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Q: Using Compressor to make smallest possible files for transcriber

I asked a question related to this a few days ago on the FCP discussion. I thought it was answered, but now I ran into a new issue.

I shot on the AF100 and transcoded via Log and Tranfer to ProRes.

Now I need to make these clips as small as possible and, ideally, stamped with TC so that I can send them to my transcribers, all of whom are working on PCs.

I decided to use the H.264 codec that's customized for iPod because that seemed like it would make a very small file. I used the filters in compressor to stamp on TC. The result is beautiful- a 50 gig file down to 234megs with timcode stamped on it. The problem: it took all night to compress a one hour interview. I have 20 hours and the project needs to be submitted by the 15th of April.

Can anyone suggest a workflow that will be faster? I am thinking of going with just audio, but is it possible to get my TC stamped onto an audio file? Even if I can't get the TC stamped on, can I create an audio file of any of these following formats, which are the formats that my transcriber's software can read:

# WMV (Windows Media Video)
# RM (Real Video/Real Media)
# IVF (Indeo Video Format)
# MTS (Hi Def Video Format - AVCHD created by Digital Video Cameras)
# MPEG (Industry-Standard PC Video format)
# MPG (Industry-Standard PC Video format)
# VOB (Video Object files that are used on DVD movies and burned movie disks)
# MP4 (Compressed Video Standard used on PCs and IPODS)
# F4V (Flash MP4 video format)
# MOV (Apple Quicktime Movie format)
# FLV (Flash Video)

I know there's a template for AAC files in compressor -- is that a .mov format?

I know this is really basic but I'm really pressed for time right now and would really appreciate any input. The smaller the files come out the better (slow internet where I am in the world right now!) Thanks very much.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 2X3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 7GB RAM

Posted on Mar 25, 2011 6:23 AM

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Q: Using Compressor to make smallest possible files for transcriber

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  • by cameragirlnyc,

    cameragirlnyc cameragirlnyc Mar 25, 2011 6:37 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2011 6:37 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Also- is there a way to create a destination for the compressed clips that is a folder named after the folder the source clips came from? Ideally I'd like 2 sets of folders that are named the same (or similarly) with the source clips in one and the compressed clips in the other. Right now with "source" selected as my destination, all the clips are jumbled together in the same folder.

    Thanks very much again.
  • by Michael Trauffer,Helpful

    Michael Trauffer Michael Trauffer Mar 25, 2011 7:45 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Level 5 (4,095 points)
    Mar 25, 2011 7:45 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Hello,

    You may want to read up on using a QuickCluster on your MacPro, which should help speed up the transcode process. A couple of questions:

    Where is your source media stored?
    Where are you setting your destinations to?

    AAC is an audio format that carries a .acc extension. You can customize an h.264 preset to include AAC audio. I use a similar preset with timecode stamped clips.

    In Compressor, you can create any number of destinations, which can also employ custom file name conventions. On my machine, I have a folder called "Compressor Destinations". Within that folder are other folders labeled for the kinds of files that I create. This structure helps sort files by types, which I then drag to their appropriate destinations once encoding has completed.

    It sounds like you're on the right track, you just need to speed up the encoding process. Here are some links that I've found to be very useful with QClusters:

    http://visionstudios.ca/RenderFarm/RenderFarmleft.html

    http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/compressor_multi_coresstitzer.html
  • by cameragirlnyc,

    cameragirlnyc cameragirlnyc Mar 25, 2011 8:40 AM in response to Michael Trauffer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2011 8:40 AM in response to Michael Trauffer
    Thanks Michael. My source files are on an external firewire drive, and they're going back to the same drive (they are currently ending up in the same folders they came from.)

    I have files from different folders in the same batch- ideally I could just do one folder at a time and set the destination for all the clips in that folder at once, but it's going to take less time I think to put all my clips (from about 20 different folders) into one batch, export it, and then pull those clips into new folders I create.

    Right now I'm using the AAC setting which my transcriber seems to be able to play. Thanks!
  • by cameragirlnyc,

    cameragirlnyc cameragirlnyc Mar 26, 2011 8:47 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 26, 2011 8:47 AM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Just one last questions before this is solved- is there any way at all to stamp TC on AAC files- I guess that would make them video files as well, but maybe that would still make smaller/faster files than actual H.264 video files of my original footage with TC stamped on them... I am imagining just a black frame with timecode linked to the audio file. Not sure if this would make much of a difference in file size? Thanks. For now it seems to be going OK with all my transcribers and the AAC files, however it's going to be a pain once I start editing to set auxiliary timecodes for all my clips.
  • by cameragirlnyc,

    cameragirlnyc cameragirlnyc Apr 6, 2011 7:35 PM in response to cameragirlnyc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 6, 2011 7:35 PM in response to cameragirlnyc
    I guess there is no way to stamp timecode onto AAC files... In any case, changing the timecode on my clips was not a terribly time consuming process, so it all ended up okay.
  • by angieprivitt,

    angieprivitt angieprivitt Mar 2, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Michael Trauffer
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mar 2, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Michael Trauffer

    I don't understand your answer, and could it apply to now?  I'm running El Capitan on  my Mac.  I collected an assortment of videos and files to compress to send to our website.  But, once on the website, the files got jumbled and unattractive for our guests to open.  Help?