read on:-

Until the arrival of FCPX importing footage from a Canon XF100 camera was pretty seamless for Final Cut Pro users, as Canon had been had thought through the process and provided a plug-in that rewrapped the footage into a format that FCP 7 could use.

Upon arrival of FCP X Canon XF100 users were horrified to find out that everything had stopped working. FCP X does not recognise the footage from the plug in and the  recomended solution was to ingest into FCP 7, convert to ProRes and then use those files with FCPX. Untidy to say the least. of course there are many converters that will convert to ProRes.

But what about a solution that keeps all those beautiful Canon images without conversion and inherent loss of quality. After all, it was for the 50 Mbps 4.2.2 colour etc,  that is why we bought the Canon in the first place .

If you are looking for a solution that’s Fast, Free and Lossless – here it is:

XfcpX by Pika Foto.

It works and  it’s fast as well. There is no transcoding as the original mpeg2 stream is rewrapped into a .mov container that FCPX understands – after which you can have FCPX transcode it if needed. But you have the original yuv422p/50Mbps footage to edit with.

The application can be downloaded here

Read more about it on the Pika Foto web site:

and converts it through a simple drag and drop applet to Final Cut Pro 7.

A Final Cut Pro 7 sequence XML is generated and loaded directly into FCP 7. This allows you to take your FCP X timeline (Project) to FCP 7 or directly to Color, Adobe Premiere (and After Effects) or any other FCP 7 XML workflow. once the project is in FCP 7 you can then link to Soundtrack Pro, to Motion 4, or to OMF output for ProTools, even Print to tape and Edit to tape.

Images courtesy Intelligent Assistance

One of the first things that comes to mind when you think about this convertor is why??

If FCP X is a professional application!! – let’s not go into the old argument – then FCP X does miss the ability to link with the other legacy apps that FCP 7 did.

I have found Final Cut X to be a much more capable application than I thought on the initial release. Unfortunately it still has many bugs to be sorted – I call them bugs ‘cos that is what they are to my workflow.

I am now starting to get the hang of the FCP X way of doing things. It has taken the 5 months since release (of erratic use) for me to really train myself to think in X’s editing paradigm but now that I’m getting the feel of it, things are beginning to come together. It does not work well for every job, but for most of what I do it fits and I am increasingly not wanting to use FCP 7 because I miss the way that X does it. Wow! I never thought that would happen when I started 5 months ago.

The application will sometimes not respond the way you are expecting it to (i.e. the storyline [timeline] does not update as the skimmer/playhead moves to a new position or you’ll randomly lose the ability to ‘undo’.)  The way that audio is selected is fiddly (I hate the solid wave forms and yearn for the open lines of FCP 7) and the curser makes it hard to differentiate between shortening a clip and dragging the fader for audio. FCP X also slows down significantly – for no apparent reason, even though the render and transcode indicators say complete. Finally in my way of thinking, there has to be a quicker way to fade the opacity of the video clips. – You may have to trash your preferences in FCP X as we used to have to do frequently in FCP 6.

It is also buggy in the traditional sense as well. It will crash. It sometimes crashes and does not save your work from the last few minutes. Since there is no save independent of the application’s autosave feature, this can be a problem.

I will say that for basic editing – (non feature movie making) you should at least look at it and SPEND some time. FCP 7 is going to be history at some stage – you will have to move and from my short experience, FCP X does many things quicker and slicker. I suggest getting Compressor 4 and Motion 5. FCP X works without them, but they enhance the experience.

Anyway back to the subject on hand, once you convert your project from FCPXML to XML, you have access to all of the “Legacy” Final Cut tools! That means you can send it to Color for colour grading, export OMF to mix audio in software such as Pro Tools, and more! Those who are using tape formats can access Print to Tape.

Project X₂7 can convert Final Cut X′s non FCP 7 features – to-do markers, roles, synchronized clips, auditions, compound clips, inactive clips, titles, transitions, and more – to ones legacy Final Cut can understand.

