Test Ac Blogger Blog: Final Cut Express 4 For Mac

The software I am reviewing today is Final Cut Express 4 and LiveType (included). First of all when purchasing the software I made a big mistake. I bought the software without educational discount! They had a sale for final cut studio 2 for $600 (still in effect)!! My dad said if I can bring it back he would buy me Final Cut Studio 2 $1200 software for $600, what a deal! Apple has all their strict policies and for this case the 'open box no return' rule. This was very unfortunate, don't make the same mistake!

Test Ac Blogger Blog Final Cut Express 4 For Mac

Greetings everybody, hopefully I'm posting in the right place for this. I've been trying to edit and export video from my new Flip HD Ultra recently but unfortunately the video quality drops significantly. The video clips directly out of the flip cam are awesome, great resolution, sharpness, etc. After editing in Final Cut Express and exporting to QuickTime the video looks very low res, much lower quality.

Should I be preparing the video somehow before I edit it? Is there a certain exporting technique that I should be using? My system and software info is below. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

-Ian Final Cut Express 4.0.1 New Flip HD Ultra Quicktime 7.6.4 MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel Mac OS 10.5.8. Shane, For the record, all Flip Cams record as MP4 files. The files are best transcoded to ProRes before editing. However, I did put an HD MP4 file from my Flip Cam Mino on the timeline as a test, and while it was not the best editing experience, it did not look degraded as Ian is suggesting.

David Roth Weiss Director/Editor/Colorist David Weiss Productions, Inc. Los Angeles POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™ A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums. Shane Ross 'I know what they record, and that you need to convert to ProRes. We have two' Oh!!!

Gotcha, sorry for the intrusion. Shane Ross 'But the question was when he exported from FCP they look low quality. So, what did he export as from FCP?'

Shane Ross 'But the question was when he exported from FCP they look low quality. So, what did he export as from FCP?'

I think he's using FCE, so that means he's somewhat limited in his choices, right? David Roth Weiss Director/Editor/Colorist David Weiss Productions, Inc. Los Angeles POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™ A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums. Thanks again for the replies guys.

When I export from Final Cut Express the result is a.mov file. To actually play the MP4 clip I have to render them first, yes. I get the same result when cutting a MP4 file up and just exporting without rendering first as well. I'm able to view individual frames in the player on the upper right but can't actually play the MP4 files without rendering first. Not sure what you mean by 'sequence settings'. Sorry I forgot about rendering the clips in my previous messages, I've definitely told you guys my whole process now.

I'm putting the MP4 files into FCE to edit them, yes. Thanks again, cheers. I am using Final Cut Express trying to edit Flip Video HD Footage. They are in the MP4 format and I use MPEG Streamclip to convert them into MOV firmat.

However, I do not know what to compress them as so that I do not have to render them in Final Cut Express.(Always get the Red Line in FInal Cut Express) I have tried a few different compressions options in MPEG Streamclip but still have to render in Final Cut Express. I go ahead and render them in Final Cut Express but would preferably not have to do that all the time. I then export the video and the quality is awful.

This is the workflow for when I Export: Export using quicktime conversion; Settings are: Compression H264; Quality as Best; Dimensions are 1280 X 720; and Deinterlace Video checked. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance Stacey Bilodeau.