Final Mate for Mac
Capture video footage from camcorder, join/split AVCHD without encoding, convert to Apple ProRes & AIC
As soon as Final Cut Pro X was released, Apple announced on its website that this "professional video edit tool" could support AVCHD files faultlessly. But according to the test result, some users find that they are still not allowed to import AVCHD files into FCP X. What the reason is and how to solve will be discussed in this article.
FCP X supports two ways to import videos: import directly and import from camera, being different from "log and transfer" in FCP 7. Actually, FCP X is a totally new video editor. Without "log and capture, recapture, media management, new sequence, del, xml and so on", this editor made great change in FCP series. So, even if you have been that familiar with FCP 7, you still need to learn how to use FCP X.
Then back to our question: importing files to FCP X. The first way is to import files directly to FCP X. If you have stored enough videos in the disc or the NAS, files could be imported in this way. But the problem is: files must in MOV, MP4 or Apple ProRes format. Videos with other formats will be refused by FCP X. Someone who has tried "import from camera" will find when importing to FCP X, a whole folder of AVCHD will be necessary, but it still doesn't work in this way. How to solve this problem? I'd talk about it below.
My key point is to talk about the second way: import from camera. As most camcorders or cameras now capture HD videos, which are rather popular, I'd just take MTS format as the example when it has the representativeness. First I will show you a picture about the main structure of MTS files:
As I have said in the 3rd paragraph, when importing such MTS files, the whole folder is necessary. HERE the "whole" means information under BDMV folder.
In this condition, if you have ruined the information under CLIPNF or PLAYLIST, making it not sync with videos in BDMV folder, FCP X will refuse to recognize the folder or files. For example: I have a Sony HDR-CX170 and last Sunday lent it to my friend, who captured hundreds of video clips in a picnic. Then, she cut the single video clips without the CLIPNF and PLAYLIST (everybody will do like this), making the information in the folder chaotic. When I recorded a new video and tried to import into FCP X, I failed. I had to delete all the files in the folder to make FCP X read my new captured videos again. So, here is the important news for you: Do Make the Folders under BMDV Sync with Each Other.
Let’s continue. Does that mean you can import any MTS files into FCP X with correct folders? Sorry, the answer is NO. I have tested with Panasonic TM700, which is popular in most families for its high video quality and acceptable price. The result shows that: when captured in 50i/60i, the videos could be imported into FCP X successfully. But when the files/videos are in 50p/60p model, FCP X refused the importing. It shows that FCP X can’t support 50p/60p files perfectly. I have mentioned that I can import Sony HDR-CX170 video files successfully, and through the MediaInfo, such files are shown in 60i. I have called Apple for the correct answer about this problem, and I still need to wait for the reply.
Let’s talk about the camcorder/camera models which can be supported by FCP X. In the above, we just talk about videos or files supported by FCP X, Actually, FCP X has its native supported camcorders and cameras on the website. Here is LINK of a tablet: http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/cameras. You can check on this website that whether your camcorder/camera can be supported. If not, your videos couldn’t be recognized by FCP X successfully.
The problems I just mentioned are the most common ones when using FCP X for video editing. And in the following, I’d introduce how to get rid of such problems by converting the video formats. As you know, files (not in MP4, MOV or Apple ProRes) in the local disc can’t be imported into FCP X directly. So it will be helpful to convert the videos to these Apple Native Formats. The most popular solution is to use a video converter, which transfer the format from one to another by re-coding.
But if you have stored enough files, such as MOV and MP4, which can be recognized by FCP X, do you still need a video converter? Of course, you need. Why? f you have watched enough articles about such video formats, you will get that in the daily life, MOV and MP4 videos are mainly for broadcasting and sharing, which means when being watched on devices, such formats will supple the highest video quality. But if you choose FCP X to edit the files, Apple ProRes will be the best choice as it’s mainly designed for editing. Wikipedia has introduced this format ideally, please read it.
These are about the local disc videos/files, so how about the MTS files which can be recognized by FCP X? As a user of FCP X, I have to point that it always made me crazy of the “render” time. When I successfully upload the MTS files from my camcorder, I have to wait a long time when it need much time to “render” the files. Even when in FCP X, the “render” will run in background, I still don’t like see the red in my event. How to avoid this? Converting Videos to Apple ProRes is the best choice. So, answer to the question of this paragraph is YES, you still need a video converter.
So the new problem comes: Which video converter should I choose? Google video converter, you will find thousands of such products on the web, but which is best? To be honest, most of these conversion tools could help us to change the video formats. But the key point is which one can keep the high quality of the original videos? If you choose wrong, maybe the videos output will come out with many errors such as: low output quality, video not sync with audio and so on.
I recommend Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac, which is totally different from the normal video converters. This product is mainly designed for HD camera/camcorder users. Not only help to convert videos to correct formats, it could also help you to manage the video clips in your camera/camcorder. I will discuss its conversion function mainly in the following:
If you download the free trial version for test, you can find it really easy to use. There are only there main steps in converting: Import, Convert and Export. In the output formats choice, various formats will be shown for different devices or video editors. Just select the FCP-Apple ProRes for export like the following picture.
After the test, we can easily get that this tool could keep the high quality of your original video quality. Not only for FCP X, the function of Lossless Rewrap to MKV made it convenience to enjoy camera/camcorder videos on large-screen devices.
