Best QUALITY: FCP5 Compressor2 or FCP5 self-contained FCP6 Compressor3 ?

What's up?
From this 2 options, witch one is the best for IMAGE QUALITY?
1. directly export to Compressor 2 from FCP5 and encode in MPEG2
2. make a self-contained Quicktime in FCP5, put this in FCP6 (to edit a few things), export to Compressor 3 from FCP6 and encode in MPEG2
About rendering that could make a quality difference: my movie just has "fade to black" transitions. (On the sound: some rendering but does it affect the image quality?)
So what is the best? What do I loose if I loose some quality between the 2 ??

Thanks David.
From Ken stone, about exporting from Compressor or exporting a self-contained:
"This process might yield slightly better export quality than other methods (exporting as a QuickTime movie), because FCP hands off the video to Compressor in a unrendered state and Compressor renders the video and encodes in one shot. Exporting as a QuickTime movie requires FCP to first render the video using the sequence codec and then the QuickTime movie is re-encoded in Compressor. Encoding the video twice, once in FCP and then again in Compressor can lower final quality a bit."
"The advantage of using this method is that transitions, effects, titles, and other "renderable" footage will be send directly to Compressor without rendering into DV or other codec. This will greatly improve the quality of the footage."
That's why one could be better than the other. Maybe I didn't understand well ??

Similar Messages

Exporting self contained quicktime

I'm fairly new to compression. I've noticed alot of comments saying not to export to compressor from the timeline in FCP, but to export a self contained quicktime. Then encode in compressor.
Doesn't this A)take more time as your exporting twice
B)take up alot more space.
Is it just a compression time issue or do you get better quality results when exporting the self contained QT first.
Thanks

Overall you get better quality
A)take more time as your exporting twice
Can be a bit more time, but worth the results. Generally I find that it is faster to some degree, exporting from Final Cut to Compressor gets slow from rendering and feeding the frames in. Also if you want to tweak the encoding rates after the first encode, having the self contained movie will be faster
B)take up alot more space.
It does take up more space, but it is definately worth getting an extra drive to do this, really worth it because of the quality, potential reencodes, etc.

QT self-contained best quality: rendering / sequence settings

I want to have the best image quality possible.
I need to export my editing as a self-contained QT.
I filmed in DVCAM NTSC. I captured with the easy setup DV NTSC in FCP 5.
My questions:
1 . In the general sequence setting, for the QT video compressor, should I use:
- DV/DVCPRO NTSC (default setting)
or :
- None or something else?
2. I have some very over-exposed footage that I color corrected with the 3 way filter :
Should I render with YUV 8 bits or with Hight-Precision YUV ?
Thanks.

1 . In the general sequence setting, for the QT video compressor, should I use: * DV/DVCPRO NTSC (default setting)
Yes.
2. I have some very over-exposed footage that I color corrected with the 3 way filter : Should I render with YUV 8 bits or with Hight-Precision YUV ?
8-Bit YUV. DV is an 8-bit codec.
#3 Output lossless Quicktime movies
Shane's Stock Answer #3: How to output lossless Quicktime movies
To export your project so there is no loss in quality, simply go to the File Menu and select EXPORT>QUICKTIME MOVIE. Not Quicktime Conversion, fot this will compress the footage. Make sure the settings match your timeline settings, make it self contained, do NOT recompress the footage, and you are set.
Shane

Exporting Final Cut timeline in highest quality Quicktime (self-contained)

Hi, I am wondering if you can help me. I just finished editing a film in HDV, 24P in Final Cut Studio 2 and need to export it as a stand alone quicktime file to take it to the color correction people and then for downressing in order to write to DigiBeta tapes.
My question is, do I simply export to Quicktime movie self-contained file using default (current) setting? I also see there are options such as Applre ProRes422 HQ, uncompressed 8bit and 10bit. From what I've heard uncompressed 8 and 10 bit and also apple ProRes422 are higher qualities? Am I wrong?
But going to Uncompressed 8bit or even to Apple ProRes won't make a difference since I only have HDV quality and that's the highest quality I can get anyway?
Please advise.
Thank you

