[Frameworks] HD editing on a non-Intel Mac under Tiger?

[malgosia askanas]

Many thanks to Bernd, Yoel and David; this was very helpful.  To 
answer David's question, mine is a newish G4, with a 1.67 GHz CPU. 
Sounds like I should try to locate a copy of FCP 5.  Are there any 
good sources for obsoleted video software?  EBay doesn't seem like 
what it used to seem.

-m

At 12:25 PM +0000 10/17/10, David Tetzlaff wrote:
>Dinorah:
>
>>  I have been having trouble accessing some footage that a friend shot 
>>  for me recently on a new HD camera. I have not been able to open it 
>>  in either QuickTime or FCP.  I am working on a new Intel-Mac running 
>>  OS10.6.4 and FCP7.
>
>There are many different kinds of HD: HDV, HDCAM, DVCPRO-HD, XDCAM.... 
>and then within these larger formats there are variations: different 
>resolutions, GOP structures etc.
>
>>  Being primarily a 16mm person, all of this digital knowledge is new 
>>  to me, so bear with me if this is an ignorant question, but how do I 
>>  access ProRes 422?
>
>Download MPEG Streamclip (it's free). Open your source file. Chose 
>'Export to Quicktime'. Select "ProRes422" (regular, not the HQ 
>version) from the drop-down menu of all the codecs. Leave the frame-
>rate and resolution as they are in the source file.
>
>Or, if you have Final Cut Studio, you can do it in Compressor, though 
>you'll have to read the manual to figure out the settings.
>
>>  Another question I have is about exporting the files once I 
>>  successfully manage to edit this footage alongside regular SD 
>>  footage.  What is the best setting to use when exporting the files 
>>  so they retain their HD quality, but can also be viewed on any 
>>  standard monitor and/or project correctly in non-HD projectors as 
>>  well as HD?
>
>Either your output is HD, or it's not. You'll want to make two output 
>masters of your finished project: one in ProRes HD (same settings as 
>in the timeline), and one in SD. Then, for any particular form of 
>exhibition, you make copies in the required playback format from one 
>of those masters.
>
>---
>
>Malgosia:
>
>Bernd is right. You won't be able to work with MPEG4 files directly. 
>You'll have to convert them. Such is the case for editing even with 
>much newer and more powerful computers. MPEG4 is a delivery only 
>format, not a working format.
>
>>  And is there any version of Final Cut that would run on a G4 under
>>  Tiger, and work with HD 1080 video in the form of Mpeg-4 files?
>
>No. Compressing and decompressing the MPEG-4 at playback speed is more 
>than a G4 cpu can handle. How old is the G4, and what's the CPU speed? 
>If it's one of the later models, you should be OK converting to 
>ProRes422 and working with that. I think you'd need/want FCP v. 5, but 
>4.5 might work as well.
>
>There are several iMovie alternatives: MediaEdit, Norkross Movie, 
>FastCut... I can't speak to the specific capabilities of any of them.
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