Most newspapers cannot afford having Final Cut Pro on every workstation, let alone one, so FCE has been the affordable answer.  That was, until the HD video DSLR’s started coming out then editing became quite the process dealing with raw video that needed to be rendered.

I don’t want to get into my frustrations and of those I know dealing with the raw HD video.  Instead, I’m posting my Streamclip export setting and how-to videos below.  I hope this helps anyone with problems getting their video into Final Cut Express, or is dealing with the “size vs quality” setting for online video export.

These are by no means authoritative, but based on using the tools to get work done at my paper.  Anyone with comments, questions or suggestions please post it below, thanks!

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Getting 7D video into Final Cut Express

Anyone with Final Cut Express and the new Canon DSLR cameras know the frustration of getting their video ready to edit.  Here are my settings, that I have set up as “preset” in Streamclip to export it out for FCE use.

Streamclip, export to Final Cut Express from 7D

I  know the 1440 is not 1920 but is, by my guess is, that FCE was designed to play nice with the many 1400×1080 HDV tape camcorders on the market.  The menu says it’s a 4:3 aspect ratio but when you put the converted clip into FCE it adjusts the workspace to a widescreen format.  Also, I have not ran into a noticeable quality problem using the 1440 size.

Watch the How-to: (if you cannot read the menus click here to go to the youtube file and enlarge it to full screen)

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H264 mov export for Web use:

There are so many recommendations on saving for Web that it can be very, very confusing.  I found no distinct output that gave me a small enough size for the quality so I fiddled around, and around, and around until I hit on this.  For short or long videos (that would be uploaded to Blip.tv, youtube or vimeo) I used this set of settings in Streamclip.  I hope it works for some of you.

Streamclip settings for HD for Web

Watch the How-to:  (if you cannot read the menus in the video click here to play it in a new windown and hit full-screen)

It’s been a while since I made a post, but my furlough time is up and I’m back at work.

It’s been nice doing family things, taking iPhone pics and also getting sick. You can find some of the photos in the mobile gallery on the left.

I hope to write a post about a meetup of NPPA regional folks by the weekend.

Free video chat by Ustream

Let’s just say it hasn’t been easy finding a way to upload to blip.tv from your iPhone, but thankfully the latest Pixelpipe update has given iPhone folks a way to do it. But it takes forever. Oh, well. At least I can get my videos from my phone into blip.tv without being at home or in the newsroom.

I have tried FTP apps, cross-post upload apps, etc. with no success, until tonight. Now from just about anywhere I can shoot video sequences though my iPhone, edit them in ReelDirector, upload them to blip.tv using Pixelpipe, then post the video embed code (from my blip.tv account) into my blog or my newspaper Web site.

I am no longer tethered to the youtube service and can publish my full resolution video where I want it.

The benefit to this is being able to ‘live video blog’ from the field with the best size video the iPhone can put out. ReelDirector is also a boon, because it allows for simple edits, basic transitions (if you need them) and title/credit text before pushing it out to the public. I cannot wait to try it out on something a bit more structured than this family video. Enjoy!

This clip is just over one minute long and took the iPhone four minutes to encode with transitions and title/credit text. Far faster than dumping it into my MacBook. The next update to the software is supposed to provide some audio editing/overlay control.

The old Boise Cascade mill in Yakima burns on Sept. 26, 2009. Image taken from video.

When on scene of this developing fire, I shot a very short video clip with my iPhone and sent it to youtube while shooting with the Canon XH-A1. I knew that I would not be able to cut through, encode and upload raw video as quick as I could send a clip through youtube so I tried it out. (both examples below) There’s a huge difference in quality, but also a huge difference in output time.

Do I think the youtube version got the message across when time was a factor? Yes. It clearly says ‘big darn fire’ or ‘Yakima burns’ to the public looking for information about what’s going on. Should it be replaced with something better? Absolutely. Once I had the raw video from the pro camera online, I notified the people who were using the youtube video and asked them to take it down.

So here they are.

YOUTUBE: iPhone with youtube upload from fire scene

YAKIMAHERALD.COM (Blip) with Canon XH-A1, cut, encoded from home on MacBook

My judgment?  I would do it again this way, however with a few differences.  I will use the yakimaherald youtube account next time.  (gotta get that programmed into my phone as an option) I will try to put more info into the cutline if possible with teaser info for the link for more into.  I could have but was more interested if it worked at all at the time.  Adding a disclaimer in the text teasing the ‘full’ or produced video at a later time so check back… sort of thing might have helped as well.  I may have more thoughts on this later.  Ta, ta.

In short, this was a fire that destroyed the apartments of several Yakima residents.  Many of them had families with small children.  All of their things were destroyed by the fire. Caught by surprise they fled a fully engaged blaze, lucky to survive.

This is the interview I ‘shot’ in the rehab tent that was constructed in the middle of Yakima Ave. near 16th.  It was loud because of the many heaters keeping the victims warm in the freezing conditions.  The video camera served no more than an audio recorder because I had to put it next to the person’s face to get any decent audio.  What I got was heart wrenching enough just to listen to.

Since I had nearly zero min of video because the lighting was so bad, I quickly slammed a few of the photos from my still camera into Final Cut Express and created an audio slideshow sort of thing.

Many of my photos remain unedited because it was the end of my workweek and the paper needs were fed.  This audio/video thing was the last piece but I felt it needed to get out before the paper was printed.

note: tomorow begins the last week of state basketball work

The challenge for me was noticing it early enough on in the game and getting off the court because (as you can see at the beginning of the video) when you are under the basket the person shooting the three is very small and often times obscured by other players in the foreground.  Getting into the stands is one way to illustrate the screens and ball movement leading to the rainbow dagger.  I also paid more attention tonight to the audio and kept the wireless in the bag instead of in the Dome.  (read the Granger story)

Janae Klarich pictured

Overall I thought this video was tight and highlighted two key points to the game.  Connell’s frustration with how the game was going and the reign of threes from both teams.

Liam the snow bear. He's 9 months old now!

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Kim and Declan sledding down from the castle (not pictured.) Weird pixel effect in the snow after Web crunching it...