Hey Stygma Raptor,
i think you need to do some research/reading up on video editing / delivery codecs and container files. I don't have a reference handy, but google should help out, and I know the FCP 7 manual covers this as well. Quickly, codecs define how a format is encrypted and compressed. containers are how the computer organizes the various components of a file so the computer software can understand how to open it and play it back properly. Prores and h264 are codecs, while mov, avi, mp4 are containers.
when you are editing, you need to a codec that makes it easier on your computer to do so, which means less compression and thus a bigger file size. On the mac, you want to use prores for this, which can handle both HD and SD formats. Believe it or not, prores is still a compressed, lossy format. However, it is well suited to editing since it loses very little information when transcoded and exported. If you are really pressed for space, you can edit SD using the DV PRO codec; it will save you a lot of space, but note that the quality is definitely inferior to prores. It's not the end of the world, but I just thought I'd mention it. One thing to make sure you are doing though with SD material is to retain the anamorphic flag. Again, there are guides out there to show you how if you don't know already.
on the Mac, the container you want to use (which contains the video as well as other components such as audio) on the Mac for editing is QuickTime - mov. On PCs the typical container is AVI.
when it is time to share or export your file so others can watch it, the best codec to choose is h264, since it can give you great quality in a highly compressed file, and players are widely available (and these days, lots of hardware has built in decoders for h264). Generally speaking, when on the Mac, exporting to the MP4 container is fine and is well accepted by most players cross platform, as well as Vimeo and YouTube. When uploading to the aforementioned streaming sites, you should take a look at their guidelines which will tell you the best way to export your video in terms of the settings which make your video best compatible for streaming. You can also search for other guides made by others which give you step by step directions.
Regarding your DVD material, it's possible you might be able to restore it within FCP if you were auto saving and access the auto save vault. Otherwise, ripping a DVD again doesn't take that much time....just make sure to transcode to an editing friendly codec and to retain the anamorphic flag!
FYI - on apple's site, there are forums specifically available for each of their products, including FCP 7. Or just use google....these are general video editing topics not specific to fan editing, and there's lots of expertise out there. While people on this site are super helpful, it's really best to first get yourself up to a certain basic level of knowledge using easily available resources such as product manuals, reference books, and online sites/forums dedicated to these very general (not fab editing specific) topics.
Hope some of this helps, and good luck on your journey!
i think you need to do some research/reading up on video editing / delivery codecs and container files. I don't have a reference handy, but google should help out, and I know the FCP 7 manual covers this as well. Quickly, codecs define how a format is encrypted and compressed. containers are how the computer organizes the various components of a file so the computer software can understand how to open it and play it back properly. Prores and h264 are codecs, while mov, avi, mp4 are containers.
when you are editing, you need to a codec that makes it easier on your computer to do so, which means less compression and thus a bigger file size. On the mac, you want to use prores for this, which can handle both HD and SD formats. Believe it or not, prores is still a compressed, lossy format. However, it is well suited to editing since it loses very little information when transcoded and exported. If you are really pressed for space, you can edit SD using the DV PRO codec; it will save you a lot of space, but note that the quality is definitely inferior to prores. It's not the end of the world, but I just thought I'd mention it. One thing to make sure you are doing though with SD material is to retain the anamorphic flag. Again, there are guides out there to show you how if you don't know already.
on the Mac, the container you want to use (which contains the video as well as other components such as audio) on the Mac for editing is QuickTime - mov. On PCs the typical container is AVI.
when it is time to share or export your file so others can watch it, the best codec to choose is h264, since it can give you great quality in a highly compressed file, and players are widely available (and these days, lots of hardware has built in decoders for h264). Generally speaking, when on the Mac, exporting to the MP4 container is fine and is well accepted by most players cross platform, as well as Vimeo and YouTube. When uploading to the aforementioned streaming sites, you should take a look at their guidelines which will tell you the best way to export your video in terms of the settings which make your video best compatible for streaming. You can also search for other guides made by others which give you step by step directions.
Regarding your DVD material, it's possible you might be able to restore it within FCP if you were auto saving and access the auto save vault. Otherwise, ripping a DVD again doesn't take that much time....just make sure to transcode to an editing friendly codec and to retain the anamorphic flag!
FYI - on apple's site, there are forums specifically available for each of their products, including FCP 7. Or just use google....these are general video editing topics not specific to fan editing, and there's lots of expertise out there. While people on this site are super helpful, it's really best to first get yourself up to a certain basic level of knowledge using easily available resources such as product manuals, reference books, and online sites/forums dedicated to these very general (not fab editing specific) topics.
Hope some of this helps, and good luck on your journey!