H.264
Did you buy a cheap consumer HD camera lately, like the FlipCam or the Kodak zi8? Good, those are cool. But you probably discovered that they’re NOT cool when it comes to editing the footage in FCP. Unfortunately, the .mp4 file and the H.264 QT file type that those cameras shoot are not supported by Apple’s Final Cut software. They’re compressed output formats and they simply don’t work well in FCP. Luckily, there’s a FREE solution to the problem: MPEG Streamclip, a 3rd party software that converts these files into more editing-friendly formats.
MPEG Streamclip is very stable and lets you trim clips down, so you only export the clips you want to use in your edit. Just go to File > Export to Quicktime. A new screen will come up with a list of compression types, quality, etc. To keep the quality as close as possible to the original recording select “Apple ProRes 422.” Apple has made a few variations to the ProRes family; Use ProRes 422(Proxy) or (LT) for smaller file sizes. Always make sure to slide quality to 100% and leave the rest of the settings untouched, including dimensions. Happy editing!
This article is a video production tip from Indigo Productions for Pixelriffic.
I was one of those folks who bought a flip camera when they first came out thinking it was a good deal. Not only is the video format almost impossible to play on anything but the software included with the camera (It is difficult to share your videos with others so that they can play it on a disk on their computer) but to top it all off the flip camera people are going out of business and no longer will you be able to share your video on their on-line website.
Thanks for the article – I will be much more careful when I buy my next camera.