Editing mp4 files with Final Cut Pro or other Mac based applications

I have an h.264 mp4 which I'm able to open in Quicktime 7 Pro. I then have a copy of the Play Him Off Keyboard Cat original as an mp4; I can cut and paste the keyboard cat mp4 right into the h.264 mp4. The keyboard cat video in my test isn't h.264, and the video's dimensions are a little bit smaller. I'm sure with two h.264 source files you could cut and paste in Quicktime 7 Pro to do some basic editing on the fly. I don't have the Flip HD camera myself, so I can't test with that, but I've just edited two videos off of the Flip Ultra using Quicktime 7 Pro. It looks like I can do the same thing with Quicktime Player in Snow Leopard as well... using the "Trim" command from the Edit menu.

You obviously don't get nearly the control you might get in Final Cut Pro however. You have just the one timeline, and I can't layer audio tracks, etc.

You wouldn't want to edit a mp4 video directly in FCP. That is a final delivery file type, and is heavily compressed. You'll want to edit in a codec that FCP can read more easily (without rendering basically.) If you have the FCP Suite, use Compressor to transcode to ProRes or DVCPRO HD.

You'll get a near perfect copy of your source video and be able to work with it in FCP without rendering. I prefer Apple's ProRes HQ, but be warned, file sizes can become very large very quickly.

Once you've got your video edited, you can export to any codec/container that you'd like.

Pardon the thread necropsy but since this falls very close to my question, I thought I'd chime in. I am using an older version of FCP (5.0.4) and I do not have the ProRes codec available to me. Also the versions of DVCPRO HD I have support both flavors of 1080 but only 720p60. I got a cheap Sanyo G10 for Christmas that captures in 720p30. I have had some success transcoding with Compressor to HDTV 720p30 (.MOV) but the export times back to AVCHD were unreal. Rendering wasn't too bad but there never seemed to be an easy way to export back just as it came in. I was able to spit out a fairly decent one but the bitrate was severely limited by the slider range in Compressor's MP4 converter settings (2048Kb/s, where the original was 1.1MB/s or 9011.2Kb/s). My main question is, is the HDTV 720p30 format also an acceptable intermediate codec for editing or is it mainly a final type ala AVCHD?

I recently read about QTP 7's native editing support and am eager to try it. Since I am really only needing to cut songs out of one long take I suppose it will work fine. I was hoping to be able to add titles and fade ins/outs but I'll take what I can get. filmbilly, you're totally right that these new cams are pretty much obsolete for use in a pro NLE workflow. Mine didn't even come with editing software. There are some very basic options available within the camera's menu but I'd much rather use the more accurate tools already available to me.

leicaphile, yes as long as it's an uncompressed .mov (make sure that you set your 'easy setup' in FCP to match). The DVCPRO HD codec has a 720p30 setting (you may want to use it if it's available in FCP 5.0.4 - I'm using 6.0.4 and it is an option with my version). After you're done editing be sure to export an uncompressed file for your archives. Use the uncompressed file for encoding all of your deliverables. QTPRO 7 does a great job of encoding for quick one-offs if you don't want to mess around in Compressor.

As long as we're revisiting this post I will say that msilver has a great suggestion of using QT7 to edit this type of footage. My scenario is usually Flipcam (MP4 cam) on a tradeshow floor with a short window of time to post an edited interview to the web. There is no time for converting MP4 files to ApplePro Res and then re-encoding for web delivery (I need a hack!). These cams are supposed to be made for instant upload to the web but there's no way to edit and title the lossy files (the Flip editing app is a meager solution). You can pre-build titles in FCP and export lossy files to match the MP4 flavor of the day and then add those in with the Flip footage that is being assembled in QTPRO 7 - then export without re-encoding (unfortunately there are no fades or dissolves with this method).

BTW - Final Cut Express 4 has native support for AVCHD and it's cheap.

it's on my lap now, a big hairy pile of mp4 footage (720). first off i'm running fcp v5.?. here's how i skinned it. dv ntsc proj, seq, etc. imported all the mp4 clips, dont bother trying to play them, batch export the clips - i went out to .mov / dv ntsc.

in the finder the exported clips continued to have the .mp4 extension even though i exported them as .mov - i just changed the extension to .mov - went back into fcp, same project, and imported the .mov clips. cut away. surprisingly the process did not degrade the footage to an unacceptable degree. resize to get rid of the squeeze.

word of warning, let the batch cook overnight. try it you'll like it.

As we know, Final Cut Pro is a non-linear and non-destructive editing software application, it can only import non-destructive video format including DV, HDV, P2 MXF (DVCProHD), XDCAM, and 2K film formats. Nevertheless, the widely used MP4 is lossy format, which is a final delivery file type and is heavily compressed. In order to successfully import MP4 to Final Cut Pro, we have to convert the lossy MP4 to non-destructive format like DV which is compatible with FCP.

just google search Step by Step Guide on How to Convert MP4 to DV so as to Import MP4 into FCP/FCE

you will find a Detailed Guide on How to Convert and Import MP4 to FCP/FCE

hope it helps more or less

It is dead easy to import MP4 into Final Cut Pro for editing once you have Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac. It applies to MP4 recorded from various camcorders like Samsung HMX-H100 camcorder, Sanyo XACTO HD1000 Full HD camera, Flip camcorder, JVC GY-HM100, JVC GY-HM700 and more. It applies to MP4 from media players, mobile phones, portable devices and YouTube etc. It also applies to import MP4 to Final Cut Pro, FCE and iMovie.

It applies to import MP4 to Final Cut Pro X or import MP4 to Final Cut Pro 7 or import MP4 to any other version of Final Cut Pro by transcoding 720P MP4 to Apple ProRes 422 codec.