Video Guides >
Capturing/Recording > Final Cut Pro
Article last updated March 9, 2009
Final Cut
Pro (FCP) is one of several well-known NLE systems for the
Apple Macintosh. An NLE refers to a "non-linear
editor", usually in reference to a professional program
like FCP, Avid or Adobe Premiere (which is available on both
Mac and PC). Most advanced NLE's can capture, in addition to
just editing the video.
While this guide was written several years ago, the
concepts are still very similar to what is done in 2009. The
guide was created on a Mac G4 system on OS9 (9.2.2), in
Final Cut Pro 2, using a professional-grade Matrox RTMac DV
PCI capture card. It has real-time editing abilities, as
well as DV capture abilities.
Final
Cut Pro 2 on OS 9
Configure the capture device. Go to EDIT ->
Audio/Video settings. If the card and drivers are installed
properly (please see your card's manual, help files and tech
support if you have installation trouble), this settings
window should show the card and it's input settings.
Sequence Preset, Capture Preset, and Device Control
Preset refer to settings for the card and capture. The
SUMMARY screen provides a drop-down list of the current
presets. The edit/delete/add new presets, click on the tab
for that preset section.
Matrox Example: Sequence
preset is the available capture method of the
card (including PAL and NTSC settings). In this example, the
card's native DV (CCIR White) and NTSC format were selected.
Capture preset is the
card input. In this example, S-VIDEO input was selected. Device
control is for special devices like cameras. External
video is for second preview monitors, of which
none are connected to this computer.
Sequence Presets. The sequence is the way video is
stored on the timeline. Video must be exported from the
sequence in order to be saved. A sequence can hold multiple
clips. The sequence presets should usually match the capture
presets. To add a new sequence, click DUPLICATE and the edit
the duplicated preset.
Sequence Preset settings. In the sequence editor,
resolution, interlace, fps and other settings can be
altered. The compression codec can also be changed (MJPEG,
DV, Sorenson, etc), as well as the audio capture settings.
Again, the sequence should match the capture settings. FCP
will refuse obvious inconsistencies like PAL/NTSC mixes,
etc.
Capture Presets settings. The CAPTURE PRESETS tab
operates like the Sequence Presets tab; click DUPLICATE and
then EDIT to alter the settings. It will bring up an editor
window (shown below). It is very similar to the sequence
settings, where resolution, input type, fps, audio, and
compression codecs can be adjusted as needed.
As explained above, the External Video tab is for output to
a secondary monitor or other video device. In the example
below, the secondary output is set to NONE. The video
capture will already realtime preview in FCP on the computer
monitor, this is ONLY for secondary output devices.
FCP Preferences. Goto EDIT -> PREFERENCES. There
are two important options to change here. Most of the
default settings will be fine as is. On the GENERAL tab, the
"Report dropped frames during playback" can be
disabled, as it may actually CAUSE frames to be dropped.
Enable or disable this setting at your discretion.
Increasing the UNDO LEVELS can also be useful, just be aware
that it may slow down FCP performance and requires more
scratch/RAM.
Scratch disks are a form of temporary memory on the hard
drive. Set your scratch disk to a drive where the video
files ARE NOT being loaded from or saved to. As usual,
7200rpm or faster drives are suggested. The
capture time can also be limited here! Very useful!
Capture the video. After the settings and preferences
have been altered as needed, it's time to capture. To
capture, goto FILE -> LOG AND CAPTURE. (NOTE!
Please refer to the general tips found in the 'how
to avoid dropped frames and audio sync issues' guide.
Leave the computer alone to capture, do not try to use it
for anything else when capturing.)
The LOG AND CAPTURE dialog window will pop up. On the
CAPTURE SETTINGS tab, the input can be changed at the last
minute (s-video, composite). The CLIP SETTINGS tab will
alter the hue/contrast/brightness/saturation of the incoming
capture file. It is best to adjust video as early as
possible. This is essentially a software proc amp, though
probably not as effective as a hardware proc amp.
- Click the NOW button to begin
capturing video.
- Hit the ESC button on the keyboard to stop capture.
Note: If FCP crashes during the capture, the captured-so-far
file will be on the scratch disk. The file is not lost.
Once the capture is finished, a new window with the newly
captured clip will appear. Goto FILE -> SAVE CLIP AS and
pick a location for the clip to be saved and named. Once the
clip is saved, the scratch file version will be cleared. Due
to the sizes of the file, it is suggested to save the clip
to the scratch drive. Otherwise, it will take quite some
time to save the capture. Close the LOG AND CAPTURE window.
NLE timeline. After the video has been captured and
saved, goto FILE -> NEW -> SEQUENCE and a new timeline
will be created. The basic FCP editing interface is composed
of FOUR distinct windows: Browser, Timeline, Source Clip
(shows filename), and Sequence Canvas. Click on the BROWSER
and select a SEQUENCE. The default "Sequence 1" is
probably already there. If all four windows are not showing,
goto WINDOW -> and select the missing window. Once the
sequence is selected, click on the SOURCE CLIP video
(anywhere in frame) and drag to the Sequence Canvas window
and INSERT into the sequence. The sequence can then be
edited on the timeline. See image below:
This guide does not cover advanced editing in FCP, just
capturing, and some basic edit/export. On the timeline are
several editing tools, namely the magnifying glass (which
zooms in on the timeline) and the razor blade (which slices
footage at the frame). One of the most common edits is to
cut out unwanted footage. Slice the footage as needed, and
then use the arrow to select the piece and hit DELETE on the
keyboard to remove. Drag the remaining pieces together on
the timeline. In the above example, commercials were cut out
of a tv recording.
Export timeline to MPEG for DVD. To export the the
timeline to an MPEG file, goto FILE -> EXPORT ->
QUICKTIME and a new window will pop up. If the correct
MPEG-2 encoder is installed (QuickTime Pro), MPEG encoding
will be available. Click on OPTIONS to bring up the MPEG
options window. Be sure to match the FIELD DOMINANCE (a.k.a.
field order) to the source, as well as the aspect ratio (4:3
usually), and video format (NTSC/PAL). Select desired
bit-rate. Note: Different versions of QuickTime Pro will
appears somewhat different. Save the file, which may take
several hours to encode.
Performance notes. To increase performance of FCP, be
sure to give it plenty of RAM/scratch usage. Find the Final
Cut Pro icon in the Finder (NOT an alias), and click FILE
-> GET INFO -> GENERAL INFORMATION. FCP must be closed
for this to work. If using a two-button mouse, right-click
on the FCP icon for the Get Info menu. Give it plenty of
memory. If you exceed native system RAM, be warned that it
will use virtual memory.
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