Fastest way to trim/save clips? (Mpeg Streamclip alternative?)

Hey guys,

My workflow used to go something like this:
Let's say I filmed my brother fishing.

I'd open up a video file I filmed that may have 5-6 parts in it that I liked.
I used Mpeg streamclip to trim the clip.
I would trim out and save a small section where my brother is tying his lure.
Then I'd trim out and save the section of the video where he was casting etc.
So instead of one long video, I'd have 4-5 clips of the best parts of the video.

Then I'd take all these clips and convert to Apple ProRes, again with Mpeg streamclip.
Then I would import into FCP

This was a super fast way for me to get those small clips that I can edit together.

But now Mpeg Streamclip does not work with updated Macs anymore.

Does anyone have a solution or a suggestion for me?

thanks

Welcome Jonathan to fcp.co

. ehm? Why not using FCPX for editing?

looks to my like a very painstaking and very unnecessary procedure how you do it… (??)

A few days ago I bought Kyno (a few weeks after the trial expired, during which I didn't see huge advantages). Among other things, which I will list below, it allows just what you are asking for: make a selection with i & o, hit "s" to make it a subclip (and optionally rename it = "ss"), then make another selection, hit "s" and so forth. Then you >export >subclips to a chosen destination (Kyno also creates folders and subfolders if you wish). You can batch-transcode them to many codecs or just wrap the native codec.
> it's a smart media browser that will find video, audio or stills on everything that's connected to your Mac, deeply hidden in folder structures, card structures, even FCP X libraries. You can search by existing metadata like file size, frame dimensions, aspect ratios, frame rates, codec, date created asf.) and add new metadata (ratings, tags, descriptions) and you can batch-rename them.
> you can "send" media to FCP X with shift cmd f. And they are prepared, you may leave files in place.

No need to use QT player or VLC anymore. You'll find anything living on your system with ease and can play it back instantly.

Axel wrote: … Kyno ….

with all respect, Axel, but isn't that 'mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schießen'?

If you produce daily hundreds of clips for dozen of clients - yep.
if you look for a non-proprietary (=outside FCPX) database for your media of the last 20y - yep.
if you produce tons of stock stuff, being a free journalist, documentarist - yep.

But, to select and edit a fishing trip?
I would have suggested iMovie … ok, FCPX. But a fully grown-up MediaManage tool?

Keyno is an interesting tool, no doubt. But FCPX' database covers a lot of stuff, the average user needs. I'd say.

… just my 5¢ …

Karsten Schlüter wrote: ... with all respect, Axel, but isn't that 'mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schießen'?

phrasen.com says that would be "use a sledgehammer to crack a nut".

I see your point, and that was my initial impression too. But then again, if I use FCP X exclusively to manage my clips, I also need FCP X to access them. Libraries are incomprehensible without it. You usually end up with more redundant data than you ever need. And way more. With Kyno, I can view clips that are still on the card, trim and prepare them (without any IMPORT - step) and export them to a comparatively small folder. And they have names then!

Also, in regard to all kind of media, it (kind of) swallowes iTunes, Photos (why is the german version spelled Fotos?) and of course Finder. And the players.

I made quite a few wrong decisions in the past, and it will need more than a few days to fully evaluate the purchase. I think one fishing video may not be the only task sodabiscuit12345 deals with.

In a perfect world, FCP X had this capability too. You could browse anything and directly organize it non-proprietarily before importing it to the own library. It can't be hard to do this. And the browser in FCP is better. In Kyno, JKL don't work, and of course you have no skimmer.

Who said streamclip doesn’t work? What computer and IS doesn’t it work on?

You can do the exact same thing quickly with QuickTime 7 Pro, and even faster with Compressor, if that's how you choose to work. But form something simple, I'd keep the original, just make Favorites in FCPX.

I know there are dozens upon dozens of programs out there that can do this, but none of them that I know of, including FCPX, can do it as efficiently. So yes, if I had endless time I could use FCPX to do it - Save a raw copy of my file, drag and crop a small section of the file that I want to keep, click file, click export selected area....zzzzzz Just the fact that I'd have to use my mouse at all makes it so much slower.
But just as Axel pointed out, I can do all of that in maybe...MAYBE 3 secs if i'm slow.

"I" , "O" "ctrl-s" then a quick "command Z" and it's as if the file was never touched, but I have the small portion of the clip I needed.

