About legacy media in Final Cut Pro X

Hi, when upgraded my library to 10.4.4 I received an alert that legacy media files won't be compatible with future macOS releases. When checking out the related article support.apple.com/en-gb/HT209000 it turns out legacy media can include footage recorded with cameras like Sony HDCAM-SR cameras, footage from GoPro cameras recorded in the CineForm format .

I think I have both sony and gopro footage, and I'm wondering what to do. I have years of footage from my children and later on I want to create a movie when my son was for example 1, 5 and 10 years old. This means that all the footage I have collected in the past need to be available in the future. In earlier days I have migrated my imove projects into fcpx libraries and projects, and was wondering if I need to do some migration and or converting here too.

What is your approach to legacy media and how would you make this footage available for the future? Would love to hear your feedback.

Cheers,
Wilfried

Did you record in Cineform with GoPro? If not, you've nothing to worry about. If so, gather it all up, use Compressor to make full resolution H.264 copies.

Files are directly imported from SD card into fcpx. When checking out the footage in the event viewer, the inspector says codecs: AAC, GoPro AVC encoder. However in earlier workflow I would convert files from SD card using Gopro Studio, and then import them into fcpx. I am still looking if this alert applies to the gopro or sony footage I have.

Let's assume all gopro footage is cineform. Does the compressor allow you to convert and replace files? Or in other words you can convert cineform into h.264 copies, but your projects are still using the legacy files, thus becomes corrupted? The article on apple site does not give me much more info on this. Hope to find some more info

The footage from sony camera says a codesc: vc1', Linear PCM. Can't believe that I'm editing for nine years and do not have a clue about codecs and stuff. Thats what I most like about fcpx though. Just shoot edit sleep and repeat

"Let's assume all gopro footage is cineform."

Let's not, because it isn't. Cineform is a specific codec GoPros used, and you had to set the camera's file format to specifically record in that codec. Personally, I hated it.

I cannot confirm that it's a setting in the camera's file format. Checked the settings in the gopro but didn't found any cineform or codec setting. However this brought me to find some other answers.

When removing the gopro studio software from my computer I found by accident this project thats shows missing plugin error on the clip. Then to find out it was the timelapse clip thats was converted using gopro studio.

When checking the inspector of the clip it says GoPro-CineForm HD/4K/3D. From this I think that the cineform codec is installed by the gopro studio software and is only used when converting clips from SD card to movie clips.

I used this workflow for this particular project to create the timelapse video from a bunch of photos. Plus I also used this workflow in earlier projects to convert footage from SD card and remove the fisheye lens in the clips.

And to make it complete. My current workflow is to import the clips directly into fcpx, and use the alex4d wide angle fix to remove the fish eye. This makes it so much easier, however I didn't know that in the beginning :blush:

Anyways I would love to get some feedback on the above findings

After reading up on it, yes, it is a compression scheme built-in to GoPro cameras.

I'm sorry but I dont know what u mean. Can you confirm my findings or?

There's not much info to be found on this subject. I found some insights here: nofilmschool.com/2018/11/why-apple-dropp...rm-and-dnx-final-cut and here: www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/thou..._phased_out_in_macos

As far as I know I'm safe with macOS mojave, and the issue might occur in future macOS releases. There are some tools to help you convert your footage, i.e. compressor and kyno but these tools are not for free and I don't have any experience with them.

I hope by the time this issue applies there's more info and solutions or workflow to convert your footage and or projects. Cheers and thank you for the feedback

Just updated a Library from 2017, into 10.4.4 and got the warning... the cameras* used in this project are...

Sony fs700 (avc1)
Sony A7 (avc1)
Canon c300 mk1 (XF mpeg 422 50Mbs)
Canon c300 mk2 (XF-AVC long GOP 10-bit 4:2:2)
Canon 5d (avc1)
Dji mavic pro (DJI AVC encoder)
Panasonic GH5 (H.264)

At this point I'm thinking perhaps the DJI footage is what set off the alert...? Thoughts?

*I've listed the codecs as FCPX lists them in inspectors 'codecs' metadata field)
** all cameras were imported into fcpx from a camera archive where possible.
*** this library was created around the time that the Canon XF plug in was needed for the proper import of Canon footage.

So I just looked deeper in the list of compatable cameras and media for FPCX... and the C300 Mk1 is not listed there, nor is it's codec listed in the supported media formats... it makes sense now that I think about it. It came out in 2011, right when everything started changing in the editing world.

Good thing we retired that camera shortly after that project.

Guess it would be nice if FCPX notified which files were legacy media instead of a generic pop up.
discussions.apple.com/thread/8659759

support.apple.com/en-ca/HT209000

Looks like apple updated their future format support page, and gave a bit more info for us to digest.


"In the first half of 2019, an updated version of Final Cut Pro will include a feature to help you identify and convert legacy media files."

I wonder why they didn't think of that in the first place.

The updated page is certainly a step forward.
I´m still personally very unhappy with the whole situation. What kept me with Mac (besides QuickView ) has always been the ease of working with many different media formats through the whole platform.

The end of the classic quicktime framework has been lingering for some time and things have become a little less convenient (for me with eol of perian) but I have been hoping that AVFoundation would eventually develop and open up to system wide codec plugins.
Tommorrow it´s the "legacy" codecs but what about future codecs? The video world will only get more diverse - will I have to come back to transcode everything like it used to be?
Does anybody remember working with Avid before AMA linking was introduced. That was a serious hassle.

Without the ability for manufacturers to build one plugin for the whole platform , Apple is taking away one big advantage they had - at least for me. And, yes, I have already feedbacked that to Apple.

And by the way: what´s legacy is not the codecs but the quicktime framework. Would be good if Apple stated that more clearly.

Well, HDV, seriously, how long can outdated code hang around? There are codecs I used daily two decades ago, you can't find a file in those formats anywhere now. Just old, clunky, didn't support modern standards. This happens, is has happened to codecs before, it will happen in the future. This is not the first, this is not the only , and Apple is not alone. Does anyone remember Microsoft declaring AVI dead? Nope, it just died, slowly, horribly, and very painfully.

And FCPX does have a plugin architecture for manufactures to build import plugins to support their proprietary formats. Why doesn't anyone complain to the camera manufacturers about that? You tell me your footage is H.264, but who's specific proprietary implementation of H.264?

I don't see it as a problem, and am glad Apple is giving us PLENTY of time to convert old, outdated formats to newer formats that will help our workflows stay fast and easy. I don't recall any other IT company warning folks about file formats going out of date and being dropped with so much lead time, before.

I´m quite positive that camera manufacturers will provide plugins for FCPX depending of the relevance of this software for their user base. Probably even for older cameras. Still nice to have a system wide framework.

Regarding DNxHD/HR I don´t know.
Did Apple provide ProRes support for Avid and Premiere? Serious question!
I don´t think so. Still nice to have it.