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Exporting Time FCP and Compressor

I have a PowerPc G5, Leopard and FCP 6.


My footage is Apple ProRes 422. This is the first time I'm using this HD footage. (my first movie and all the videos I've made in the past were miniDV)


When I exported through the Export Quick Time Movie the hour long edit took about 10 - 15 minutes. The info for the footage is -


1920 x 1080

HDV 1080p24 integar (Big Edian) Timecode


1:01:57 Time


The problem is it's 11.48 GB and DVD Studio Pro will not compress it so I can make a DVD. (my first miniDVD movie's export was 18gigs and iDVD compressed it to a single DVD) I nolonger have iDVD and I have to use DVD Studio Pro.


I put this movie into Compressor and tried compresssing it. When it finally starts compressing, it says it will take at least 47 hours. Which seem outragous for an hour long movie. The first two times it failed after 6 hours.


Then I went into FCP and tried exporting half the movie (30 minutes) with H264, Quality High, Size 680x382 (current). In 12 hours it was 25% with another 27 hours to go.


Is this normal?


How long should it take to export an hour of HighRes 422 clips?


Is there a setting that I can export fairly quick so I can watch this on my PC and burn a DVD so I can see what it looks like on my TV? It has to be very good, but not the best quality.


This is the first half of a movie that will eventually be close to 2 hours. I can't imagine how long the completed project is going to be.


Thank You!

Final Cut Pro 6, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Apr 14, 2013 1:10 AM

Reply
13 replies

Apr 14, 2013 1:43 PM in response to snowman999

Rendered Pro Res sequences export pretty fast, as confirmed by your first export.


Although it's not the ideal workflow, DVDSP should have accepte the file; what was the error message?


In Compressor, did you use the DVD preset? Best Quality 90 minues? Should encode two files reasonably fast – maybe an hour or so. You don't want to make an h.264 file for DVD.


Good luck.


Russ

Apr 14, 2013 2:07 PM in response to Russ H

It actually just said Fail. No reason, no nothing. What might have happened is I've been trying for over 2 days to get this working right, and nothing worked. Last night I exported the sound to AIFF and burned a CD of it, and there's nothing there.


After that, I shut down the computer for a little while, and went back to work. It might have been a glitch that formed from one of the export attempts.


I'm doing this just to watch it on other TVs and computers.


So I went into Export Using QT Conversion


Chose OPTIONS


Changed Settings to Medium Quality, One Pass


Changed Size to NTSC 720 x 480 16:9


I have a movie that about 1gig and looks pretty good. It didn't even take 3 hours.


Now I just have to see what it looks like on other machines.


In Compressor I used the Best Quality for 90 minute DVD and it just sat there for hours not registering anything. I might try again if the DVD I burn of this 264 looks like absolute garbage on my TV. But, for what I'm using it for, it doesn't have to be perfect yet. That comes after I edit the second half.


Thanks for the help!

Apr 14, 2013 5:20 PM in response to snowman999

If what you're doing now produces acceptable results, great.


But FWIW, what many people regard as the most reliable workflow is: from FCP, export sequence (typically Pro Res) as Quick Time, current settings (not QuickTime Conversion). Bring the exported file into Compressor. Select the DVD preset folder (video and audio) that best fits your sequence length. Let Compressor do any re-sizing. Submit. Should be relatively painless in terms of encoding time.


Take the two files that Compressor outputs and bring those files into DVD Studio Pro.


Russ

Apr 14, 2013 5:26 PM in response to snowman999

Your presentation of the issues is incomprehsible.


1. DO NOT use Quicktime conversion.


2. What file format are you editing in your timeline - h.264 or ProRes?


If H.264, start over. Convert to Pro Res before you import into FCP.


If you are editing ProRes, export using "current settings" and "self contained"


If you are doing that and are still having issues conpressing the ProRes file in Compressor, run Compressor Repair from Digital Rebellion to reset the system.


x

Apr 26, 2013 3:29 PM in response to madatia

As a test, open Compressor and drag any Quick Time file in and apply one of the presets to it and see what you have available in Clusters when you hit submit. Then cancel. If submit worked properly, choose a different export workflow for your FCP sequence.


Instead of choosing Send to Compressor, export your sequence as a Quick Time self-contained movie with current settings. Bring that movie file into Compressor's batch window and proceed with your encoding job.


Russ

Apr 26, 2013 10:06 PM in response to Russ H

I have a Quick Time file and I load the compressor then I choose the settings of 90 mint and then I submit see pictures



here is my email address

aram.aadigital@gmail.com



You can also remotely by logging in on me and that you come into the computer itself and tries

I myself live in the Netherlands and I translate via google so that errors can be put in the languageUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file

Apr 27, 2013 6:03 AM in response to madatia

In Compressor's menu bar, click on Reset Background Processing. Try several submit attempts. Sometimes it takes a while to kick in.


If that isn't successful, close the app and open Systems Prefereces>Qmaster. If it's on, turn it off (and vice versa) and close. Re-open and restore it to it's original state. Re-open Compressor and try again.


If that doesn't work, download Compressor Repair from Digital Rebellion and run it (takes about a second); make sure that theTrash Preferences box is checked.



Good luck.


Russ

Exporting Time FCP and Compressor

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