I am one of the unlucky ones that Mpeg Streamclip stopped working properly.

www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...mming-conversion-app

www.wondershare.com/convert-mpg/mpeg-str...lip-not-working.html

onebestsoft.com/mpeg-streamclip-alternative-mac/

discussions.apple.com/thread/7707704?start=0&tstart=0

www.brorsoft.com/knowledge/alternative-t...ip-macos-sierra.html

Axel wrote: A few days ago I bought Kyno (a few weeks after the trial expired, during which I didn't see huge advantages). Among other things, which I will list below, it allows just what you are asking for: make a selection with i & o, hit "s" to make it a subclip (and optionally rename it = "ss"), then make another selection, hit "s" and so forth. Then you >export >subclips to a chosen destination (Kyno also creates folders and subfolders if you wish). You can batch-transcode them to many codecs or just wrap the native codec.
> it's a smart media browser that will find video, audio or stills on everything that's connected to your Mac, deeply hidden in folder structures, card structures, even FCP X libraries. You can search by existing metadata like file size, frame dimensions, aspect ratios, frame rates, codec, date created asf.) and add new metadata (ratings, tags, descriptions) and you can batch-rename them.
> you can "send" media to FCP X with shift cmd f. And they are prepared, you may leave files in place.

No need to use QT player or VLC anymore. You'll find anything living on your system with ease and can play it back instantly.

Thanks, Axel. It seems you know exactly what my dilemma is and thanks for offering the help I am looking for.

Axel wrote: … You usually end up with more redundant data than you ever need. ….

to make it clear: Keyno is an awesome tool (what I've read). I don't doubt its usefulness.

But, …
a) FCPX allows to select on import - my unmanned soccer cams deliver 'hours' of nix = no need to stuff my hard drives with
b) for some projects, I simply don't know on import, is it a keeper or not? So, Import All - doesn't matter.
c) so, in case a Lib for some project gets blown up with 99% non-used material - who cares? When the project is done, I export a Master, and the whole Lib gets a nice cmd-backspace…

So, drive-space is never an issue. And shouldn't while editing video.

For a 20min fishing-report, I don't see the benefit to 'edit twice' (a pre-edit in some 3rd party tool, then in an NLE) nor of manual conversions. Just use FCPX as intended (select on import, select favourites, select with keywords) - done.


As I mentioned before: diff. cup of tea if you need an NLE-independent database - THEN, indeed, I see the need of tools like Kyno
(but no JKL?? Who's in charge for that?? :woohoo: )

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

Axel wrote: … You usually end up with more redundant data than you ever need. ….

to make it clear: Keyno is an awesome tool (what I've read). I don't doubt its usefulness.

But, …
a) FCPX allows to select on import - my unmanned soccer cams deliver 'hours' of nix = no need to stuff my hard drives with
b) for some projects, I simply don't know on import, is it a keeper or not? So, Import All - doesn't matter.
c) so, in case a Lib for some project gets blown up with 99% non-used material - who cares? When the project is done, I export a Master, and the whole Lib gets a nice cmd-backspace…

So, drive-space is never an issue. And shouldn't while editing video.

For a 20min fishing-report, I don't see the benefit to 'edit twice' (a pre-edit in some 3rd party tool, then in an NLE) nor of manual conversions. Just use FCPX as intended (select on import, select favourites, select with keywords) - done.


As I mentioned before: diff. cup of tea if you need an NLE-independent database - THEN, indeed, I see the need of tools like Kyno
(but no JKL?? Who's in charge for that?? :woohoo: )

Maybe you can suggest a better workflow that I can do strictly in FCP?

Here's the example again, this time I'll use a wedding because it seems you are under the impression I only film my brother fishing because of my example

If I have a 5 min video clip of a bride walking down the aisle, the groom seeing her for the first time etc.

Minute 1 bride walks down the aisle
Minute 2 I'm shuffling around and have unusable footage.
Minute 3 I'm filming the groom look at her walk down the aisle
Minute 4 more unusable footage.
Minute 5 The couple standing at altar.
(of course these durations are exaggerated)

So now I want to have these 3 X 1 min clips. (1) bride walking down aisle 2) Groom watching her 3) She arrives at altar and they're both standing there.

Now, I don't necessarily want to use those clips in that specific order. I just want them on hand so that I can plug into my video at different points.

