4K Workflow with Final Cut Pro X/7/6

Summary: Can 4K video be edited with Final Cut Pro? This is a tutorial about how to import and edit 4K video in Final Cut Pro X/7/6.

Once upon a time, someone has predicted that we are stepping into the times of 4K. It may sounded like kind of exaggeration before, while today with the continually emerging of 4K products such as 4K camcorders(Sony PMW-F5/F55, Red Epic, Blackmagic 4K, Panasonic GH4, etc) and 4K YouTube channel, we have to admit 4K has become a reality. However, format compatibility issue is quite common in the video world, which is also true to the stunning 4K. In this article, we will talk about the 4K and FCP compatibility. If you're planning to import 4K video to Final Cut Pro X/7/6 for editing, read on to find something you need.

According to Apple official site, we know that Final Cut Pro(FCP X 10.1.) has been updated for the next-generation architecture in the new Mac Pro, providing unprecedented performance when editing and monitoring 4K video. Final Cut Pro X natively supports 4K ProRes, Sony XAVC and REDCODE RAW. However, the old version FCP X or Final Cut Pro 6/7 like many editors use 1080p as primary delivery format and will continue to do so for a long time. If you want to have a smooth 4K video and FCP workflow, you are advised to convert 4K video to ProRes for further editing in FCP 6/7 and Final Cut Pro X.

Different from 720p/1080p videos, the conversion of 4K video is in a higher standard, a professional 4K Video Converter is what you need. Featured with the most advanced converting technology, Brorsoft 4K Video Converter for Mac is now providing the most reliable and professional 4K solutions to all format issues including 4K XAVC/XAVC S, 4K MP4, 4K MOV, 4K MXF and more. With it, you can convert 4K for FCP without any quality loss. It comes with hundreds of output format presets for 4K videos, such as Apple ProRes for Final Cut Pro, DNxHD for Avid, Apple InterMediate Codec for iMovie, MPEG-2 for Adobe Premiere. Besides, this 4K converter is also available to customize the output resolutions to any size like 1080p, 2K, 4K as users want. Just download it and follow the tutorial below to get the work done.

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

Convert 4K video to ProRes for editing in Final Cut Pro 6/7/X

1. Load 4K files

Install the 4K Video Converter program on Mac and run it. Drag the 4K XAVC, XAVC S or other 4K files to the software. It supports batch conversion and joining multiple video clips into one file.



2. Choose ProRes as output format

Click the "Format" bar and select Final Cut Pro> Apple PreRes 422(*.mov) as output format.



3. Adjust video, audio settings

Click the "Settings" button and customize proper video/audio parameters including Video size, bitrate and fame rate and mroe. Usually 1920*1080 video size and 30fps video frame rate are recommended for FCP editing. Well, if you prefer to work with 4K video, you can adjust video size to get 4K ProRes for FCP.

4. Start conversion

After all necessary settings, hit the convert button to start the 4K video to ProRes conversion on Mac OS X. Once the conversion process shows in 100%, click Open to get the output videos. Create a project and start editing 4K video in FCP 6/7/X with light speed.

More Articles:

How to Import Panasonic HC-VX870K 4K videos into Final Cut Pro 7 for editing

Importing DJI Phantom 3 4K to Final Cut Pro for further editing

Guide on Converting 4K to 1080p ProRes on Mac/Windows

How to Import and Edit MP4 files on Final Cut Pro?

Summary: Have troubled of importing MP4 files to Final Cut Pro? No worry, this article aims for showing a smooth workflow of editing MP4 video files on FCP 6, FCP 7 and FCP X.

Nowadays, MP4 is very popular and widely used for saving media data, there is big chance you can handle with kinds of MP4 video files in daily life, like from YouTube, iTunes, digital camcorders, etc. In order to get better videos or more wonderful video files, chances are you want to adopt Final Cut Pro to edit MP4 videos. However, sometimes you may find it a painful experience as not all MP4 video files work well with Final Cut Pro just like below:

"I am trying to edit some lengthy gameplay I have previously recorded. I used eye TV 3 and a HD PVR to capture the video and then converted the videos to mp4. When using iMovie everything works fine and importing the mp4 video to edit has no issues. But when I import the same mp4 file to Final Cut Pro X the video is extremely chopping and a green frame pops into the picture on playbacks every few seconds. I am lost and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks."

Actually, Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X have updated to import MP4 video although, it only support MP4 encoded with H.264. If the MP4 is encoded with other video codecs, Final Cut Pro X/7 will still fail to import MP4. So in order to enable all kinds of MP4 files work with FCP without hassles, the recommended suggestion is to change the file extentsion from ".mp4" to "a codec" that FCP can read more easily (without rendering basically) like Apple ProRes, which ensures maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with Final Cut Pro.

To convert MP4 files to ProRes MOV, Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is definitely the one of the best choices. It can easily convert all kinds of MP4 videos whatever recorded from cameras/camcorders or downloaded from website like YouTube, or from other sources to FCP, FCP X, FCE supported Apple ProRes. Besides MP4, it can also transcode more video file formats like MTS, MXF, M4V, AVI, MKV to Final Cut Pro as well as Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, iMovie, etc NLEs without any quality loss. If you are facing with issues of FCP won't import MP4 files, chances are you have downloaded this excellent utility. If not, don't hesitate to download here.

Free download MP4 to ProRes Converter Mac:

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

How to Convert MP4 and Import MP4 to Final Cut Pro X/7/6

Step 1: Load MP4 files to the program

Launch the MP4 to FCP X Converter and click "Add File" button to locate the .mp4 file(s) you want to add. Check the "Merge into one file" box, you can join several .mp4 clips together if necessary.



Step 2: Select output format

When it comes to choosing the output format for these target videos, you directly one choose "Final Cut Pro" preset. For compression, Apple ProRes 422 will do fine for keeping the original MP4 quality the same and creating a Final Cut friendly file format. Apple has made a few variations to the ProRes family - use ProRes 422(Proxy) or (LT) for smaller file sizes(Applied to FCP 7 and above version).



Step 3 (optional): Adjust the video, audio settings

Click "Settings" to fix the frame rate, bitrate, video size, etc to your needs. If you want to edit in Final Cut without having to render the clips while editing, all the frame sizes must be the same as the sequence settings. You can save a lot of render time by making all the clips the same size with this Mac MP4 converter.



Step4: Start MP4 to ProRes conversion on Mac

Click the big "Convert" button at the bottom right corner to finish transcoding MP4 to ProRes for FCP.

When the conversion is done, you can find the output files by clicking "Open" button on the main interface, then you can transfer the encoded MP4 files to your Final Cut Pro, FCP 7 or 6 to edit with ease. Once you've got your video edited, you can export to any codec/container that you'd like for playing and sharing.

Related Guides:

How to Import & Edit DivX files in Final Cut Pro X/7/6

How to Solve Final Cut Pro and MOV Incompatible Problems

How to import flash SWF file to Final Cut Pro for editing