10.4 Release

Latest nightly build works with QTX! and a 50% reduction in file size... :blink:
... and latest iMovie imports and plays said H265 file smoothly. Looking good for FCPX 10.4 then. :whistle:

So when do you think 10.4 will arrive??? Today is Thursday, let's hope!

I'm thinking sooner rather than later because they showed it...

Or do you think there will be an additional event for the release of the iMac Pro in December where FCPX 10.4 will be released as well?

Pointless speculation, I know. But I'm itching to update to High Sierra but trying hard to hold out until FCPX 10.4... gah!

So 10.4 is here and... still can't find an option to export in H.265. Looks like they've only added an option to import videos so encoded.

Export is available through Compressor settings.

I don't think h.265 HEVC is here to stay, it is a brief phase Apple is going through, think along the lines of 3D tv, yeah it had promise, but it soon faded, HEVC is a bit of a minefield...That and this new group Apple is part of..that makes me wonder if H265 is short lived!

HVEC is H.265 and is referred to as such in Compressor. Use that to create a custom Destination for H.265 in FCPX 10.4.

I think that h.265 will be here to stay until something even better replaces it, because it's so much more efficient on bandwidth and that is far more useful than being efficient on the encoding/decoding process (because it's easier to update the display device than it is to improve bandwidth throughout the entire distribution chain.).

As Tom points out, it's available with Compressor, which the cynic in me believes is the primary reason why FCP doesn't do it natively, because, well, Apple sells Compressor!

mark.manning wrote: So 10.4 is here and... still can't find an option to export in H.265. Looks like they've only added an option to import videos so encoded.

Exporting to H265 requires using a Compressor setting.
You can export from FCP X, but need to have Compressor installed.

An alternative if you don't have Compressor is to export in ProRes or H264, and then use Quicktime Player to export. In the QT export window there is a checkbox for "Use HEVC".

The only reason I suggested HEVC was short lived was the recent post on CNET link here www.cnet.com/news/apple-online-video-compression-av1/

Of course we have no idea, but Apple does like to do things we don't expect...So maybe both..but the name AV1 sounds very close to AVFoundation... :blush

OH that is what I wanted to say...HEVC is a bag of hurt...who said that before...Steve about Blu-Ray, and the reason it failed..royalties and such...the same issues with HEVC..Apple was not able to "buy' the rights or was prepared to sacrifice FCPX with HEVC if AV1 is the replacement...

Makes every sense to shove it in an related app, that at a moments notice HEVC can be uninstalled from compressor and replaced with AV1...

I think we may just have different timelines of 'short lived' to be honest. h.265 has been around for five years and I'm publishing to devices which are 18 months old (and still current) and *only* support 4k over h.265, not h.264. So yes, I agree that the royalties options are likely to end h.265 as a viable option, but it will still likely be around for a few years.

P.S. yes, it's a bag of hurt haha

... a bit like this thread?

mark.manning wrote: ....As Tom points out, it's available with Compressor, which the cynic in me believes is the primary reason why FCP doesn't do it natively, because, well, Apple sells Compressor!

That is *extremely* unlikely. HEVC/H265 is heavily patent-encumbered. There have been major disputes over licensing, royalties and intellectual property. At one point the patent holders were demanding a % of gross revenue from each individual end user who encodes H265 content. That is one reason Google developed the open source VP9 (and later AV1) codecs. The HEVC/H265 patent holders later retreated from their more egregious demands, but that negatively tainted H265 and has delayed deployment.

The licensing and royalty issue is why the evaluation version of Premiere Pro does not have H265 -- even though Adobe claims the eval version is 100% full featured. It is due to H265 licensing issues.

I don't know for sure but I suspect that is also the reason why iMovie only imports HEVC/H265, but does not export it.

I doubt Apple is concerned about nickel-and-dime revenue from a few additional $49 Compressor sales. I more suspect the HEVC/H265 licensing royalties require a per-unit payment if that intellectual property is (a) bundled in a software product or if (b) certain features are used. Apple sells a lot more copies of FCPX than Compressor.

If that is true then Apple would have to pay HEVC/H265 licensing fees on every copy of FCPX sold, whether the purchaser ever used that codec or not. By putting it only in Compressor, it is still easy for the FCPX user to access and it may reduce Apple's licensing payments. This is only speculation but I think it's far more likely than Apple wanting miniscule additional revenue from Compressor sales.

As for AV1, don't hold your breath, it has many years before it's fully developed and ready for market. HEVC is here to stay for quite awhile.

Compressor is a £50 add-on to a £300 base product, so it's a significant proportion of the total package, rather than nickel and dime, but yes it makes sense from a commercial point of view to strap the licensing cost to the add-on part.

joema wrote: ……If that is true then Apple would have to pay HEVC/H265 licensing fees on every copy of FCPX sold, whether the purchaser ever used that codec or not. By putting it only in Compressor, it is still easy for the FCPX user to access and it may reduce Apple's licensing payments. ….

Would make sense.
But, as mentioned before: EVERY installation of HS includes the QuicktimeX Player, which allows to encode to HEVC…

This is just a guess, but maybe there's a loophole in the licensing such that it stipulates royalties if HEVC encoding is used in video editing software, but QT Player is technically playback software. There's precedent for such legalistic things, e.g, the European camcorder import duties which results in 30 min record limits on many cameras because they avoid classification as camcorders if they only record 29.99 minutes.

@mark.manning
You can use HandBrake (free soft) if you don't want to buy compressor. You can export in H265 (exactly X265 free version of H265) in Handbrake. I don't know for H265, but for H264 HandBrake make a better job than Compressor.

"the QuicktimeX Player, which allows to encode to HEVC…"

Does it really? I can't find it. That would be great if it did.

BTW, it is simply called "QuickTime Player" now, Apple dropped the X.

It's available if you export 1080p or 4K.