Better to transcode in Final Cut or Compressor?

Hi All! I'm transcoding to a 30,000 KB sec H.264 for a film festival screening. They sent specs that match the Quicktime conversion dialogue box out of Final Cut. I usually use compressor to make H.264s, assuming that it was better quality and/or faster than FC. IS that the case? Or is it just as good to convert out of Final Cut? Asside from being slightly easier because I've got Final Cut specs, using FC would also save me the extra step of exporting a QT and then sending the QT to compressor.
Thanks!

wing hunter wrote:
Asside from being slightly easier because I've got Final Cut specs, using FC would also save me the extra step of exporting a QT and then sending the QT to compressor.
Thanks!
What Rat Vega siad…you want your film to be dispayed at its best. So saving a few minutes here and there is less important than achieving the best quality.
Use Compressor. Take some short, representative sections from your film and test different setttings in Compressor to see which produces the best results.
Good luck at the festival.
Russ

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thanks for the hospitality! i only wish i'd used the forum earlier...it's nice to there are still decent people out there, willing to share their knowledge..!
my macbook is the 2GHz core duo, but not sure about the G5, it's circa 2004 (i know that's no real help!)
the 'blockyness' in imovie has been there from day 1 and always appears after i have burned the movie off in idvd or merely exported it to an mpeg4 file or likewise and on sequences where i have applied an effect, especially raised the exposure levels the 'blockyness; is almost lego like! but as a general rule of thumb, when editing the rushes look great. once they've been exported its as if they have become 2nd/3rd generation. I've imported stuff to final cut express 2 (recently got the upgrade software to HD express) the rushes look fine, but i'm presuming once i export the same will apply. The quicktime software i'm using is the 7.4.5 version, can this have an effect on the quality? and whether or not the movie is viewed back on the mac or through an external video monitor, the same quality is apparent. I am capturing straight from the camera, but not sure if im using cinemode, this isn't a feature i'm aware of in the menu of the Z1.
I'm no steve jobs, but I'm pretty sure the problem lies around the exporting stage of my movie making. for example, when with imovie, when i produce a title. the edges of the lettering are perfect. once it's been exported, the edges of all the letters are very soft. I've had a look at some other discussion group pages to see if anyone shares the same problem. somebody proposed changing the expert settings in imovie8 which i did but to no avail.
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Can I use Final Cut During Compressor Export?

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This is my first time using compressor and I'v read that you can use Final Cut while Compressor exports. When I start to export from Compressor, I get a message on Final Cut that says Frame X (what ever frame the export is on) and I can't use Final Cut when Compressor is exporting. I have rendered everything in Final Cut's timeline. Can I use Final Cut while compressor exports?
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Zevie,
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http://www.devia.be/news/article/setting-up-a-virtual-cluster-to-speed-up-compre ssor/
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Message was edited by: witchrinser
Message was edited by: witchrinser

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Hello
Hope there is somebody out there which can help figuring that problem out without telling me reinstall because I did that and it did not work. Here is the problem. I want to export my timeline to compressor and compress to DVD90 quality but nothing really happens. I am getting an annoying screen asking if I allow Batch Monitor share (deny or allow) regardless what I do it always comes up. But compressor does not do anything . Final cut does create a separate Tab with a long number but that disappears. Anyway I have discovered when I am sending it to compressor at work and I am connected to the Network there, I am still getting the annoying questions but compressor starts compressing. (that was also before the 6.0.3 update) I had 6.0.2, but here at home I do not have a network. I created a different Network place for home but that did not help.
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yes....absoultely.
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Better to transcode in Final Cut or Compressor?

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