<p>For VHS using uncompressed is overkill. In ffmpeg you could convert it to Prores HQ which is a very good codec which still provides far higher data rates than you need and which will play nicely with FCP (because Apple).</p>
<pre><code>ffmpeg -i &quot;capture.avi&quot; -c:v prores -profile:v 3 -c:a pcm_s16le &quot;output.mov&quot;
</code></pre>
<p>I don't know enough about virtual dub to say if you can capture to prores without the intermediate step, I'm guessing this is probably possible.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-21T02:11:25.470Z
2021-01-21T02:11:25.470Z
stib
<p>I would say you have 2 options.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>when you digitise your tape make sure you use a <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/final-cut-pro/supported-media-formats-ver2833f855/mac" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FCP supported codecs</a>.</p>
</li>
<li><p>use Compressor to transcode the files</p>
</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-19T01:45:28.390Z
Compressor can't open any of the files, even the one I transcoded into the mov container.
TheVistaGroup
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-19T08:56:45.610Z
@TheVistaGroup Just out of curiosity, did you try for example Resolve?
German Dude
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-17T07:51:51.927Z
2021-01-19T08:30:54.587Z
2021-01-19T08:30:54.587Z
German Dude
<p>I have recently digitized a VHS tape using VirtualDub. Here is the MediaInfo of the original file.</p>
<pre><code>General
Complete name                            : capture.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile                           : OpenDML
File size                                : 28.0 GiB
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Overall bit rate                         : 153 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : YUY2
Codec ID/Info                            : YUV 4:2:2 as for UYVY but with different component ordering within the u_int32 macropixel
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate                                 : 151 Mb/s
Width                                    : 656 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:2
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 16.000
Stream size                              : 27.8 GiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : 1
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 289 MiB (1%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 33  ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration             : 233  ms
</code></pre>
<p>Since I can't import this AVI file into Final Cut Pro for editing, I did some processing in <code>ffmpeg</code> to help make it more... compatible? Here was my command:</p>
<p><code>ffmpeg -i &quot;capture.avi&quot; -c:v copy -c:a alac &quot;capture.mov&quot;</code></p>
<p>... and here was the output:</p>
<pre><code>Input #0, avi, from 'capture.avi':
  Duration: 00:26:19.21, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 152535 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (YUY2 / 0x32595559), yuyv422, 656x480, 150994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -&gt; #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:1 -&gt; #0:1 (pcm_s16le (native) -&gt; alac (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Output #0, mov, to 'video.mov':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.45.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (raw  / 0x20776172), yuyv422, 656x480, q=2-31, 150994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: alac (alac / 0x63616C61), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 128 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.91.100 alac
frame=47329 fps=196 q=-1.0 Lsize=29252562kB time=00:26:19.43 bitrate=151723.3kbits/s speed=6.54x    
video:29107335kB audio:144639kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.002010%
</code></pre>
<p>... and here's the resulting MediaInfo of <code>capture.mov</code></p>
<pre><code>General
Complete name                            : capture.mov
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : QuickTime
Codec ID                                 : qt   0000.02 (qt  )
File size                                : 27.9 GiB
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 152 Mb/s
Writing application                      : Lavf58.45.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : yuvs
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 151 Mb/s
Width                                    : 656 pixels
Clean aperture width                     : 656 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Clean aperture height                    : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:2
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 16.000
Stream size                              : 27.8 GiB (100%)

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : ALAC
Codec ID                                 : alac
Codec ID/Info                            : Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Duration_LastFrame                       : -35 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 750 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Stream size                              : 141 MiB (0%)
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1
</code></pre>
<p>There didn't appear to be any errors, and I am able to view the new video file in Quicktime, without any issue.</p>
<p>When I open FCP v10.5, I am unable to import <code>capture.mov</code>. I can't even select it from the list of files to import -- it is disabled, just like the AVI file.</p>
<p><strong>My question</strong>: what can I do, or change, about the way that I capture the video and audio in VirtualDub -- or -- about the way that I transcode the captured AVI file, to allow it to be imported into FCP? I do not want to encode the raw video into ProRes if possible.</p>

