Editing FCP files in Premiere on a PC

[Zach Love]

I've been very much doing FCP for the last few years & Avid before that, but I've seen some good demos about Premier & how CS4 / CS5 can take & edit just about any file. Which has just really WOW-ed me when I've seen the demos at Final Cut Pro User Group meetings.

My question is this, can Premiere open & edit DV & HDV files captured in Final Cut Pro? Is there any need to transcode to something else?

Thanks!

[Ann Bens]

Learn Premiere Pro CS5 - Using Final Cut Pro with Adobe Premiere Pro | Adobe TV

[Zach Love]

Thanks for sharing the video, it is very similar to the demos I've seen. I guess I should have been more clear. Does it go that smoothly from FCP into Premiere on a PC?

I assume that Premiere works the same on Mac & PC, but I could also believe that PPro pulls from some of the same system files that FCP & MpegStream clip pull from, which would increase the codec capabilities. Once you go over to a PC, you can't be pulling from FCP files installed on the work station (as MpegStreamClip does).

And more so, has anyone had experience with it to make sure it works as easily when you cross over an OS as when you don't.

[Steve Kalle]

If Final Cut captures to DV or HDV, then the codec is not a problem, but if it captures to Pro Res, then Premiere on PC will not be as smooth as Premiere on Mac. You must download and install the Pro Res decode software from Apple, and I bet that Apple is in no hurry to provide any sort of quality Pro Res playback on a PC.

EDIT: I read your last post again, and correct me if I am wrong - you are referring to Final Cut and Premiere using the 'original' files prior to any sort of transcoding. If so, then there is no problem.

You and others becoming 'aware' of Premiere's faster and easier workflow compared to Final Cut is becoming more common these days.

FYI, historically, Premiere on Mac has had fewer effects than its PC version.

[Michael Wisniewski]

My editor is on FCS/Mac and my new visual F/X guy is on CS5/PC. We've done some limited testing transferring a project back and forth using a mix of DNxHD, ProRes, & Cineform ... so far so good. The XML file is transferring pretty well back and forth and I'm pretty pleased with the types of transitions, visual & sound F/X that are going back and forth. It's a whole lot more stuff than I'm used to!

Just make sure your media is PC friendly. Avoid HDV that was captured in FCP. That format is proprietary to FCP, you will have to transcode or re-capture on a PC. Even Mac NLEs cannot edit FCP/HDV unless FCP is also installed on the same machine. I believe FCP/DVCHDPRO also suffers the same non-friendly state. Someone turned me on to this decoder http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/QXD.asp but I don't have any experience with it just yet, it might cure all this cross-platform nonsense, or it might just add to the headaches.

Good luck. Post back if you find any problems/solutions to this issue.

[Battle Vaughan]

FWIW, I have used the HDV codec that Michael refers to in Ppro CS4 seamlessly, with no issues. YMMV, of course.

[Zach Love]

Thanks for the insight, it kind of sounds like different people are having different experience. I attached two files, one DV & the other HDV 1080p24 (from a Sony Z7U). These are the files I would want to open on a PC, anyone care to try to see if they open up in their CS4?

thanks again everyone!