Images courtesy Intelligent Assistance

This is a $50 translation tool that comes from Intelligent Assistance. The company is no stranger to XML and has produced many helpful workflow tools for Final Cut Pro 7 (as well as Premiere Pro). Project X27 moves Final Cut Pro X timelines into Final Cut Pro 7.

Project X27′s operation is simple: export an FCPX XML, run it through Project X27 and you get the FCP7 compliant XML.

The list of things that are translated in the process:

Titles at the start and end;
a mixture of primary storyline and connected clips;
a mix of active and inactive clips;
large numbers of J and L cuts;
to-do markers and regular markers;
spot audio effects; and
cross-dissolve transitions.

The Final Cut Pro Sequence XML is then ready for:

Color
Final Cut Server
Premiere Pro and then dynamic link to
After Effects
Soundbooth
Encore (for real Blu-ray authoring)
FInal Cut Pro 7 and then to
Soundtrack Pro
Motion 4
OMF output for ProTools, etc.
EDL export
Print to tape and Edit to tape

Project X₂7 is available on the Apple App store and works with Snow Leopard and Lion

Click for the developers site

The developers have promised to release the beta ASAP:

The following is the announcement from the Lightworks site:

“In response to feedback from our extensive User base, we have undertaken a huge amount of work to enhance the Codecs and cross-platform support for the Mac OSX and Linux versions of Lightworks.

We have been working on these updates for several months and had originally hoped to release the new version on the 29th November. However, we are not yet fully satisfied with the stability of this version with its many new features and therefore we have made the difficult decision to delay its release to our customers.

Obviously we are very keen to get the new version out, but we will only do this once we are confident that it meets the high standards demanded by our user community. Therefore, we are holding back on announcing a new date for the full release, but please be assured that we will do so as soon as possible and that we will keep all users fully informed.”

Lightworks Site

I had a question from a student today:
“When you have made a project and then go on to another project is there any possible
way of copying some footage from a project and transferring it to another one?”

Answer:
Select the footage in the first project – copy it (Command C) open the second project. Put your play head where you want the footage to go and Paste (Command V) It is pasted into the primary storyline as an insert. If you want it as a attached clip (B roll), then right click and select “lift from Primary storyline”

This is a hint of things to come with established support applications in a current world that FCP X is about to join

With the introduction of XML export /import now available via the FCP X update 10.0.1, there was initially a knee jerk reaction that this would directly allow export of FCP 7 projects to FCP X and vice versa. Well that was just too simplified. The XML versions are different in the two applications. It’s mostly to do with the fact that FCP X has both events and projects and FCP 7 doesn’t – but maybe that is too simplistic also – however it does give a general analogy of difference.

Apple’s explanation is that it is now up to developers to to use the interface language (XML) and create tools to to translate between different applications.

There was a quick release from Automatic Duck with a converter for ProTools with Pro Export FCP 5.0. This exports FCP X projects for ProTools. — http://www.automaticduck.com/products/pefcp/

There is about to be a way to export from FCP X into FCP 7

Currently in development is, a beta application from Intelligent Assistance, that will use the new xml export feature in FCP X. This is expected to mean a FCP X project can be exported as XML, converted, then imported into FCP 7. From FCP 7, it can be sent to any other applications that work in with FCP 7 XML. This includes Soundtrack Pro or ProTools via OMF, or Color for color correction, even Motion 4.

The application is named: “Project X27″ and is expected in the next couple of weeks. When it is available, it will be on this website: www. intelligentassistance.com (not on the site  as yet)

This is the beginning of things to come from other developers. FCP X is about to become part of the rest of the world.

What you should be aware of is that a good deal of the new features of update 10.0.1 are under bonnet.

The first thing you will be asked is if you want to update current projects and events. Events and projects need to be updated  - cannot be opened in earlier version of Final Cut – this is OK unless you have a version 10.0 that you still wish to use on another computer.

Let’s look at XML import/export

To export an XML file from FCP X you need to to be in the project library, not the actual project. The export XML command is in the File Menu.

