tplynchy

Q: FXPX share to USB drive

I shoot a graduation video for a school and in the past provided DVD's. I want to offer USB flash drives this year so the families can plug the drive to their TV, bring with them when visiting friends and also download the file to their computer or backup hard-drive. It will also provide them an HD file. The program runs over an hour. I'm assuming I'll use the share option in FCPX and compress for MP4-H264.

 

A vendor told me their drives have a average 15MB download and other vendors may not. He mentioned that USB flash drives vary greatly in quality. Any truth to the matter?

 

Do I need to use Compressor to "customize the settings?

 

Should I customize these setting in compressor?

 

Based upon the estimates file size  (below) my MPEG 4, 1 hour piece would be less then 200MB? that does;t seem right.

 

Screen Shot 2016-05-16 at 3.28.59 PM.png

 

Screen Shot 2016-05-16 at 3.29.15 PM.png

 

 

 

Thanks for the help.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9), 3.5 GHz i7, 16 GB memory

Posted on May 16, 2016 12:34 PM

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Q: FXPX share to USB drive

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  • by tplynchy,

    tplynchy tplynchy May 16, 2016 12:41 PM in response to tplynchy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Video
    May 16, 2016 12:41 PM in response to tplynchy

    I just saw this option in Compressor for H.264. Is this the way to go for USB flash drives

    Screen Shot 2016-05-16 at 3.38.11 PM.png

  • by Russ H,Helpful

    Russ H Russ H May 16, 2016 7:11 PM in response to tplynchy
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    May 16, 2016 7:11 PM in response to tplynchy

    Not sure that you need Compressor. If you export a Master File with Format set to Computer, FCP will output an mp4 with a data rate of 20 Mb per second.

     

    To me that's higher than it needs to be, but do a short test, with a couple of different spec drives and, if possible, several TV brands to test playback. Yes, USB sticks do vary in speed. If need be, you can probably get by with a bit rate as low as 5 - 6 Mbps, depending on the content. (That custom oup[ut could be done from a custom setting in Compressor, as well as in MPEG Streamclip.)

     

    As for the Apple Device setting,it outputs a type of mp4 with an m4v extension. For widest playability, I think I'd stay with .mp4.

     

    The drives should be formatted exFAT. If they need reformatting, that can be done in Disk Utility.

     

    Good luck.

     

    Russ

  • by tplynchy,

    tplynchy tplynchy May 16, 2016 7:15 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Video
    May 16, 2016 7:15 PM in response to Russ H

    Thanks for the response.

     

     

    Someone told me not to keep the 1080 resolution but do drop to 720. They said that TV resolution. Is that true?

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H May 17, 2016 3:57 AM in response to tplynchy
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    May 17, 2016 3:57 AM in response to tplynchy

    Actually, either should work. 720 will require less storage space and can be created lower bitrate files.

     

    Again, doing some testing with the storage devices and with a variety of TV brands would be a good. When you do that you can try out some test footage at both resolutions to see whether you can tell the difference on the displays. (You will be able to see it on a computer display.)

     

    Good luck.

     

    Russ

  • by tplynchy,

    tplynchy tplynchy May 17, 2016 7:15 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Video
    May 17, 2016 7:15 AM in response to Russ H

    I was told that a reformatted USB flash drive to ExFat may be an issue on TV's. Would be fine for computers though.   Seems like preparing edits over 4 GM to play on a TV is an issue unless streamed form a iTunes, or some other media streaming service.

     

    Any thoughts?

     

    Thanks for the help.

  • by Russ H,Helpful

    Russ H Russ H May 17, 2016 9:39 AM in response to tplynchy
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    May 17, 2016 9:39 AM in response to tplynchy

    Here's one manufacturer's spec sheet. Others may differ since there aren't universally adopted standards in this area.

     

    Russ