PC to Mac codec issues
 

So I've decided to ditch Cineform/Premiere Pro on my current project and moving it to 100% FCP on a Mac Pro. For complicated reasons I need to capture the footage on a PC now and edit on a Mac later

My question is what codec do you guys recommend that will work on both OS's? I understand I can go the uncompressed route but that's a bit rediculous for this project. I do however need as good of quality as I can get because I'll be doing a decent amount of post work on this stuff. CC, motion gfx... probably some comping. Another issue I have is that I'm working in a multi format/resolution environment. Z1's shooting 1080i and P2's shooting 720p variable frame rate stuff. So I'd like to be able to get this all working nice with each other.

Any input?

Thanks guys

Does anyone know if the default mpeg file that premiere pro creates from HDV will play and work in FCP?

Ok I found out that they will not work.

Nobody has moved a project from a PC to a Mac? :|

Well you could just suck in the HDV as m2t, FCP will edit it, but m2t is very hard to work with and it's not to good with CC.

All you could use FCP to convert it to it's special HD codec like Aspect HD does, then edit that once yo get it set up

If you stayed on a PC you could go with EDIUS 4. It will edit just about anyhthng on it's timeline so it's a great multi format/resolution environment to work with. HDV / DV no problems and it has it's own codec called Canopus HQ which I think is better than Aspect HD's codec when you hit it with CC.

I did the same thing recently and thought I could use all of the footage I captured with Vegas. About half opened and half didn't. Someone here recommended that I just recapture. I'm glad I did. It was a pain but everything is clean. You will want to do that for continuity sake.

Jeff

Yeah I understand that's the best option but I'm really trying to get a workaround for capturing now. I have LOTS of footage I need to capture, not to mention I need to do it now.

Did you try just capturing as a default mpeg and compressing to quicktime or something? I guess there is always the uncompressed route. Have you tried working with uncompressed footage from a PC on a Mac?

Cheers

As far as the multi-format stuff, I'd recommend taking the 1080i down to 720P to match everything up. That can help the chroma resolution on your Z1 footage.

I've done SD switchover but not HDV. MPEG Streamclip, which is a free application is available for both platforms and might help you encode on the Windows machine in a way that you can read it on the Mac.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

-gb-

Hi Gene,

No I didn't try to do anything other than open the files. I simply made the decision that I thought it was best to simply recapture so the whole system worked together. I had close to 50 HDCam tapes to capture and it took me a whole weekend to do butit gave me the opportunity for straight clean captures and no headaches down the road. It's probably the first time that I absolutely listened to someone here and not tried to second guess. Best decision I have made, especially since FCP HD is brand new to me.

Jeff

Thanks for the input guys.

Cheers