Compressor 2 with FCP 5.1 workflow

Question

I've been reading about using Compressor 2 with FCP 5.1 and have been a bit surprised by some of the following suggestions:
These are from Larry Jordan's website:
"Compressor 2 has problems with both motion estimation and 2-pass VBR. If you are using Compressor 2 make sure to select 1-pass VBR Better and set Motion Estimate to Better. Using Best settings creates very poor video.
There is a lot of talk on the Apple discussion site that 2 pass VBR gives artifacts, especially on transitions and is generally to be avoided.
To compress the file in Compressor, DON'T use "Export to Compressor" in FCP -- it doesn't work reliably. Instead, open Compressor, then drag the file into Compressor and adjust settings.
In their effort to tackle the problem of overshooting data-rates in C1, Apple seems to have ruined the quality of 2-pass VBR encoding to some degree. I've seen quite a few cases now where 2-pass VBR doesn't look as good as the simple 1-pass.
The new version of Compressor has technology in it that is not duplicated using QuickTime conversion.
I have never been comfortable with exporting using QuickTime Conversion. For one thing, it automatically down-samples your movie to 8-bit. For another, it will not be as good a quality as Sorenson Squeeze for the web, or Compressor for DVD. Third, Apple removed the MPEG-2 compression option with the release of QuickTime 7. Finally, the codecs it contains, while adequate for home use, are not up to professional standards either in terms of file size or image quality."
So, from what I gathered from Larry's website...
Use VBR 1 pass instead of VBR 2 pass for best quality
Use Motion Estimate Better instead of Best
Compressor offers better quality compression than Export>Quicktime Conversion
Don't use Export>For Compressor from FCP, instead export a FCP reference file from Export>Quicktime and use that in Compressor.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Richard
ref:
http://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/ljdvdexport.html
http://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/ljbitrate.html
DUAL G5 2GHZ   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   2.5 GIGS RAM

Answer 1

Well, different "experts" with slightly different views.
This from hanumang's response to Jerry Hofmann over in the FCP discussion forum:
FCP unrendered to Compressor 2?
hanumang, have you seen a quality difference using the compressor method?
Jerry
In my experience, yes, there is most definitely a difference in quality.
For sake of completeness, when it comes to exporting for DVDSP, this is how I'd break it down:
File > Export > Using Compressor on unrendered timelines in FCP. The best way to do things with FCP & Compressor - especially true if (as mentioned) you're working in some compressed format like DV and doing lots of filters, motion effect and compositing within FCP. In my experience, color correction comes out much cleaner on DV-sourced footage.
On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the best that Compressor outputs, this method is a 10
File > Export > Using Compressor on rendered timelines in FCP. While inferior to #1, this tends to work better on high-motion footage that needs to be encoded at a low bit rate (which I'd consider 5 Mbps or lower) than #3 because of the frame-by-frame processing. Also, transitions tend to come out better (again, at lower bit rates).
I'd rate this method a 7 out of 10
File > Export > QuickTime Movie with DVD Studio Pro Markers, then import into Compressor 2. While this rates at the bottom, in many cases it's hard to distinguish the output from #2 & #3 unless you're encoding at a 5 Mbps or lower bit rate
I'd rate this a 6 out of 10
In terms of encoding times, if #3 is my baseline, #2 takes about 2-3x as long. #1 takes about 4-5x as long as #3 for me (depending on the level of complexity).
Dual 1.42 G4, 2GB RAM, 9800 Pro, 20" Cinema; Mac OS X (10.4.6) Final Cut Studio 5.1