What would your workflow look like in FCP if you wanted to do this?

Thanks in advance.

Select each one as a range, F to make it a favorite, and change the title "Favorite" to something descriptive of the action. Then set the Clip Filter menu to Favorites. Edit away at the speed of light. WAY, WAY, WAY faster than what you're doing now.

Thanks for the reply, FCPX.guru. I just tried and it's ok so far, but not any faster. But is there a shortcut to rename each favorite clip other than right-clicking on it? I think that's what's slowing me down. If there's a quick way to rename without getting the mouse involved that would be exactly what I needed.

Thanks for helping, this is the kind of info I was hoping to learn.

Oh and while we're at it... Let's say I have all of my favorite clips renamed and I have my Clip Filter menu set to favorites, can I batch convert ONLY the favorite clips to ProRes on FCPX?

// sorry for replying late, diff. timezone //

If I have a 5 min video clip of a bride walking down the aisle, the groom seeing her for the first time etc.

Minute 1 bride walks down the aisle
Minute 2 I'm shuffling around and have unusable footage.
Minute 3 I'm filming the groom look at her walk down the aisle
Minute 4 more unusable footage.
Minute 5 The couple standing at altar.
(of course these durations are exaggerated)

…
What would your workflow look like in FCP if you wanted to do this?

Ok, for such a mini-project, we skip a few marvel, FCPX offer (Keywords, smart collections etc):

What I would do…

• Import
Alt-n/create a new Event “Wedding” or whatever, Insert SDCard, Import dialogue pops up, click ‘Import all’; WHILE importing, start to skim J/K/L, select keepers (J/K/L, I/O, F); set Browser to ‘Favourites’.

• Edit
cmd-N, set New Projects properties to 1080/25 (me PAL land), search in the Event Browser for a nice establishing shot, indeed, Cousin Mark did unintentional a wide, I/O/E; wide of groom, standing at the altar, oops, no tripod, hit M just to remind me later ‘stabilise’. I/O/E of a bride&Dad coming into church. I/O/E groom, reframe in the Inspector: a bit closer to his smile. Very Nice beautyshot of bride, hit alt-cmd-A (custom keyboard short cut for Automatic speed = main cam rec in 50p = super smooth slow mo in my 25p project), bride looks like an angle; oops, cmd-6: needs a tiny bit of Colour Correction, crushing blacks, plus I add a bit of a glare filter - cuuute!

BING!
Get a mail from cousin Linda, she record some stuff on her iPhone - but goddam, vertical! Import that too, apply my own VerticalVideoFixer plugin - phew, looking good, gives 3sec of counter-shot.

Final shot I/O/E, couple at alter. Shift-S on clip#1 to extend audio, drag audio all to the end of sequence: Auntie Mary played the organ, bg music for the whole scene… lower other clips audio.

cmd-a to select all, cnd-t to add a soft transition to every edit-point.

Click ‘home’, alt-T to add a basic title, font ‘Apple Chancery’, damnagain: is the brides name Judi or Judy?? Phone-call…

Hit space to watch in toto … no, length of beauty shot vs groom is fine (fits perfectly to “here comes the bride, here comes the …”), but bad timing: hit T, trimming the edit point; then click ad drag inside clip#4 to catch her smile - what a cute girl! Voice-in-head “Karsten, she’s married!” … voice-outside-head “… and 30 years too young!”

Time used so far: 22min, incl. two walks to trusty coffee-bot and a mainly brain-free phone-call with ex-wife (“… I just need to know i or y, not the price of her dress !!!”

Being grumpy.-

Oops - forgot the marker: shift-Ä (sorry, German keyboard) : jump to next Marker, add Stabilizer to clip, playing with settings a few minutes… scene needs some CC too, cmd-6, a tiny bit more saturation.

Then, the next hour, I tinker in Motion to re-create last wedding-video’s title, that nice effect, the balloons are in front (!) and behind of title … Son entering room “Dad, you waste way too much time on these effects nobody notices!”





… that’s how I would do it.

Tl;dr:
Import all, skim/select, add to project. Done. Fast. Easy.

