Editing 550D footage

[David Heath]

My understanding is that the 550D generates footage compressed with the H264 codec, and wrapped as mov files. The bitrate is quoted in the manual as 330MB/minute in normal modes, which in more normal nomenclature is the same as 44Mbs approx. (So about twice that of the best AVC-HD.)

Question is - how easy is it to edit? And are some NLEs better than others? Will anything handle it natively, or will it always need transcoding to something like ProRes? What are peoples experiences?

[Jon Fairhurst]

Yes. Transcode to ProRes, Cineform, or equivalent.

[J.J. Kim]

I use Adobe CS4, and I convert within Adobe Encoder to MPEG 25MB/s (equal to HDV bit rate). Then archive the raw footage.

[Colin Rowe]

Mpeg streamclip for Mac or PC Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac OS X and its free. BTW AVCHD is H264

[James Strange]

What mpeg streamclip settings are Premiere Pro users using?

(I'm on CS3 if that makes a difference)

Theres quite alot of settings to choose from, is there a standard setting ?

James

[Colin Rowe]

Export to MPEG-4, compression H264, unscaled, basically, export to MPEG-4 and leave everything as it is, works for me.

[Rusty Rogers]

The files are AVC1 CODEC, not ideal.

I edit the native files in Edius5.

[James Strange]

Got my 7d, liking it so far, not really did a proper worklofw test, I've converted t a clip to mp4 using mpeg streamclip, but Premier Pro CS3 says its an unsupported format or damaged file?

I just did the standard export to mpeg 4

Any thoughts?

To clarify, I edit on Premiere Pro CS3, trying to get the 7d clips onto an HDV timeline using the freeware program mpeg streamclip

Cheers

James

[Brian Maurer]

Working with CS4 on Windows. Have Streamclip, but unsure what to change the raw footage to, if anything. If I open CS4, what preset should I be using if I want to work with the raw footage? And if I do need to change it, what to, and what preset would be ideal in CS4 for Windows? Very excited to work with the camera! Thanks in advance for your help!

[Peter D. Parker]

Colin,
Could you outline the steps you use to convert mov for use in Prem CS3.

There are so many options.

Peter

[Colin Rowe]

Peter.
Simply import file, or files for batch convert. Go to list/batch list
File/export to MPEG4
I leave all settings as they are.

[Peter D. Parker]

Thanks for that Colin, but will these files work in Prem CS3 and what project settings do you use. I want to mix the footage with my Matrox RT.X2, which is only 1440 x 1080 and it uses its own Matrox files format.

Peter

[Brian Boyko]

I know that Vegas handles the 7D files natively, and I think they're the same codec.

[Colin Rowe]

Dont know about that, I use CS4. With mixed clips on a timeline I would always use a preset that matches the highest res. But as you are limited to 1440 with the Matrox, try it and see if its ok

[Stephen Gradin]

Peter, you cannot edit AVCHD footage with Premiere CS3 and Matrox RT.X2 cannot edit anything higher than 1440X1080. I also have CS3 with Matrox RT.X2 but do not have T2i (550D) yet. This is my intended workflow: 1) Import .mov files into folder on media drive. 2) Convert .mov files to.avi files with Cineform Neoscene, keeping everything 1920X1080, square pixels. 3) Import converted .avi files into Premiere CS3 project (NOT Matrox), creating a custom preset that is 1920X1080, again square pixels. 4) Drop files onto Premiere timeline, edit out stuff I know I will never use, check audio (if using camera audio), keeping everything neat and tidy. 5) Export timeline to tape on HDV camcorder (I have tried this already with Premiere HDV timeline, works flawlessly, just record about 10 seconds of black at head of tape for preroll). 6) Open Matrox HDV project, 1440X1080, 1.33 pixel ratio, in Premiere CS3. Import HDV tape into Matrox project. I know this sounds crazy and a bit time consuming, but I am 95% certain it will work. Also, with this method, you now have archived HD footage on tape, no need to make all kinds of hard drive or disk backups. As long as you don't tape hours and hours of footage, I think this is a very workable workflow for those folks who want to keep using Matrox (like me), for render free editing. If you try this method, let me know how things work out. Good luck.