Couldn’t figure out a workable way to import Sony RX100 IV XAVC S 4K footage to FCP 7? No worry, this post explains a workaround to transcode RX100 IV XAVC S 4K MP4 files to ProRes for use in FCP 7 flawlessly.
Problems importing XAVC S 4K footage from Sony RX100 IV to FCP 7
“Hi all, I hope someone can help. I recently bought Sony’s RX100 IV. I’m working with FCP 7 and it does not recognize the XAVC S 4K video files fromRX100 IV. I searched online and found FCP 7 will not work correctly with the XAVC S camera file. Does that mean I have to convert the file to an edit friendly format for FCP 7-by converting it to ProRes? If so, anyone know a good XAVC S converter to do this? Any other solutions? Has anyone encountered this problem? Thanks a lot! OS X Mavericks (10.9)”
FCP 7 users do not get native support for XAVC S format. This is bad news if you still use FCP 7 as you will have to transcode XAVC S material into another format for editing. This requires third party software like HD Video Converter for mac. Read on to find a step-by-step guide on how to encode Sony RX100 IV XAVC S 4K video to ProRes for FCP 7 editing.
Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter for Mac
With HD Video Converter for Mac installed, you are able to convert Sony RX100 IV XAVC S 4K footage to ProRes .mov for working with FCP 7 smoothly. More than XAVC S 4K media, it also supports converting P2 MXF, XAVC MXF, XDCAM/XDCAM HD MXF, IMX MXF, AVCHD (.m2t, .m2ts, .mts), H.264 MOV, XDCAM EX MP4, MKV, AVI, M2V and more for your different final targets, such as editing, playing, sharing, and burning.
How to encode RX100 IV XAVC S 4K footage for editing in FCP 7 flawlessly?
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Run HD Video Converter for Mac as a professional RX100 IV XAVC S to ProRes Converter. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load source video to it.
Step 2: Select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as output format for opening with FCP 7
From the ‘Profile’ list, move to ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue, and select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target format. Apple ProRes is the best suited editing codec for FCP 7 and its former version FCP 6 and the most recent version FCPX. When loading them into FCP (X), you needn’t wait for a long time for rendering. To create smaller files, transcode your source files to Apple ProRes 422 (LT).
Apple ProRes 422 – Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT);
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) – Keep original video quality for editing in FCP;
Apple ProRes 422 (LT) – Get a smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422;
Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) – SD levels – 480i/p and 576i/p. Used in offline workflows.
Apple ProRes 4444 – Edit and finish 4:4:4 material.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
Step 3: Adjust video and audio settings (for advanced users)
If necessary, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profiles Settings’ panel to modify video and audio settings like video encoder, resolution, video bit rate, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio encoder, sample rate, audio bit rate, and audio channels. 3D settings are also available.
Step 4: Click ‘Convert’ to start Sony RX100 IV XAVC S 4K files to ProRes MOV conversion.
Step 5: Click ‘Open Folder’ to get generated ProRes QuickTime files for transferring and editing in Final Cut Pro 7 with optimum performance.
To import the transcoded files into Final Cut Pro X, navigate to File > Import > Media. In the window that comes up select your transcoded ProRes clips. DO NOT check “Create Optimized Media” OR “Create Proxy Media”. Both of these check boxes are unnecessary because we already converted the media to ProRes which means Final Cut Pro X can use the footage without “optimizing” it. Checking this box would create a redundant and time consuming second transcode of your footage.
You’re now ready to edit!
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