.swf, .flv and Mpeg2 files in FCP?

[Baltimore Shooter]

Does anyone know is Flash (.swf) or Mpeg2 files can be opened and edited in FCP 4? I don't know what a .flv file is, anyone know?

Also, can a .wmf file be converted and/or opened in FCP 4?

Warren

 

[Run 'n' Get 'em]

.FLV is Flash Video... Don't think SWF/FLV can be opened in FCP, but MPEG2 should be able to do be

If you have Flip4Mac and QT Pro, You can open the WMV file in Quicktime Player then export it to an MOV...

 

[PHX Shooter]

Warren,
Like RnG said, an .flv file is an encoded Flash video flle and a .swf is a Flash flie. The way I've seen it used (and the way i do it) is that the .swf file is the player that provides the controls and skin for the .flv file. You then embed the .swf into the Web page. And I don't think you can import .flv's into NLE's (you can't on Premiere Pro and it's owned by Adobe/Macromedia). I don't think you'd want to anyway as they've been compressed during the encoding process.
If you don't have it already, Dreamweaver has a great workflow for embedding .flv files into Web pages. Super easy and works like a charm.

 

[Alaska cameradude]

Warren,

If you don't already know about it, a good program to get is Streamclip from squared 5:
http://www.squared5.com/

It won't help you with flash stuff but you can convert MPEG's and do a lot of other stuff with it, and it's free.
You can convert flash into files quicktime can use by using iSquint (another free download). I dunno how much this will help you but you could use the H.264 encoder setting....the problem probably is that the flash files aren't full screen and you would have to upsize them. But hey, it's worth a try.....these are free programs after all.

 

[Canonman]

Hey Alaska,

The newest version of MPEG Streamclip has some support for Flash files as well.

cm

 

[Alaska cameradude]

Really? Sweet!! Just another reason to pick it up! I've even used it to uprez some stuff (from 320x240 MPEG-2 to 720x480 .mov files) and it did a GREAT job, much better than I expected. It does a lot of useful cool little things, and it's free....I recommend it to anyone who does non linear editing.

 

[Canonman]

It does a lot of useful cool little things, and it's free....I recommend it to anyone who does non linear editing.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with that. It also seems to be more efficient codewise, than Quicktime. Some HD material playsback in full screen smoother with MPEG Streamclip than it does with QT.

cm

 

[JacobA]

Another option is to use a free website like http://w3.media-convert.com/ This site allows you to upload your file (TONS of different file formats accepted...audio, video, whatever) and it will then convert the file into the format that you specify (again, TONS of file formats are available as export options). The site is completely free and converts relatively quickly!

 

[BNVN]

Since it is hella dead here, I have been working on my new server. I took the dive into Linux and while it is a total pain in the arse to deal with the code and making your own programs from the free code out there. All I can say without shooting myself in the foot is FFMPEG

FFMPEG, learn it! If you have a Linux machine, you will be able to do wonders.

It is a command line script that you need to know computers but with it and the right LAME codecs setup, you can convert ANYTHING to ANYTHING, even stuff with piss poor keyframes and half encoded files.

I learned all about this while building my new website.

Also if you want to see something cool www.bnvn.org

Here is the bet that I will pay $50 to whoever can HOTLINK the video. Not download and pirate buy uploading to your own page but a Hot Link.

For those who don't know what a hot link is, it is when you embed someone elses photo or video into your page but the bandwidth is kicked back to the source page. It's real easy to steal bandwidth using (ignore~) <~img~src~=~"http:~//~www~webaddress~com~/image~" /~>

I put the ~ in so the forum page script would not freak out. But all anyone needs to do is img src someone elses website images and you can put up all kinds of stuff on your free site but not take any of the bandwidth hits.

I'm pulling all of my stuff from YouTube and Google Video to move EVERYTHING to my new bnvn dot com site and putting up advertising in front of all the flash video as well as preventing all the hot linking.

So If you think you can steal the bandwidth from my site www.bnvn.org and get the intro video to work on your site while hosted on my server, give it a try and I'll pay $50 to the first person that can hotlink it. Remember, NOT downloading and uploading to your site, but a hotlink.

 

[PHX Shooter]

Well well well, that Media Convert is pretty damn cool.
Thanks Jacob.

The good news (at least to me) is that my password protected distance learning product is still safe.

 

[BNVN]

Well well well, that Media Convert is pretty damn cool.
Thanks Jacob.

The good news (at least to me) is that my password protected distance learning product is still safe.

I thought about password protecting it all and making users sign in to see the videos but I also want to sell advertising to show up in front of the videos. I'm working on that script code now so it should be pretty cool when I incorporate the database into it.

The footage we have on hand, I have over 400 videos alone and when you add in all the BNVN stringers, were talking thousands of exclusive clips from our crews so it should be pretty interesting when its done.

 

[cameragod]

http://keepvid.com/

And then convert.

But watch for audio sync problems.

edit...
Just tried out Replay Media Catcher and that works very well.

 

[BNVN]

http://keepvid.com/

And then convert.

But watch for audio sync problems.

edit...
Just tried out Replay Media Catcher and that works very well.

Yeah there is a ton of stuff out there to keep video from the streams. I just found that the cleanest way is to just have a pro gaming card in the computer and export it to a DVR then import that back into Adobe Pro.

 

[Canonman]

Yeah there is a ton of stuff out there to keep video from the streams. I just found that the cleanest way is to just have a pro gaming card in the computer and export it to a DVR then import that back into Adobe Pro.

Just feed the Google or Youtube URL into MPEG Streamclip and it will download the .FLV video for you. Works very nicely.

cm

 

[BNVN]

Just feed the Google or Youtube URL into MPEG Streamclip and it will download the .FLV video for you. Works very nicely.

cm

Yeah but I was talking about the fast way to get it back to tape then back to any format. I know there is a bunch of digital programs out there but sometimes going back to analog then back to digital is just stupid fast.

 

[Canonman]

sometimes going back to analog then back to digital is just stupid fast.

Whatever works for you. I try to avoid degrading image quality by doing unnecessary conversion or transcoding. But, YouTube is going H.264 so we should start seeing much higher visual quality from them in the near future.

Besides, you originally said 'out to DVR' and to me, that's going to a hard drive, not tape, with MPEG2 compression on top of an already compressed flash video from YouTube.

cm