Cull video footage offline, without uploading it to the cloud

Client footage, a remote location with no signal, or a card dump too big to upload: there are good reasons to keep a shoot on your own computer. You can still let AI do the first pass of the cull, as long as the AI runs on your machine. This guide covers what you need, the one-time setup that needs a connection, and what never leaves the computer.

Last checked 2026-10-25, against Basecut 4.1.1.

Where a step names Basecut, it is our product, so judge that part on your own footage. The checks in the first section apply to any tool that claims to work offline.

What offline culling really means

Many AI video tools send your clips, or frames from them, to a server to be analyzed. That is fast, but the footage leaves your computer and the work stops when the connection does. Local culling means the model itself runs on your computer: the clips are read from your drive, analyzed by your own chip or graphics card, and the results are written next to them.

Ask three questions of any tool before you trust it with footage that must stay private. Does the AI model run on your computer, or only the app around it? What does the app send when it is online? How long does it keep working with no connection at all?

Your options

Step by step

1. 1. Check that your computer can run the AI locally

   Basecut's own AI, Argus, runs on an Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB of memory or more, or on a Windows PC with an NVIDIA graphics card with 10 GB or more of video memory. Settings, System check shows whether this computer is ready. On a machine below that, the AI step needs Basecut Cloud or your own Google Gemini key, and both of those send reduced-size clips to Google, so they are not an offline option.

2. 2. Do the one-time setup while you are online

   Install Basecut, sign in, and download Argus from the setup screen. It is a one-time download of several GB, so do it on a good connection before the trip or the shoot. If you want to find people by face later, turn that on once while online too: it downloads a small face model.

3. 3. Decide about anonymous usage data

   Basecut sends anonymous usage data by default, such as which features were used and how a run went. It never includes file names, paths or footage. If you want nothing at all to leave the computer, turn off Share anonymous usage data in Settings.

4. 4. Choose Argus as the engine and import the shoot

   Point Basecut at the card dump or the folder on your drive. Basecut reads the files where they are and never changes the originals. Argus watches and listens to every clip on your computer and rates each one as a hero, keeper, maybe or skip, tags what happens in it, and finds its best moments. A rough view of shaky, soft, dark and repeated clips appears within seconds, before the AI finishes. A long shoot is an overnight job.

5. 5. Review, correct color and send to your editor

   Keep, reject or swap a pick in the Library. The per-camera log-to-Rec.709 correction and the color match across cameras are also computed on your computer. Then open the result in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, or export FCPXML, Premiere XML or ALE. All of this works without a connection.

6. 6. Reconnect at least once a week

   Basecut checks your account when it can. Offline, it keeps working for up to 7 days after the last successful check. After that it asks you to reconnect before you can keep working, so plan a quick check-in on long trips.

What stays on your computer

• Your original clips. Basecut reads them where they are and never changes, moves or uploads them.
• The AI analysis: ratings, tags, best moments and transcripts made by Argus.
• The rough view measurements for shake, focus, exposure and repeated takes.
• Place names, which come from the clip's GPS through a lookup built into the app.
• Faces and names, if you turn on Find people. They live in the shoot's folder and are deleted with it.
• The color correction, the color match across cameras and the files Basecut writes for your editor.

The one thing that needs a regular connection is your account. Basecut keeps working offline for up to 7 days after it last reached your account, then asks you to reconnect.