Monday, September 25, 2017

Apple Final Cut Pro, macOS High Sierra, and HEVC / H.265

HEVC or High Efficiency Video Coding for the new H.265 format is touted prominently in the release notes for macOS High Sierra but there's one tiny detail ... we can't have it.

I took an existing video I had put together in Final Cut Pro and I shipped it to Compressor for transcoding but an H.265 option was not available.  Surprised, I went to Search to find out how to do it.

The short answer is we can't, at least not yet, and some question whether there's real consumer-level value.  That comes from those who believe its only of real benefit is in broadcast.  Whether that's valid or snark remains to be seen but the short answer remains that we can't do it yet.

That's not such a terrible answer for me since I really don't want to go back through all of my videos to transcode them to the new format.  Some may well be panting for it but I don't have quite that much enthusiasm even when I've been deeply engaged with video production for years.  Have a ball with it when H.265 is accessible but not just yet.


The big wins for me with High Sierra remain the changes to Safari to permit killing autoplay videos and the changes to Photos to significantly improve the sophistication of the edits one can perform on an image.  Both of those have been of great interest and high demand so it's most pleasing to see Apple deliver on them.


There was a much more comprehensive look at High Sierra from right after I installed it this afternoon.  (Ithaka:  macOS High Sierra Available as a Free Update and It's Running at the Rockhouse)

That's not a high tech review so much as a first impressions article.  It's now been five or six hours since the installation and the system has been completely smooth in normal use (as opposed to testing) throughout.  Neither CNN nor Fox has started any videos and I've checked that now multiple times.  In the net world in which live, those two have, by far, been the worst but it's repeatedly verified that videos from them will not play unless I specifically request it by clicking.  Control is returned to me and users in general where it should have remained all along.

Google is about to do just about the same thing except in a different way so it's most interesting to know how Web sites such as CNN and Fox will respond.  Safari's rejection may not stir them terribly since it's not the most commonly-used browser but many use Chrome and that effect should be easily noticeable.


Another of the most irritating video features of the Web is auto-playing seven-second GIFs.  Those ones are just a damn nuisance so the full score comes from wiping them out too.  Those seem to be falling to disfavor anyway but they still show sometimes.  Make them go away too, oh, great computer gods of Silicon Valley.


I know there's some ancillary third-party software (e.g. some Rogue Amoeba products) which needs to be updated for High Sierra but overall software compatibility is outstanding.  To the Rockhouse taste, High Sierra is the best OS upgrade in some years.

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