Exporting a self contained QT Movie, and not recompressing will get you an HDV file that is full quality. But unless the facility you are going to has FCP on the machine they load this, they won't be able to see it. Same with ProRes...which would be the better choice for color correcting (10-bit, I-Frame format instead of GOP). ProRes and HDV (and DVCPRO HD) are codecs that only come with FCP, and any computer, even a mac, that doesn't have FCP installed cannot even view those file formats.
Shane

Cant export AV Self contained but can export QT Conversion Full Quality DV

Having trouble exporting Quicktime movie, "Self-Contained"is checked. Include Audio & Video. It exports about 3/4 of the way and than get general error. I have searched the forum but found nothing that would help. I have exported it using quicktime conversion Full quality Dv and it exports fine and plays fine. But when I import full quality dv back into fce and render it, the last 10 minutes of the 22 minute video has no sound.All music is aiff and all pics are jpeg, tif, And video is all original DV. Have have made several videos using all the same types of format and have never had this problem. Could someone help. Thanks.....Rick

Did you render all and mix down the audio before you attempted to export the movie?
Sequence > Render All > Both
Sequence > Render Only > Mixdown
Do both of them, in order, then save your project, then try exporting again.
What version of QT do you have on your system?

Self-contained QT save as .mov FCP

I have a self-contained QT exported from FCP5.
I need to cut it into 2 parts so that I can save it on 2 DVDs.
I want to make sure that I don`t loose any quality from my original. Am I 100% quality if I do the folowing:
select half of the clip > keep the selection only > Save as.
This make a .mov file.
Then I can import this .mov in FCP and this process is looseless, am I right ?
Thanks a lot.

Hey Carioca,
You are a worrier aren't you?
A self-contained QT movie (with straight cuts) with same settings is in other words a copy of all the media frames used in the timeline. If you have to split a movie in two parts to store as data files in 2 DVDs (Probably to send it somewhere?) then cut them and export them as QT movies self-contained.
G.

Why is a self contained movie faster to compress?

Hi, I noticed something today, I sent from FC to compresor a sequence 4 minutes long and if I select the best compression for DVD it takes 4 hours to compress the video (DVCPRO HD720p60 to SD) but if I make a self contained movie first and then I compress that file it only takes 20 something minutes, do you have an idea why is that? Am I losing quality in the self contained movie?
Thanks

Hi:
If your sequence is just plain video edit, I mean, no effects, color correction, graphic elements (text, etc), then you'll get no quality difference encoding from your timeline or from the self contained. Both sources are same quality.
But if you have effects and graphcis in your sequence that you need to render, then you'll get the best quality encoding directly from the timeline, because FCP will use the raw info from each frame as source for the encoding, NOT the rendered ones.
The difference in quality depends on how heavy your effects/graphics are.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Exports a self contained, then renders. Why?

I exported a self contained Quicktime movie (same settings as footage--HDV--no recompressed frames). My exported file is named exactly as I named it, but with four additional mysterious digits at the end. Here's what I don't get: FCP says it's still writing video. Why? Is it writing a render file? It's already exported a self-contained movie that appears to be complete (I watched the end). What's the point of this render file? (The exported movie contains 4 fades, and 2 text titles). Not sure whether to stop the "writing video" so I can do some other work, or leave it in case it's needed by my self-contained file.

Hi:
If your sequence is just plain video edit, I mean, no effects, color correction, graphic elements (text, etc), then you'll get no quality difference encoding from your timeline or from the self contained. Both sources are same quality.
But if you have effects and graphcis in your sequence that you need to render, then you'll get the best quality encoding directly from the timeline, because FCP will use the raw info from each frame as source for the encoding, NOT the rendered ones.
The difference in quality depends on how heavy your effects/graphics are.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

NEED THE BEST QUALITY QUICKTIME MOVIE FOR DVD! THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE.

