

[DSE 5]

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My dual 2.8, 4 gigs of ram, 512 graphics is more than enough for real time playback of AVCHD, and reasonable renders.

Just to be clear, this is AVCHD that has been converted. No apple product can (nor ever will) provide AVCHD playback. Once converted, it's no longer AVCHD.

[peggs82 0]

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My dual 2.8, 4 gigs of ram, 512 graphics is more than enough for real time playback of AVCHD, and reasonable renders.

Just to be clear, this is AVCHD that has been converted. No apple product can (nor ever will) provide AVCHD playback. Once converted, it's no longer AVCHD.

Correct Spot, I guess I was referring to the playback feature in the "Log and Transfer" window, not actual native editing - which is the converted AIC. Sorry for the lack of clairty.

Is the preview in "log and transfer" also a conversion of the .mts?

[DSE 5]

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My dual 2.8, 4 gigs of ram, 512 graphics is more than enough for real time playback of AVCHD, and reasonable renders.

Just to be clear, this is AVCHD that has been converted. No apple product can (nor ever will) provide AVCHD playback. Once converted, it's no longer AVCHD.

Correct Spot, I guess I was referring to the playback feature in the "Log and Transfer" window, not actual native editing - which is the converted AIC. Sorry for the lack of clairty.

Is the preview in "log and transfer" also a conversion of the .mts?

Yes.
This is a major rant of mine. Before Apple used Intel CPU, they had a legit reason to not decode GOP. Now...they have none. The chip already HAS the GOP/MPEG decoder BUILT IN!. It's like having a governor on a Maserati, IMO. It's just plain stupid, shortsighted, and it costs thousands of hours in futile conversion and file size increase with zero quality gain. They deliberately code lock this part of the CPU so they don't have to pay MPEG royalties on ingest. They do pay a royalty for Cinema and other MPEG decoders for DVD.
One wonderment I have...With Apple potentially going back to HD DVD, it makes me wonder if they'll eventually allow fixed bitrate streams to be decoded.
Rant over (for now).

[mnskydiver688 0]

"Rant over (for now)."

Ha, come on Spot you know you will never be done ranting about Apple. I thought they were going to be putting Blu-ray support in their new computers?

Sky Canyon Wingsuiters

[avenfoto 0]

ok. figgered it out, thanks to a local friend
and learned tons of great avchd info, thanks to the VASST avchd tutorial dse recommended...

the codec used for the clips, needs to match the format of the timeline.

now i have no render whatsoever, and full RT.

killer.

cya -b

[danielcroft 2]

I'm using iMovie '09 for my videos (I'm no pro either). I have FCE but never really bothered with it because iM was sufficient. I bought a product "Voltaic HD" to convert my MTS files to something useful, it works really well, deinterlaces everything for you & you're good to go.

Having said all that, I've been wanting to get FCE working with AVCHD & try it out. How do I get the clip codec to match the timeline?

Edit: I'm only using Voltaic when I need to convert an mts that someone has given me. Straight import to iMovie from the CX100.

[PharmerPhil 0]

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...How do I get the clip codec to match the timeline?

I don't have Final Cut Express, but I use Final Cut Studio regularly, and I think this part is the same.

First FCS won't import AVCHD file natively. It will transcode it on import to something else (usually ProRes for FCS, but I think AIC for FCE). Once you have a clip in your browser, and you drag it into a new, empty timeline, Final Cut will ask you if you want to change the timeline to match the file's type for best performance. Click "Yes." For example, if you have a HDV file, and an empty DV timeline, and you try to drop the HDV file in to the timeline, it will ask you if you want to change the timeline to match the clip.

Note that this will only work if you don't have any other files already in the timeline. It only happens on the first clip you add, and only asks you if your timeline and the clip don't match. You can ignore the prompt, and/or put clips of different types into the same timeline, but if they don't match, it will have to render the timeline before exporting. Whether you can view in real time without rendering first I believe depends on how powerful a machine you have.

[danielcroft 2]

Thanks very much, I'll give it a go.

[DSE 5]

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"Rant over (for now)."

Ha, come on Spot you know you will never be done ranting about Apple. I thought they were going to be putting Blu-ray support in their new computers?

They're supposed to be moving towards BD support but at a recent conference, it was said that with HD DVD being brought back by the Chinese/India (that's 50% of the world market) that they're looking agin at HD DVD.

Given that I own more than 50 Apple machines and site licenses...I've paid for my right to rant.

[mnskydiver688 0]

Is the reason China and India are looking at HD DVD because of licensing fees? Or the cost of production?

Sky Canyon Wingsuiters

[DSE 5]

Licensing fees and HDCP are the reason, and they're not interested much in quality assurances.

From ZDNET:
#################
Just when Blu-ray thought it had clear sailing, a tempest has risen in the East: China Blue Hi-definition Disk (CBHD). Toshiba has licensed its HD DVD to them and it will be the unit world leader in HD optical technology in just 12 months.

Why? The Times Online reports that the CBHD players are outselling Blu-ray in China by 3-1 and the CBHD disks cost a quarter of Blu-ray.

Conceived by Sony at a time when few thought upscaling would succeed, the idea was that HDTVs would require HD content on optical media. Reliving the glory days of DVD adoption they forecast tens of billions in revenue from players and disks, enormous licensing fees and consumer-proof DRM.

CBHD is a double win for the Chinese government: billions saved in royalties; and a much cheaper, locally manufactured, luxury item for the restless masses. Blu-ray is simply collateral damage.

Studio knuckle-draggers no doubt are salivating at a tough new form of Region encoding: incompatible formats for the West and Asia. But will that really work?

English is the #2 language in Asia, so English-language CBHDs will be popular. Shanghai vendors will happily sell CBHD players and disks on Ebay. The economics are irresistible and, other than the studios, who will turn down HD content at DVD prices?

It is a nice win for the Chinese government and manufacturers. Blu-ray’s high cost has slowed its acceptance to a crawl, so Chinese CBHD players will rapidly climb down the cost curve to prices lower than DVD-only players since they aren’t paying DVD royalties either.

CBHD vendors should not ignore the writable CBHD market. Many consumers would like something larger than DVDs for backup and much cheaper - and more compatible - than Blu-ray.

[PharmerPhil 0]

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...and they're not interested much in quality assurances.

Remember Video CDs (VCDs)? They looked awful and never caught on here, but were selling like gang-busters in China and other parts of Asia less than ten years ago. More so than DVDs.