The file created is: name.fcpxml. This will not open in Final Cut 7. Nor could I get Final Cut 7 xml files open in FCP X

Image below shows new commands: Import XML, Export XML and Add San Location as well as Export San Location

The Roles export as multitrack or separate files are under the share menu.

The help files on Apple’s web site have not yet been updated for the new features so if you search for XML for instance it comes back with No results found. The applications help does direct you to the commands in the menus though.

The new theme – Tribute gives a selectable colour range of grid patterns – maybe OK for a quick edit but of course this can be edited in Motion to give a more unique feel.

The article below is a detailed review on 10.0.1 from Apple’s point of view – it is worth a read

http://www.postmagazine.com/Press-Center/Daily-News/2011/Apples-Richard-Townhill-discusses-the-latest-FCP2.aspx

New features:

Xsan support
Rich XML import and export
Media Stems support
Custom Starting Timecode
GPU-accelerated export
Camera Import SDK – allows camera manuafactures to write plug -ins - Sony is updating their XDCAM EX support
Full-screen view in Lion
Add transitions to connected clips in a single step.
New Theme: Tribute
Demo version of Final Cut Pro X now available

No Multicam editing – but it is promised in early 2012

The best news to me is the new XML support. this should allow to import of bins and timelines from older projects.  This was not on Apple’s promise list so is definitely a bonus.

 
Richard Townhill, Apple’s senior director applications marketing, said:

“We listened to the pros and have taken their top feature requests and put them in this update.”

Final Cut Pro now has Xsan support, which includes projects and events. With Xsan support, users can access the same source media while creating separate projects on the SAN. Of course, this means that users can edit from any system attached to the SAN.

The new version also includes support for Rich XML import and export. XML interchange gives users access to third-party workflows like high-end visual effects, color grading and media asset management. This includes products like Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve and Square Box System’s CatDV.

Apple brought Media Stems support to Final Cut Pro X, but they took it a step further than what you may be used to. When you export stems, you are basically splitting the media into separate files like dialogue, effects, music, etc. You have to mute all of the tracks you don’t want in the stem and them bounce the file out. Obviously, this means that you have to make multiple passes in order to export all of the necessary stems.

Final Cut Pro X introduces the concept of Roles, which allows you to tag tracks based on the stems you want to export. Once all of your tracks are labeled, you can make one pass and export all of the stems at the same time.

You can export a single multitrack file or separate audio stems based on your tags. You can also apply Roles to video clips and graphics giving you a new way to export separate files for versioning and localization, according to Apple.

Apple added a few other features to Final Cut Pro X too, like Custom Starting Timecode, GPU-accelerated export, Camera Import SDK and full-screen view in Lion.

The MacBook Pro laptop I was using for the initial testing was just not quick enough (maybe also that it is still on Leopard)

I have now had a chance to extensively text the AVCCAM plug-in with a 27″ iMac running Snow Leopard. The results are much more satisfactory.

The SONY mts files can be directly imported in to Final Cut 7, using the import command. They come in as H.264 files. This means they can be imported directly but the downside is, the timeline will need much more rendering.

My advice is that if you have a small job requiring mts footage from a Sony Camcorder, the plug-in’s ability to directly import is just fine. If your project has any length to it, or you need to add effects, then I suggest that you convert the footage prior to import or use The Log and Transfer method built into FCP7. ( that converts the footage to ProRes anyway)

A side benefit, even if you don’t import the mts files to FCP7 is, that with the Plug-in installed you will be able to see what is in the mts files from your Sony Camcorder. This can be automated by selecting any mts file and right clicking on it (or selecting and using command i) this will bring up an info window about that file.

If you select The exposure arrow next to “open with” it will drop down to let you select quicktime. NOTE you also need to click the “change all” button for all mts files to open with Quicktime in future

If you only want to view the mts files then you could also use a free application called movist that will read any AVCHD files – it will not convert and is independent of Quicktime. It supports QuickTime and FFmpeg and also supports subtitles. You can watch videos in full screen mode and it allows you to switch instantly between different aspect ratios from default to widescreen.