<ffmpeg><codec><final-cut-pro-x><file-formats><virtualdub>
Importing uncompressed video into Final Cut Pro without (too much) transcoding
TheVistaGroup
# Importing uncompressed video into Final Cut Pro without (too much) transcoding

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-17)

I have recently digitized a VHS tape using VirtualDub. Here is the MediaInfo of the original file.
General
Complete name                            : capture.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile                           : OpenDML
File size                                : 28.0 GiB
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Overall bit rate                         : 153 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : YUY2
Codec ID/Info                            : YUV 4:2:2 as for UYVY but with different component ordering within the u_int32 macropixel
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate                                 : 151 Mb/s
Width                                    : 656 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:2
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 16.000
Stream size                              : 27.8 GiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : 1
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 289 MiB (1%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 33  ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration             : 233  ms

Since I can't import this AVI file into Final Cut Pro for editing, I did some processing in ffmpeg to help make it more... compatible? Here was my command:
ffmpeg -i "capture.avi" -c:v copy -c:a alac "capture.mov"
... and here was the output:
Input #0, avi, from 'capture.avi':
  Duration: 00:26:19.21, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 152535 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (YUY2 / 0x32595559), yuyv422, 656x480, 150994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_s16le (native) -> alac (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Output #0, mov, to 'video.mov':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.45.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (raw  / 0x20776172), yuyv422, 656x480, q=2-31, 150994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: alac (alac / 0x63616C61), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 128 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.91.100 alac
frame=47329 fps=196 q=-1.0 Lsize=29252562kB time=00:26:19.43 bitrate=151723.3kbits/s speed=6.54x    
video:29107335kB audio:144639kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.002010%

... and here's the resulting MediaInfo of capture.mov
General
Complete name                            : capture.mov
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : QuickTime
Codec ID                                 : qt   0000.02 (qt  )
File size                                : 27.9 GiB
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 152 Mb/s
Writing application                      : Lavf58.45.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : yuvs
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 151 Mb/s
Width                                    : 656 pixels
Clean aperture width                     : 656 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Clean aperture height                    : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:2
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 16.000
Stream size                              : 27.8 GiB (100%)

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : ALAC
Codec ID                                 : alac
Codec ID/Info                            : Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Duration                                 : 26 min 19 s
Duration_LastFrame                       : -35 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 750 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Stream size                              : 141 MiB (0%)
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1

There didn't appear to be any errors, and I am able to view the new video file in Quicktime, without any issue.
When I open FCP v10.5, I am unable to import capture.mov. I can't even select it from the list of files to import -- it is disabled, just like the AVI file.
My question: what can I do, or change, about the way that I capture the video and audio in VirtualDub -- or -- about the way that I transcode the captured AVI file, to allow it to be imported into FCP? I do not want to encode the raw video into ProRes if possible.

**Tags:** ffmpeg, codec, final-cut-pro-x, file-formats, virtualdub


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-01-21. Score: 1

For VHS using uncompressed is overkill. In ffmpeg you could convert it to Prores HQ which is a very good codec which still provides far higher data rates than you need and which will play nicely with FCP (because Apple).
ffmpeg -i "capture.avi" -c:v prores -profile:v 3 -c:a pcm_s16le "output.mov"

I don't know enough about virtual dub to say if you can capture to prores without the intermediate step, I'm guessing this is probably possible.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-01-17. Score: 0

I would say you have 2 options.

1. when you digitise your tape make sure you use a [FCP supported codecs](https://support.apple.com/guide/final-cut-pro/supported-media-formats-ver2833f855/mac).
2. use Compressor to transcode the files

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Compressor can't open any of the files, even the one I transcoded into the mov container.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 Just out of curiosity, did you try for example Resolve?  

---

