If you are still working with Final Cut Pro 7, you may wish to read this post. It displays a workaround to transcode Sony 4K XAVC MXF files to ProRes for use in FCP 7 flawlessly.
How can I work with 4K XAVC MXF files in FCP 7?
“I’m working on a dance film using Sony F55 and we are shooting 4K XAVC to the SxS cards. Is there a plug-in that allows easy import of the 4K XAVC MXF files directly into FCP 7? I have googled a lot and have not been able to find a solution to this. Please advice. Any help would be majorly appreciated. Thanks for any help.”
The XAVC Plug-in for Apple (PDZK-LT2) provided by Sony requires Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8 or higher for XAVC format. For FCP 7 users, we would recommend transcoding 4K XAVC MXF media to a format that is best suitable for editing in FCP X, such as Apple ProRes codec, which FCP 7 will recognize and handle well. Read on to learn a simple guide on how to encode your 4K XAVC videos into Apple ProRes for FCP 7 editing.
How to convert Sony XAVC MXF footage to ProRes for FCP 7?
Software requirement
HD Video Converter for Mac
The process is straight forward.
Step 1: Run HD Video Converter for Mac as a professional XAVC 4K 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 Format bar, 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 XAVC 4K MXF 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.
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