I haven't tried importing mts into FCP X.
I'm just transcribing all my footage, whether from CX550 or XF100 into ProRes and using that in FCP X. Works fine.
Regards
Peter
With my family away and no diving opportunities, I had this last weekend free and clear so decided to use the time to determine my way forward with video editing. I was a bit concerned about all the noise over the release of FCP X - thought that the world of NLE might be coming to an end, and it is not even 2012...
So, for 12 hours on Saturday, I did a head-to-head between Final Cut Pro X and Premier Pro 5.5. Spending roughly 6 hours working in each, I worked on exactly the same project. The project was a short dive trip video that I shot last weekend, including UW and surface footage, some photos, some interviews, and it needed a music track, some titles and a narration track. My goal was to get as much as I could completed in the 6 hours allocated to each NLE.
By Saturday evening, I was convinced that Final Cut Pro X is the right way forward. In the six hours spent on FCP X I got much more of the project completed than I did in PP5.5. Once I had my head around the FCP X paradigm, editing became second nature and fast. Whereas, with PP5.5, I found that I was constantly going to the manual to figure out how to achieve something. I never did mange to get much out of After Effects but, with the new Motion, I was able to make some templates that streamline the title generation in FCP X. The titles I did in FCP X looked much nicer than what I could manage to produce in PP5.5.
(Maybe some of my FCP 7, experience gave me a leg-up with FCP X but the new app is so different that I do consider my head-to-head to be a fair, functional test of the two NLEs - I was effectively starting from scratch with both.)The key factor at the end of the day was enjoyment. I had a lot more fun with FCP X. The new timeline paradigm with its connectors is a joy to work with. For example, towards the end, I realised that I had put one whole section of clips in the wrong place. But I had already added the narration. But, in FCP X, it just took a few seconds to make the change. Doing everything in one app: video, sound, titles, color, etc, is better than any app-to-app integration.
The other nice surprise in FCP X is how is reveals its capabilities when you need them. When you first look at it, most people with NLE history will think, "this is way too simple to do everything I need to do - not enough buttons, options, menus, etc." But, as you get into it, you find that it has everything you need. I only went outside FCP X for the music track - only because I have a lot of SmartSound albums. One thing I was concerned about was sound editing. I was used to SoundTrack Pro. I thought that FCP X could not do all the stuff I used to do in SoundTrack, like record narration, adjust audio, reduce noise, remove clicks, do some EQ, balance levels across multiple tracks. Well, guess what, I have just finished doing all those things in FCP X. And it was easy.
Once I decided that my future was with FCP X, I then spent most of the day on Sunday finishing the project. 40 minutes of project, done, wrapped up and exported, all in about 15 hours of work, including all the learning time. Not bad!
Only 3 remaining minor hassles:
1. Still waiting on Canon to update the XF plug-in so I don't need to ingest and transform into Apple ProRes before importing into FCP X. Canon say that they are working on it but don't have a date yet. Hope it is before my next project.
2. Have to use Adobe's Encore for authoring Blu-ray disks. I wonder if Apple will do an updated DVD Studio with Blu-ray.
3. Be nice when SmartSound update their FCP plug-in so I can import the FCP markers into the music scoring timeline. Their website says that they are working on it.
I only got FCP X to crash once and, even then, I did not lose anything. Not bad for what is really a 1.0 app.
Final word: for those of you feeling a bit dejected over all the mud that has been slung around over FCP X, I encourage you to to it a real try. Like me, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Regards
Peter