For all Final Cut (Express or Pro) Users-what edit codec?

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:53 pm

For you fellow Mac lovers...or people who use a Mac just for FCP

...what editing codec do you use? I've been using DV. Uncompressed is awesome quality, but I really don't have the space. Techsmith Ensharpen seemed to be the answer, but FCP only comes with an evaluation version (with an ugly watermark)...and I'm not ready to shell out $249 for the full version. Anyone find a compromise between DV and Uncompressed?

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:55 pm

Btw, Huffyuv isn't available for Mac as far as I know...

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:03 pm

i'm planning on trying to edit an amv in FCP so i did some tests. Mjpeg A looked pretty good and so did h264. h264 was a little slow though, but the filesize vs qaulty compaired to mjpeg and uncompressed is far better. i didn't play with it too long though (using school computers) so i don't know if there are any other underlying problems. here are the files sizes of the test encodes:

RAW = 3.72gb (vdub'd from HUFFYUV master)
MJPEG A = 607mb (Quicktime Pro's encoder)
MPEG2 = 148mb (TMpgEnc)
H264 = 50mb (Quicktime Pro's encoder)

Pwolf

Qyot27 · Post by **Qyot27** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:22 pm

If I used a Mac, I'd probably opt for either PNG or Component Video, possibly Planar RGB, although I haven't played around with them yet so I don't even know if Component Video or Planar RGB are lossless, but I know that PNG is. Quicktime is incredibly slow on my computer, so it's hard to test. If H.264 Lossless was supported by Quicktime, I'd likely use that as well. Unfortunately, I don't think it does.

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:31 pm

I'm trying out Planar RGB, PNG, and Component. When they're done encoding, I'll let you guys know the quality, file sizes, etc.

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:24 pm

At least from the names I would reckon that Planar RGB and Component Video are both uncompressed formats, with Planar RGB being in RGB24 or RGB32 and Component Video being either YUV2 or YV12.