Relinking from .mp4 to .mov

I have an FCPX project based mainly around an .mp4 file encoded with H264. I want to replace or relink this file by a better quality version which has exactly the same resolution, frame rate and length, but it is a .mov encoded with ProRes.

I tried to relink it, but I get an "incompatible file"-error:
"The original file and new file have no shared media range. Relinked files must have the same media type and similar audio channels as the original files, and must be long enough to cover all the clips that reference the files."

How can I fix this? Or is there another way of replacing the file?

Thanks.

Tom.

The workflow in this case would be to Optimize the media. Select a file, or group of files in the FCPX Browser, go to the File menu, and select Transcode Media. Or right-click directly in the Browser and from the pop-up menu choose the same option. Then check off Optimized, and poof, you have full rez ProRes files.

But you can't relink a file in the Browser to a different codec. Wish you could. Fill out the feedback page.

As Ben says, or optionally, if you just want to replace the file in the timeline, drag your new file on top of the old one and keep the mouse button pressed until you see the dialog menu to replace it. If the file is the same length as the one in the timeline, you can choose REPLACE, or if it is a bit longer and you want to maintain the timeline duration, choose REPLACE FROM START.

if you dont want to let FCPX create the optimized media, download a free copy of Davinci Resolve.

you can export an XML from FCP. In resolve you load your new HQ media. then import the XML making sure to check the box for "ignore file extensions" and it will relink for you. then just export an FCPXML from resolve and you are good to go.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

jak3fx's suggestion to import and export in Davinci Resolve worked for me, with some tweaks.

There might be an easier or better solution, but this is what I ended up doing. So I have a project based on the LQ .mp4 file and I have a HQ .mov file.
- imported the HQ version in in my Library
- added a short clip of the HQ version to my project so it present as a new asset
- exported the project to an .fcpxml file; this file should noew contain the asset tags of the LQ and HQ version
- edited the asset tag of the LQ version: (1) changed filename to HQ version; (2) replaced start and duration attributes in the LQ tag by the ones from the HQ tag
- removed the HQ asset tag
- saved the new .fcpxml file and I imported it in Davinci Resolve
- exported to .fcpxml from Davinci Resolve
- imported new .fcxml in FCPX

It didn't work perfectly, but good enough for me (I lost the color settings).

interesting, so you edited the XML file by brute force? like in text edit or something?

i could see that being useful in other situations but definitely not necessary when going into resolve.

you could have exported your XML of your project from FCP.

then opened resolve, created a new project (resolve project is more like a library in FCPX as it contains timelines, media, etc).

in that project, you simply import the HQ media. then import the FCPXML. in the XML import dialogue box, make sure to check "ignore file extension" -- it should then relink with any files with same name despite different extension. you can also do a force relink if you need for any files it doesnt find, which would then ripple through your Resolve timeline.

and it would bring in the FCP color changes.

then when you export the XML of that timline from Resolve, open in FCP, it will link to the HQ media