Thursday, April 21, 2016

Convert Blackmagic 4K CinemaDNG RAW files to Apple ProRes 4444 for FCP X on Mac

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is precision engineered for quality in an incredibly small size. It brings you visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ) recordings. 

After recorded some 4K videos with Blackmagic Design URSA Camera, most users want to load the footages into Final Cut Pro X for editing, because FCP X is the most popular video editing program on Mac platform, with this editing program you can get the video effects you need. But, not all the video files are supported by Final Cut Pro X, from FCP X official product page you will learn that FCP X native supported video codec is Apple ProRes codec, so it means you can edit Blackmagic Design URSA Camera recorded Apple ProRes files with FCP X smoothly. 

But, as we know the Blackmagic camera can also record CinemaDNG RAW 4K files, what’s more, handling 4K video in Final Cut Pro X/7/6 is extremely hardware intensive, these RAW files will not be supported by FCP X, you will need to convert Blackmagic URSA camera CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to Apple ProRes codec for editing.

To import and edit Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files in FCP X, you will need to do some preparation before editing. The easy workaround I’ve worked out is to find a way to transcode Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to FCP X editable Prores codec. Such as ProRes 422, ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes Proxy, ProRes 422 LT, ProRes 4444 video.>> Types of Apple ProRes Codecs 

Therefore, the easy workaround is, get Pavtube Video Converter for Mac (Best XAVC/XAVC S Video Converter for Mac Review) to convert Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to ProRes, which will save you both time and trouble, and all you need is to drag the result videos for prompt editing.

Besides, it might help you change Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to other frequent formats like MOV, MKV, MP4, AVI, etc for playback on media devices. 

The trail-before-purchase is supported, just feel free to try it:

          

Key Feature of Pavtube Video Converter:
  • Support Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to various video and audio format;
  • Make videos & movies & audios compatible with Android tablets/Phones, Apple devices, Mac OS X El Capitan, video game console, websites and more;
  • Edit videos with trim, crop, split, merge and special effects;
  • Process videos and movies in batch even faster and easier;
  • Attach external *.srt, *.ass, or *.ssa subtitles into source media for entertainment;
Install and run it, you will see the interface. The following is a simple instruction of how to use this Pavtube Video Converter for Mac:

Notes: 
1.When converting video to Final Cut Pro oriented format templates(e.g. Apple Prores), please ensure that your computer has Final Cut Pro 7 installed, otherwise the converted files will have audio only without image.

2.If you are using FCP X, please make sure you have installed ProApps QuickTime Codecs, or you may get files with sound only without video.

How to Get Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files Support in Final Cut Pro X

Step 1: Add Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to the program.

Launch the software on your Mac computer, click "File" menu, select "Add Video/Audio" or "Add from folder" to import Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K filese to the program.



Step 2: Choose output format.

Click "Format" bar, from its drop-down options, move your mouse to "Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 4444 (*.mov)" to select it as the output file format.



Read the difference of ProRes. 

• Apple ProRes 422 – Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT); 
• Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) – Keep original video quality for editing in FCP; 
• Apple ProRes 422 (LT) – Get a smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422; 
• Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) – SD levels – 480i/p and 576i/p. Used in offline workflows. 
• Apple ProRes 4444 – Edit and finish 4:4:4 material. 

Actually, different Apple ProRes codec corresponds to different needs. Here you can refer to this article "Differences among Apple ProRes codec". 

Step 3: Customize output ProRes parameters.

Open "Profile Settings" window to adjust the output video codec, size, bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, sample rate, bit rate and channels.

Step 4: Convert Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files Video to FCP X.

Hit the convert button under the preview windows, the program will start Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW 4K files to Apple ProRes MOV conversion for Final Cut Pro X.

When the conversion is completed, run FCP X and import the ProRes codec footage for post production workflow.

Why choose ProRes 4444?

In summary, the Apple ProRes 4444 XQ and Apple ProRes 4444 codecs can be considered “visually lossless” for encoding the Y’CBCR or RGB pixel values intended for viewing, but “mathematically lossless” for encoding the alpha values that specify compositing. As a result, the degree of quality or fidelity is never a question for Apple ProRes 4444 alpha channels because the decoded data always matches the original perfectly.

Read more:

MP4 to FCP ǀ AVCHD to FCP ǀ MOV to FCP ǀ H.265 to FCP