id.mov

I have a bunch of footage from a recent project that I need to share with another editor using PC-based software. I've already reformatted a drive for him to ex-FAT. Now I'm wondering about the files themselves. Can I just go into my Original Media folder and copy over the QT files. I've never quite understood the id.mov at the end of the clips. If I copy those over, will they be readable by a PC-based editing software?

thx

It all depends on the format of your footage. Is it DV, H.264, ProRes... ?

- Ronny

I use the C100 which I believe is H.264 in a AVCHD codec. Doesn't FCPX simply convert whatever footage comes in to the same mov file? Not an area of expertise, I'm afraid to say. Thanks.

FCPX only converts to ProRes when you tell it to do so. If you send him the footage that is inside your Original Media folder the footage will be native AVCHD (H.264) in a .mov wrapper. If the PC guy has QuickTime installed on his computer he should be able to read that format. If he works with Avid or Premiere he will be able to import the footage as it is.

- Ronny

Thanks Ronny. So are you about optimizing the media? All that does is convert it to Pro Res, yes? If so, then he could do that at his end if he wanted to. Is that right?

We optimize to ProRes as a rule of thumb except for ultra-fast turnaround projects or when working with R3D media.

As he is on a PC he probably won't be able to do this as this requires a ProRes encoder such as FFMPEG (which is not an easy solution). So he probably will work natively or convert to an edit-friendly AVI format. That should be no problem.

- Ronny

Now you've made me feel guilty for not optimizing to ProRes! Most of my work is for web video (HD) or DVD's (although less & less). It looks like a pretty simple process. So when I'm done with a project, I simply optimize media? And that will only optimize the media in the timeline or does it optimize the entire clips that it references? In that case, I would sometimes be optimizing enormous interview files for a 20 second sound bite. I'll do it if it will help with the image quality, but I wonder if I'm not going to broadcast if it makes a difference. Thanks.

We do this because it is part of our workflow to always keep the original media as well as a ProRes version of the media on our servers. You really should not feel guilty for not doing this

In your case optimizing will not make any difference, especially if you are working with long clips of which you only need a small portion. So if you are able to edit smoothly with the native media there is no need to optimize them. Optimizing just converts the original footage to a more edit-friendly format. It does not affect the quality of your final master.

If you export your edit as a Master File the final edit is exported by default as ProRes anyway (only the portions of the clips that you have used on the timeline, not your original media). So that's not an issue.

- Ronny

Thanks - just what I needed to hear!