…

sodabiscuit12345 wrote: Here's the example again, this time I'll use a wedding because it seems you are under the impression I only film my brother fishing because of my example

I know that 'genre' too, because as of now I mainly made wedding videos. And I agree with Karsten and FCP X guru that all this can be done completely within FCP. There really is little difference if you just import the whole (typically 2-3 hours) footage at once and favorite and tag later or if you scrupulously make selections on import so that only the useable stuff is imported. Here is nothing that can *justify* the 119 € for Kyno (promotion valid until Aug 17th). Because that's what I'm doing for myself and publicly here: justify my purchase.

Since a few months now I'm working on a short film, a labour of love, and it involves planning shoots and re-shoots, shooting background plates, greenscreen snippets, placeholders, takes precomposed in FCP as compounds and XML'd to AAE, AAE renders to replace the compounds, a sound library and so forth. The challenge is to keep track of every clip and 'temp clip' (if that's the right term). For the sake of simplicity, I decided early on that I would like to get rid of the UHD originals right away and transcode all useable footage to ProResHQ or even, for some rare takes, to ProRes4444.

I had done this with Compressor. But that's really a workaround.

I could have sung very long songs, indeed operas, to contribute to the thread 'Why FCP X', because I am a pathologic fanboy. What I like most is that it challenges traditional NLEs. To me, it simply seems more logical.

This imo entitles me to question your *defense* of FCP X, particularly the proprietary way it organizes media. You effectively say, well, that's just the way FCP X works, and it does, get used to it. That's the AVID editors' argument for the needlessly complicated and redundant workflow-steps they are accustomed to.

It can't be too big of an issue for Apple to make FCP able to browse all media on your Mac before you open the Import window. To allow you to create folders and copy media to them. And whatever (trim, wrap, rename, tag, transcode). Perhaps you don't need that for a wedding (see above), but I just bet the majority would prefer it and use it for such a project too.

Axel wrote: …I could have sung very long songs, indeed operas, …

no mov no proof! :silly:

to get serious:
a) I fully understand anyone, who's shy using a proprietary database (as FCPX is!)… esp. in hindsight of the Apple+Aperture story…
b) I fully agree, a low-level pre-edit/selection outside FCPX could be helpful (fun fact: new iMovie was especially intended for that purpose!). I elaborated, why _I_ don't need such… (others do)
c) … it depends… Tagging, although established +15y ago with iTunes ("… destroyed my manual folders in folders in folders collections!") is still an …alien procedure. Putting files into rigid folders obviously feeds some human nature to 'collect' things. So, some editors demand 'boxes' (bins, shelfs, folders, younameit) , others prefer a flexible, dynamic data-base.
d) Tags outside FCPX - to compare with iTunes again: it allows to rename files in iTunes, and the new name is shown in Finder. And all the other meta is included in the 'audio'file. - But not 'visible' in Finder.

e) compare with stills - 90% EXIF only visible in apps, not in Finder (GPS, for example)

f) Finders preview feature (space bar) only shows the obvious - but no metas.

I guess - wild speculation!! - that Apple doesn't want those metas/tags being seen in Finder. Dare to say: why a Finder anyhow, iOS doesn't need one either (and the crowd like 'boooo!!! hang'm higher!!")

I share your points, Axel, that is one possible, useful workflow.
But connecting dots from Apple's past and other media, I think, they could, but they don't want.

Will be interesting with forthcoming HEIF, Apple's new file-format which contains even more meta, such as depth-info etc. (no more green screens, yeah!!) - what does the Finder preview from that?

For my - enthusiastic hobbyists - needs, that one-app-fits-all concept is fine. But I cover just a tiny segment what a NLE should deliver …

Interesting discussion - thank for sharing your insights!!!

" I just tried and it's ok so far, but not any faster."

I must strongly disagree and state this is infinitely faster than making new clips in another app and then importing them in to FCPX. THAT takes transcoding time, LOTS of time. Making and renaming Favorite ranges (or keyword ranges) is super fast. I never right-click to do it either. I work in List view, click-drag or use I/O to set a range, F to favorite, click on the word Favorite in the list, hit enter, type new name, enter (return). Done literally faster than I can type this. I do this daily, and it is super fast.

Switching the clip filter menu to Favorites afterwards gives you those sub-clips super fast, also.

Thanks! Sorry for so many questions, but when you have all your favorite clips showing, does FCPX offer some form of batch converting? So I can convert them to ProRes? Or what what would the process be once you have all your clips nicely trimmed?

Yes and no. You can select the clips, right-click and select Transcode Media. The no part is that it's not confined to the favorite selection, but does the whole clip.