OK I might be retarted, so i have been give'n a dvd of "raw footage" for a wedding. So i downloaded "handbrake" Started to get it encripted. I didnt mess with any of the settings so it made a MP4 file. When i go into FCP and try to import it. This is the error i get
"FILE ERROR: 1file(s) recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown"

Im sure there is a simple answer to this, but i just cant figure it out. Is there any setting i need to change on handbrake for FCP to recognize it?

Thank you,

Cory H

If the DVD is not a DVD-ROM with QuickTime files on it, I am assuming it's a Burned MPEG2 Standard Definition DVD. If this is the case then you will want to use MPEG StreamClip to extract the clips into an editable QuickTime Movie with the appropriate Codec. The codec will be determined by what your sequence settings are in Final Cut Pro.

Most likely they will be Standard Definition with a 4x3 aspect ratio. If that is the case you will want to use DV/DVCPRO codec when you rip the footage from the DVD using MPEG Stream Clip.

Here is the link:

www.squared5.com/

Thank you.
So i was doing some research, This is what i found. Do you think this second option would be better quality?


You can take your DVD, use MPEG Streamclip and Export to DV, but here's the rub, unless you are outputting back to DV tape, DV quality sucks, and it is being unnecessarily compressed and the quality sucks.

What to do, if you have a fast Mac, a Mac Pro, with large drives, and RAM, use QuickTime Pro and export to Apple Animation (or Uncompressed) it is going to be a big file, but it will not be compressed into DV, it will be as close to the original MPEG-2 file as possible.

Import this file into FCP, cut it and recompress back to MPEG-2 or H.264, with Compressor, (Compressor seems to be faster and better than QT, it uses it's own transcoding engine).

Here is a link I found very helpful, when doing a DV project in FCP with Text, Titles, etc. and one does an output to DV, the Text is absolutely horrible looking, like it was not rendered in full quality.

I would opt for an uncompressed format, like Black Magic 10-Bit lossless format, you can download the codec for FREE. It's near impossible to edit Apple's Animation codec in a Final Cut Pro sequence.

Download Free Black Magic Codecs for QuickTime and Final Cut Pro here:

www.blackmagic-design.com/support/software/

Also, I think the Crap in Crap out theory applies. There is only so much quality you are going to be able to reproduce since you are extracting, or ripping footage from a highly compressed format. I think that just goes without saying.

Im very grateful for your help. Thank you

You bet, that's why we started the website. Thanks for joining! We hope to see you online and offline.

Let us know how your predicament turns out here in this thread.

Best.