I just finished a three minute piece that will be shown on DVD and projected to a sixteen foot screen. I usually just output a self-contained quicktime movie with current settings and then compress with bitvice. While I'm happy with those results, because of the size of this screening, I'm curious whether there might be better options for output to quicktime, such as uncompressed, etc?
I've also heard that I could output as a Jpeg, or a PNG file, but I'd love some advice on what works best and the workflow, as I need to get this done fast and can't really afford the time to experiment.
Any advice would be HUGELY appreciated. THANKS1

I usually just output a self-contained quicktime movie with current settings and then compress with bitvice.
That will provide the best quality ... the quality won't improve over what you had in FCP. Depending on your source media type(s), you may have had a better quality export IF you had edited and rendered with another setting.
-DH

Setting for best quality in compressor

Hi.
I'm running FCP 5.1 and Compressor 2.3.1. For best quality videos on youtube I've heard it's a good idea to max out the free space they make available to you. What are the best settings I should use in Compressor for maximum quality uploads to youtube? Also what's a good setting for good quality video with a smaller file size? Also I should note most of my videos uploaded are of short duration 1 minute to 5 minutes. I've been using the settings DVNTSC and it's okay but maybe there's something better you can recommend? Also I tend to use Toast to burn DVD's. What's a good setting for best quality dvd's?
thank you!

For Youtube encoding, read these: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/you_tube_redux_gary.html and http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/you_tube_hd_gary.html
Keep in mind that the more compressed the file is (smaller file size), the lessor quality.
As for DVD compression, I've always found Toast's encoder to create poorer quality DVDs than Compressor or DVD Studio Pro. The best method would be to export a self-contained or reference movie from FCP (Do NOT use QuickTime Conversion), then import that file into Compressor. Use the DVD preset in Compressor that best matches your movie's duration. You can duplicate and adjust presets as needed for your particular movie. Compressor will create the needed MPEG-2 video file (.m2v) and Dolby Digital audio file (.ac3). Import those two files into DVD Studio Pro for authoring and burning.
-DH

Best quality for iDVD?

hi,
my FinalCut project loses a lot of quality once it is burned in iDVD. it gets really blurry. I am using a lot of titles and a JPEG template created in photoshop with video layered over it. It looks fine when i export to quicktime, bt once it is imported into iDVD, it loses it's quality. does anyone have any suggestions/ideas? i am stuck and would greatly appreciate any help! thanks

iDVD does the compression for you; that's what takes it so long to burn
So, from FCE don't use Quicktime Conversion, use Export as Quicktime Movie; you don't have to check the "make movie self-contained button" if you are keeping all the files together
The closer you are to iDVD's two hour limit, the more likely you are to encounter quality issues, that is really pushing the limit of the product
I generally try to keep my movies under 90 minutes and I get pretty good quality; but as stated, it all comes down to source. Editing DV material I ain't ever gonna make the stuff look like Stephen Spielburg .. or even broadcast TV but I sell these DVDs and most people are happy with the quality
If you really need to make a movie longer than 90 minutes then you need to get into dual layer media (which means a dual layer burner) or look at DVD Studio Pro; an expensive proposition now that you can no longer buy that program separately
As for the quality degrading once you export to QT; how are you judging this? Make sure QT player is set to it highest quality. A TV is still the best place to judge this quality. And all of this is assuming you are working in the formats FCE is designed to deal with: DV or HD.

