How to import HEVC H.265 video to Hitfilm?


How do you import HEVC H.265 files to Hitfilm? If you are experiencing problems working with HEVC x265 video in Hitfilm, you may ask this question. Currently, transcoding HEVC footage to an edit friendly codec like DNxHD or ProRes would be a workable solution to solve the issue.
edit HEVC H.265 video in Hitfilm
HitFilm Pro 2017 don’t support GH5 HEVC (H.265) footage
“I just started to work with GH5 10-bit 422 footage, and discovered that HitFilm Pro 2017 do not yet support the HEVC (H.265) codec. Has anybody else seen this problem? Any workarounds to go through this? Thanks for any suggestions.”

If for any reason Hitfilm doesn’t read H.265/HEVC files, try transcoding your original video files to an edit friendly codec like DNxHD or ProRes. This will ensure a very good performance while editing in Hitfilm. Learn how to process file conversion below.

How to convert H.265/HEVC files to DNxHD or ProRes for Hitfilm?

Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter
edit HEVC H.265 video in Hitfilm 2017edit HEVC H.265 video in Hitfilm 2017

Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as an HEVC H.265 video to Hitfilm Converter.

Step 2: Click ‘Add File’ to import your source media to the program.
convert hevc h.265 to dnxhd for Hitfilm

Step 3: Select output format
* If you are on a Windows PC, from the “Profile” bar, choose ‘Avid DNxHD 1080p (*.mov)’ as output under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column. (See the screenshot above)

** If you are on a Mac computer, choose ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target under ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue.
transcode x265 hevc to prores for Hitfilm

*** Note that this converter program can only output Apple ProRes and DNxHD video up to 1080p, if you want to preserve 4K quality of your source files, you need to select “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To export 4K files, please make sure your computer has enough power to process 4K. If not, simply select Apple ProRes or DNxHD as output format depending on your OS.
edit HEVC H.265 video in Hitfilm 2017

Step 4: Custom video and audio settings (for advanced users)
Click ‘Settings’ button, the ‘Profile Settings’ panel pops up, on which you are able to modify video and audio settings like resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel.

Step 5: When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding HEVC H.265 files to Hitfilm supported format. As soon as the conversion is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to locate the generated files and now you are able to open them in Hitfilm for further editing smoothly.

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