Re: [Frameworks] HD editing on a non-Intel Mac under Tiger?

From: David Tetzlaff (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Oct 17 2010 - 05:25:56 PDT


Dinorah:

> I have been having trouble accessing some footage that a friend shot
> for me recently on a new HD camera. I have not been able to open it
> in either QuickTime or FCP. I am working on a new Intel-Mac running
> OS10.6.4 and FCP7.

There are many different kinds of HD: HDV, HDCAM, DVCPRO-HD, XDCAM....
and then within these larger formats there are variations: different
resolutions, GOP structures etc.

> Being primarily a 16mm person, all of this digital knowledge is new
> to me, so bear with me if this is an ignorant question, but how do I
> access ProRes 422?

Download MPEG Streamclip (it's free). Open your source file. Chose
'Export to Quicktime'. Select "ProRes422" (regular, not the HQ
version) from the drop-down menu of all the codecs. Leave the frame-
rate and resolution as they are in the source file.

Or, if you have Final Cut Studio, you can do it in Compressor, though
you'll have to read the manual to figure out the settings.

> Another question I have is about exporting the files once I
> successfully manage to edit this footage alongside regular SD
> footage. What is the best setting to use when exporting the files
> so they retain their HD quality, but can also be viewed on any
> standard monitor and/or project correctly in non-HD projectors as
> well as HD?

Either your output is HD, or it's not. You'll want to make two output
masters of your finished project: one in ProRes HD (same settings as
in the timeline), and one in SD. Then, for any particular form of
exhibition, you make copies in the required playback format from one
of those masters.

---
Malgosia:
Bernd is right. You won't be able to work with MPEG4 files directly.  
You'll have to convert them. Such is the case for editing even with  
much newer and more powerful computers. MPEG4 is a delivery only  
format, not a working format.
> And is there any version of Final Cut that would run on a G4 under
> Tiger, and work with HD 1080 video in the form of Mpeg-4 files?
No. Compressing and decompressing the MPEG-4 at playback speed is more  
than a G4 cpu can handle. How old is the G4, and what's the CPU speed?  
If it's one of the later models, you should be OK converting to  
ProRes422 and working with that. I think you'd need/want FCP v. 5, but  
4.5 might work as well.
There are several iMovie alternatives: MediaEdit, Norkross Movie,  
FastCut... I can't speak to the specific capabilities of any of them.
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