Download from here:

http://code.google.com/p/movist/

This plug-in allows Quicktime to read Panasonic AVCCAM clips.

The AVCCAM Importer QuickTime plug-in component is to enable direct editing of AVCHD “.mts” file without conversion.
AVCHD clips recorded on a Panasonic AVCCAM lineup product can be handled directly in QuickTime 7 and Final Cut Pro 7.0.3.

WARNING:
This plug-in is for Panasonic AVCCAM products only - AVCHD clips recorded on equipment other than AVCCAM products slow Quicktime to a crawl and have Audio and Video out of sync. I have tried it with mts (AVCHD) clips from Sony Cameras and it does not work correctly, so DON’T  use this plug-in for any footage other than Panasonic AVCCAM products listed below.

AVCCAM series : AG-HMC150 series, AG-HMC40 series, AG-HMC70 series, AG-HMR10 series,AG-AF100 series
(as of December 2010). AVCHD clips recorded with other equipment (not listed above) such as AG-HSC1U, may
cause unstable audio and other symptom with audio in play back mode.

The plug-in does not work with Final Cut Pro X

The link for download is:   https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/dload/avccam_impt/agree_e.htm

Key features:

Copy and playback AVCHD data
Copy AVCHD data to SD memory card media

* Additional feature available with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (SnowLeopard):
- Copy and playback BD-RE ver.3.0 data

The PLUG IN specifications are:

QuickTime Plug-in component

The AVCCAM Importer QuickTime plug-in component is to enable direct editing of AVCHD “.mts” file (*1) without conversion.
AVCHD clips recorded on a Panasonic AVCCAM lineup product can be handled directly in QuickTime Player and Final Cut Pro.

NOTE:
*1: AVCHD clips recorded on equipment other than AVCCAM products will not be handled properly. Use the Inspector function in QuickTime Player to view the clip property, which includes the equipment used to record.

* Momentary picture and audio disturbance may occasionally happen in the connection point of spanned files (a clip separated into separate 4GB files.)

* Additional rendering may be required when add title insert and edit more than two streams.

* At rare intervals, following symptom may occasionally happen: (A) MTS file’s icon may not be displayed properly on Mac finder, (B) Clip duration may not be displayed on the QuickTime player and an Inspector window.

[Minimum System Requirements]
* Mac computers with Intel processor(s)
* 2GB of RAM or more
* Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
* QuickTime 7
* Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 or better however Not compatible with Final Cut Pro X (Ten)

When we contacted the Apple sales line today, to see if the product is to be available in Australia we were advised “yes”.

This initially appeared to be good news until we were told the price. It is an enormous A$1,499.00 for Australian customers. That is 40% higher than the US price  US$999. – and considering the Australian dollar is 1.06 higher than the US dollar today – that is even more outrageous. (According to the BBC the UK price is ₤834.)

We took this further and spoke to Apple Customer service, who advised that they were not sure why there was such a difference in price in Australia. When pressed to further explain the spokesperson went away to speak to her supervisor and when she returned  she apologised for the higher price in Australia and said that she had been advised to say it was due to the exchange difference between US and Australian dollar. She also correctly stated that GST is not included in the US price of $999 – Hey, that accounts for $99.00 – somebody needs to get their calculator out.

Once again Apple in Australia is ripping off its customers. The Apple boss in Australia has already been summoned to Canberra to explain price differences. For instance the Mac Book air is 15% higher in Australia than in US. Apple’s Australian Managing Director, Tony King had agreed to speak with the Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Ed Husic about technology prices that are significantly higher in Australia than the rest of the world.

According to Australian newspaper The Age, King agreed in March to speak with Parliament by July 16. When there was no meeting arranged between the MP and Apple. Husic was angered by the snub,  he spoke strongly against Apple on the floor of Parliament:

“Apple refused to respond and I am staggered by their behaviour: they’ve snubbed consumer, media and parliamentary interest in this matter.
He continued, saying that price discrimination occurs even when products are downloaded electronically.”