How do I resize the Canon 5D Mark II videos?

[turbotuner]

Hey guys I just picked up this bad boy. I installed all the software for the 5D but I don't think I found the program that will resize the videos I recorded. Maybe I overlooked it somewhere. Some assistance would be awesome. Thanks! The videos are really choppy, I'm not sure if its because my laptop can't keep up with playing 1080p or what.

[AndrewCCM]

You need to find either a freeware encoder or Apple Quicktime Pro will do it.

I use an NLE (non-linear Editor) Final Cut Pro on my Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro on the PC. I converted about 2.1GB (6min) 1080P video to 720P via Premier Pro the other day. I compressed it down to about 225mb and it looked good.

[turbotuner]

Ok thanks for the information. I had Quicktime Pro but didn't know it would resize these files! duh!

[ldelacruz]

What CF cards are you guys using? I was reading my manual and it says to use a card of 8mb/s or your highest quality video would be choppy but 8 mb/s does not seem to be fast enough. What are your thoughts so far?

[AndrewCCM]

I am using the SanDisk Extreme III (30mb/s Edition) cards in mine.

According to Rob G, his tests on the 5DMkII show about 20-23mb/s using these CF cards.

[turbotuner]

I am using the SanDisk Extreme Ducati!! 45mb/s and it is still choppy! So I don't think thats the case anymore. lol I called Canon to try to rectify the situation. I was wondering if it could be that our computers are too slow, but I tried it on my Core 2 Duo 2.13Ghz with 2 Gigs of Memory and a NVIDIA 640MB Video card and its still choppy. I don't think my computer is considered that slow.

[turbotuner]

I watched the videos on the camera itself and it seems like its smooth on the camera, but once its transferred over to the computer it gets choppy. Even when I resize it down to 480p it is still choppy. What gives?? My only other option to watch smooth video might mean connecting the 5d itself to a TV with a mini-hdmi cable.

[ldelacruz]

The box recommends a Core 2 DUO 2.6 or faster for video. The video is also choppy on my Dell P4 2.8 with 3 gigs of ram and onboard video card but smooth in camera.

[AndrewCCM]

Plays back pretty well on my 2.4ghz Core2Duo with 8GB RAM and XP-64bit. I have a Nvidia 8600GTS video card (256MB).

However, trying to edit in a NLE is another story altogether. Way too choppy with multiple clips on the timeline. I think it's going to require a dedicated H.264 video editing acceleration card to effectively edit full size/full bit rate clips. I used to have several of these back in the analog days (Miro DC30+) and then again when DV first was introduced (Canopus DV Storm, Pinnacle DV500, etc)..

I haven't started my research yet... But Canopus is now thomsongrassvalley.com. They make the Edius NLE too..

I have been out of the video side of this biz since around 2004. A lot has changed in 4 years. Wow.

[ldelacruz]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Plays back pretty well on my 2.4ghz Core2Duo with 8GB RAM and XP-64bit. I have a Nvidia 8600GTS video card (256MB).

However, trying to edit in a NLE is another story altogether. Way too choppy with multiple clips on the timeline. I think it's going to require a dedicated H.264 video editing acceleration card to effectively edit full size/full bit rate clips. I used to have several of these back in the analog days (Miro DC30+) and then again when DV first was introduced (Canopus DV Storm, Pinnacle DV500, etc)..

I haven't started my research yet... But Canopus is now thomsongrassvalley.com. They make the Edius NLE too..

I have been out of the video side of this biz since around 2004. A lot has changed in 4 years. Wow.

Can you tell me when I will have everything I need for this crazy hobby? Or is there no end?

[tc95]

Lonnie,

If you find everything please let me know...I would like to buy exactly what you have...LOL

Are you guys using Mac or PC...??

If you are using Mac....I would use Imovie HD or Final Cut Pro....

For PC......you might try this conversion software before you edit it...PC HD editing software

Now for your choppy video playback....it is probably due to the way your computer is handling the video during the editing process....check your settings on your video card....if that is not it...then your issue lie's in your HD...it is not transferring the information fast enough during the editing process....see if you can adjust the way the flow of information runs between the HD-Processor-and Video-Card.....

Hope this helps a little bit....

[turbotuner]

Plays back smoothly using the HDMI to the TV. Not so on the computer. I'm hoping once I edit the videos it will play back smoothly.

[AndrewCCM]

Update: I have tried about every combination of NLE I could try on the PC and never could get smooth editing on the timeline.

So.. I broke out my MBPro and dumped the exact same footage into iMovie and FCP. Works flawlessly. Smooth as can be. It's definitely a CODEC issue with QTime within Windows. Convenient of Apple huh?

[zeroendless]

Playback Choppy?

Try http://www.videolan.org/vlc/, works better than Q-crap.

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by zeroendless

Playback Choppy?

Try http://www.videolan.org/vlc/, works better than Q-crap.

No. EDITING/SCRUBBING on the NLE timeline.

BTW: With my 5D2 footage, QT actually plays it back more smoothly than the latest VLC on my PC (2.4Ghz Core2Duo, XP-64Bit, 8GB RAM). Not sure why.

Funny thing...on my MAC, I can play back the 1080P smoothly straight from the CF card. It's a h.264 decoding problem on the Windows platform. I have been researching for a week or so... That is about the best I can gather at this point.