Quicktime self-contained movie stalls

How do I get my self-contained movie to load for a few seconds before it automatically starts? I am getting minor stalls in the beginning of the movie while it is starting to load. After it loads for 10 seconds or so, then it's smooth sailing.
Here's the link: http://www.smolinskistudios.com/Design06sc.mov
specs h264 640x480 self-contained
Thanks in advance,
Dick

How do I get my self-contained movie to load for a few seconds before it automatically starts? I am getting minor stalls in the beginning of the movie while it is starting to load. After it loads for 10 seconds or so, then it's smooth sailing.While some of the "power users" may know of a way to script an "auto start" for your clip, I do not. Spent several hours a day over the last few days performing "segmentation analysis" of clip characteristics. Based on these results and what little you have said regarding settings used, it might be best to simply attemt to avoid the problem rather than "fix" it. (All of my attempts to reconvert the file either created a green bar artifact, reduced quality to an unacceptable level, or delayed auto start until all tracks were pre-loaded even when only one added "ramp adjustment" track was so set.) Of course, you can always allow the user to manually start playback here.
RECAP: The primary problem here seems to be one of the speed with which the data rate "ramps up/down" during playback. QT compares data rate to file length in order to automatically calculate the start play delay needed to buffer enough data to theoretically prevent an "overrun" during playback. In this case, you committed two cardinal sins -- failure to limit data rate to Internet compatible connection speeds and not limiting quantimization excursion to this range. Failure to do this allows the instantaneous video data rate to monotonically ramp from near zero Mbps to nearly 4 Mbps causing QT to overrun, recalculate, rebuffer, and restart numerous times during the initial 7-8 seconds of play. This is likely due to use of the H.264 codec in the "muti-pass" mode coupled with setting the "Quality slider" for maximum data rate excursion with a possible "auto" frame rate setting. Unfortunately, your content is deceptively complex in motion (allowed to ramp up to high) and transition (can't ramp up fast enough) sequences when compared to the rest of the content (allowed to ramp down too low). Like CD/VCD/DVD playback, "progressing streaming" plays best when you use a "constant throughput" rather than "constant quality" encoding strategy. I.e., you might try using the single-pass mode, using 50-75% quality setting, and adjusting the key frame frequency (or better yet manually inserting extra key frame markers to transitions if using an editor that allows this).
An interesting exercise. Sorry I couldn't come up with any better suggestions.

Self contained movie long bach time

Hey Guys -
I'm working on a DVD for a client. The video is about 1:50min. I exported out of FCP to a self contained movie, which is about 25gb. I used Best Quality setting 120min encode. Started it last night around 7pm. 12hrs later it said 90% and 4hrs remaining. It was sitting there so I stopped it and resumed it. Now it is saying 68% and 10hrs remaining? Why would it go from 90% done to 68% done?
Is this normal render time??
Thanks!
Chris

1.5 hour clip on a Powerbook G4? I'd say the most likely answer is yes, it should be very slow.

Exporting for the best quality

I am making a highlight tape of my children with some music. What is the best way to export the sequence for DVD with the best quality? DO I export it using the "Quicktime" option and make it a "Self contained movie" or do I uncheck this box? (There is no chapter markers in my film).
Thanks

You should export as QuickTime Movie. Don't use QuickTime Conversion.
Also, if FCE and iDVD are on the same computer, you don't have to make a Self-Contained movie. Uncheck the box and your export will go much faster, with no loss of quality.
In iDVD Preferences, check the box for "Best Quality"

Best quality for burning to DVD?

I've created a video project for a friend - home movies, scanned family photos, etc., with narration and music. Some of the images are pretty good quality, some not so great, but it's okay. I now want to burn it to a DVD - what's the best quality way to do that? Is there a compression type better for this than others?

Just export from FCE to QuickTime Movie. DO NOT export to QuickTime Conversion if the ultimate purpose is to create a DVD. iDVD or other DVD authoring software will take care of the necessary encoding for DVD.
To save time & disk space, when you export from FCE you can UNcheck the option called "Make movie self-contained." This will create what is called a QT Reference Movie, which you can import into iDVD or other DVD authoring software just the same as any other QT Movie.
One more tip - before exporting your movie from FCE be sure to do the following to actions. This will make your export go more smoothly and help maintain quality overall:
Sequence > Render All > Both and
Sequence > Render Only > Mixdown

Best QUALITY: FCP5 Compressor2 or FCP5 self-contained FCP6 Compressor3 ?

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