Converting MP4 File To .MOV

As Tom said, the problem is not with the .mp4 but obviously it contains some incompatible codec.

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Much/all of this applies also to Final Cut Pro:

macOS 14 Sonoma QuickTime Player does not play video codecs like H.265 with Codec ID hev1, VP8 and VP9, and audio codecs like Opus and Vorbis, and wrappers like .avi, .mkv and .webm.

ffmpeg can losslessly and very fast fix that H.265 with Codec ID hev1 issue with:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -tag:v hvc1 output.mp4

macOS 10.14 Mojave QuickTime Player does not play H.265 with Chroma subsampling 4:2:2 (Bit depth 10 bits).

I have heard that starting with Ventura 13.4 on Apple Silicon, Sony XAVC-S (H.264) 10-bit 4:2:2 material at 100 fps or 120 fps shows black video and no audio in FCP 10.6.5 and Resolve Studio 18.1.4. Pro Video Formats were apparently unchanged for Ventura 13.4, still on version 2.2.4.

A workaround is to use Handbrake to convert the video. ffmpeg can convert that Sony footage to QuickTime compatible ProRes 422 HQ, H.265 or H.264 .mov with:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 3 -timecode 00:00:00:00 -c:a copy prores422hq.mov

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -crf 28 -preset medium -timecode 00:00:00:00 -tag:v hvc1 -c:a copy h265.mov

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 23 -preset medium -timecode 00:00:00:00 -c:a copy h264.mov

PROBLEMS to playing video codec sony a7s3… - Apple Community

Sony Fx3 And imported footage to FCP 10.6… - Apple Community

IINA and VLC should have no issues with playing any decent new or old codec.

Handbrake, Shutter Encoder, VLC and ffmpeg can be used to convert old codecs to H.264 or H.265 video and AAC audio wrapped as .mp4 (or its very close cousin .m4v or .mov. I have used MacPorts to install ffmpeg but there are also precompiled versions).

Avidemux and ffmpeg can be used to losslessly fix some issues with codecs or wrappers.

https://iina.io

https://www.videolan.org

https://handbrake.fr

https://www.shutterencoder.com/

https://avidemux.sourceforge.net

https://ffmpeg.org

https://www.macports.org

So is the footage from Sony FX30? Is it Sony XAVC-S (H.264) 10-bit 4:2:2 material at 100 fps or 120 fps I mentioned in my previous reply? What do MediaInfo or Invisor says about the complete specs?? Do you have a Silicon Mac? What macOS??

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

https://www.invisorapp.com

What exactly happens when you double click the QuickTime file? What happens when you bring the file into Compressor?

What computer is this exactly?

I have similar media XAVC 24fps in Monterey and it works correctly in QuickTime, Compressor, and FCP.

Yeah, there's a thread here, or at CreativeCow, talking about this Sony footage not being recognized by Macs properly. It all needs to be transcoded to something macOS and FCPX/Compressor can deal with.

If you see the Quicktime logo, and not a video thumbnail, macOS isn't happy with something about that file. Transcode them to something else.

Looks like the Sony XAVC footage that has those issues.

The next MediaInfo tab would have provided more details like:

The QuickTime Player normally plays MPEG-4. Can you give complete specs of the media in addition to the framework that it uses? You can see this in the MediaInfo or Invisor apps.

That doesn’t give much information. What happens when you double click the clip? Where is that folder with the clips stored?

> What's the best way to transcode them

I listed some options in my previous reply.

That file should work in FCP. It’s a pretty common Sony format. Would it be possible to upload a sample to somewhere like Dropbox or WeTransfer.