R Geoff Baker
January 9th, 2011, 08:50 AM
... but I had to use other software to finish it.
Recently started an edit job with all the source clips supplied by the client as .mts files. A peek at them revealed they were AVCHD compressed 1080i stuff and though Final Cut refused to see them I could play them with one of my alternate players -- VLC or similar.
Added ClipWrap to my bag of tricks, pointed it at the folder full of clips -- some of which were 2GB files -- and went off to bed. Morning revealed that all but one of the clips had been converted as instructed to ProRes files -- the one that wasn't converted was listed as an 'unidentifiable format' ... an odd description as a look at the content revealed it was a continuation of the file before it in the folder, likely part of a very long continuous conference shoot.
Further poking with tools I had on my system turned up complaints about the file -- missing information about dimensions, said one, lacking an indication of codec, said another ... and yet I could play the file and view the content using VLC (or maybe some other -- I forget which players are installed on that system).
So I downloaded the demo version of Shedworx' VoltaicHD and pointed it at the problem file -- voila, it immediately did as was asked and produced a conversion of the first twenty seconds of the 16 minute 2GB file (all the demo version will do). A few minutes with my credit card and the the program was good to go, and converted the entire file.
Not to make it sound quite that simple -- the Shedworx program seems much slower than Clipwrap - I haven't done a scientific test, but anecdotaly the single 2GB file took nearly three hours, Clipwrap converted all but that one file in a folder of 16GB in less than ten.
So ClipWrap will continue to be the first program I reach for when faced with AVCHD material to edit in FCP, but now VoltaicHD has demonstrated it can offer a solution where others can't and I'll keep that in mind.
Cheers,
GB
Recently started an edit job with all the source clips supplied by the client as .mts files. A peek at them revealed they were AVCHD compressed 1080i stuff and though Final Cut refused to see them I could play them with one of my alternate players -- VLC or similar.
Added ClipWrap to my bag of tricks, pointed it at the folder full of clips -- some of which were 2GB files -- and went off to bed. Morning revealed that all but one of the clips had been converted as instructed to ProRes files -- the one that wasn't converted was listed as an 'unidentifiable format' ... an odd description as a look at the content revealed it was a continuation of the file before it in the folder, likely part of a very long continuous conference shoot.
Further poking with tools I had on my system turned up complaints about the file -- missing information about dimensions, said one, lacking an indication of codec, said another ... and yet I could play the file and view the content using VLC (or maybe some other -- I forget which players are installed on that system).
So I downloaded the demo version of Shedworx' VoltaicHD and pointed it at the problem file -- voila, it immediately did as was asked and produced a conversion of the first twenty seconds of the 16 minute 2GB file (all the demo version will do). A few minutes with my credit card and the the program was good to go, and converted the entire file.
Not to make it sound quite that simple -- the Shedworx program seems much slower than Clipwrap - I haven't done a scientific test, but anecdotaly the single 2GB file took nearly three hours, Clipwrap converted all but that one file in a folder of 16GB in less than ten.
So ClipWrap will continue to be the first program I reach for when faced with AVCHD material to edit in FCP, but now VoltaicHD has demonstrated it can offer a solution where others can't and I'll keep that in mind.
Cheers,
GB