10.4 Release

Was any mention made of what support for HEVC/h.265 actually means? Does this simply mean that you are able to import and 'work with' h.265 clips (as iMovie in HS can!) or will it allow for the encoding of video files into h.265 (which iMovie in HS can't!) and - as I'm very much hoping - if it can encode HEVC video, will it support encoding in the full range of bit depths and chroma samplings or lump it all in a default?

I create video files for use on signage displays and the media players only support 4k video encoding using very specific settings (None of which FCP can currently export) so this is a big deal for me!

bobmax48 wrote: Now as to Apple handicapping the hardware so that you are forced to buy new equipment to use new features this is a ridiculous paranoid thought.

And I agree. I see it the other way around. If a software I love makes use of more powerful hardware: that’s a welcome excuse for me to buy a new computer while the current one still sells well. It’s like leasing Macs ...

@Justine
I bet if you don’t use H.265 and you are not suddenly into 360, you can continue on your machine with 10.4 ...

Curious what the exact specifications you need are. Could you share that Mark?

mark.manning, do you know you can in fact to that? Create the preset you need in Compressor, then make it a custom Compressor "Destination" in FCPX. We export for digital signage, various TV stations, kiosks, and they all require very specific settings. With Compressor and FCPX it's not an issue at all.

But like Tom said, what are your specific needs?

Thanks Tom & FCPX.guru, I don't have compressor so I don't really want to shell out for it only to find that FCPX is updated to do what I need the following day (but if the update doesn't do it then that's certainly a good shout!).

The client has BrightSign XD233 and BrightSign list 3840x2160x60p with 4:2:0 subsampling "with 8 bits (Main Profile) or 10 bits (Main 10 Profile) of depth"

I did attempt to use Handbrake to transcode from ProRes to HEVC using the Main Profile, but the resulting video played fine on the Mac and with completely wrong colour on the BrightSign - I contacted their support hoping for either specific conversion settings or a recommendation for some transcoding software they could guarantee would work and all I got was a link to this page:

docs.brightsign.biz/display/DOC/4K+Video...PracticesforEncoding

which didn't help me at all!

mark.manning wrote: … to transcode from ProRes to HEVC …

… use Quicktime X, incl. in macOS/HS, check the HEVC checkbox in the Export dialogue…

mark.manning wrote: The client has BrightSign XD233 and BrightSign list 3840x2160x60p with 4:2:0 subsampling "with 8 bits (Main Profile) or 10 bits (Main 10 Profile) of depth"...
docs.brightsign.biz/display/DOC/4K+Video...PracticesforEncoding ....

Incredibly, that page says the BrightSign *only* accepts 4k in H265/HEVC. That is hard to believe but that’s what it says. As you said, iMovie on HS will import HEVC but not export it. This is very confusing because Apple claimed iMovie would have “HEVC support” on HS. For a video editing app, having import-only support equates to not fully supported.

You can see the confusion on this news page:
www.idownloadblog.com/2017/09/25/imovie-havoc-importing-update/

“iMovie version 10.1.7 for Mac adds support for importing HEVC video with macOS High Sierra and provides improved compatibility when sharing and exporting to YouTube...Apple promises up to forty percent smaller files when encoding 4K video with HEVC.”

Is it any wonder why people are confused?

As Karsten said, you can export to H264 or ProRes, load it in Quicktime Player and export to HEVC from there. It doesn’t make sense why QT can encode HEVC but not iMovie, however....

HEVC is heavily patent-encumbered, and there have been tremendous legal and liscensing battles regarding it. This is why the eval version of Premiere Pro (which is supposedly 100% full featured) does not support HEVC.

I wouldn’t be surprised if iMovie’s lack of HEVC encoding is a licensing issue re intellectual property of that format.

Maybe Apple is saving it for FCP as a up sell feature from iMovie to FCP.

Thanks Karsten, I had absolutely no idea that QT Player could export HEVC, I'll give it a go now and hope that the specifics happen to be correct.

Joema, my understanding of the pros and cons between h.264 and h.265 is limited, but unless the device has some sort of hardware decoding for h.265, but only software decoding of h.264, then I can only assume that this has something to do with the content being stored on a memory card and the data transfer rate from that.

and yes, the iMovie info seems deliberately misleading.

mark.manning wrote: Thanks Karsten, I had absolutely no idea that QT Player could export HEVC, ….

yep, 'one small checkbox for a program, one huge leap for movies:" :blink:



Oh, and to mention: QT-based tools like MpegStreamclip or Compressor 4 do NOT list HEVC as an option…

Hi Karsten..

I have tried both quicktime 7 and quicktime 10, and I don;t have that HEVC..I tried under Sierra and High Sierra Beta v3...

No HEVC checkbox... strange...maybe a hardware related feature??? :oops:

Try 'Export As...' :blush:

I think it only works with 1080 files and upwards... :evil:

You don't say.... Now that never occurred to me... I thought it was import....nope...still no HEVC checkbox.... :whistle:

Found it only appears when you have more than 4K video file....who knew...imported a 6K file and there was the HEVC... :oops:

Thats what I just said... :huh:

MsJustine wrote: … only appears when you have more than 4K video file...…:

HEVC offered, here, with 1080 and above …

OK...1080 and above....I only had a 4K file to test, thanks everyone...It works... :blush:

Just tried QTX on a 22meg 'mov (1920x1080) file. Took 5 mins to encode and the size?... Just over 100meg. That makes it about as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

Just a thought... is QTX just re-wrapping the file/doing a PRORES jobby on it?

QT Player in my experience creates very large files.

Just tried the latest version of Handbrake and it makes H265 files VERY quickly. One drawback though, QTX doesn't read them! Hope Apple has got this barrel of monkeys sorted out when it makes its next release of Compressor/Motion/FCPX .

handbrake.fr/nightly.php

Try the nightly builds!