Vegas to FCP for SD material

jlafferty wrote on 1/10/2006, 10:57 AM
What's the preferred codec?

I've got a vid client coming over tomorrow and he said "We just need to put it on a timeline and spit it out to Quicktime so my guy can look at it on FCP..."

And I thought to myself, "Rarely is it ever that easy..."

So I figured I'd come looking here for anyone who does this regularly and has timely advice. This is all DV stuff, mixed with some MPEG2 ripped from his personal DVD reel (I know of the quality loss issues but it's all he has available).

Thanks!

- jim

Comments

farss wrote on 1/10/2006, 1:27 PM
Latest versions of FCP can open .avi files straight out of Vegas from my experience.
Bob.
jlafferty wrote on 1/11/2006, 8:35 AM
Wow, that's convenient. Thanks.
DaveF wrote on 1/12/2006, 10:01 AM
Don't know how much stuff you neeed to convert. I've had problems taking Vegas output to FCP using AVI files. The issue is AVI Codecs. If you use uncompressed, you're going to get some huge, monster sized files and long rendering times. If you use Indeo or some other compression, you may have problems getting FCP to read it, plus you'll be dealing with compressed files which will reduce the quality.

From my experience, the DVD AVI codec from Vegas doesn't look too good in FCP, kind of blocky. That's just my opinion. Others may have found something I don't know, which may not be too hard.

I usually make a DVD in Vegas/DVD Architect, then bring the DVD to my G5 and do an analog capture into FCP. I know that MPEG2 has its own compression issues, but by capturing analog, lots of those issues are kind of "lost." Besides, analog capture into FCP is rock solid, and your client will have the correct codecs installed in their machine to handle what you give them. FCP is very picky about codecs and won't allow you to mix files with different codecs on the timeline, unless rendered (or unless you have an expensive hardware add-on.)

rmack350 wrote on 1/12/2006, 3:22 PM
Another fairly foolproof method would be to just burn it to a DV tape and let the guy recapture it.

Ideally, you could email him some test clips of 1 or 2 MB. Then he can tell you what works. Or put larger test clips on an ftp site for him to download.

Rob Mack