Compressor Alternative

I think the problems and quicktime movies have been well documented here (chapter marker problems, videos that won't stream). I've decided I want to look at alternatives to compressor for encoding. I'll consider hardware or software solutions. What can anyone tell me about the different options for encoding from FCP?

I'm pretty tired of compressor myself.
But as for alternatives to "encoding from FCP"? Are you talking about exporting sequences out of FCP through an encoding program? Pretty sure only compressor can do that. While there are plugins like Flip4mac that can export wmvs from FCP, this of course only has one specific use.
I think your stuck having to export sequences to quicktime movies, then using an alternative encoding program to compress it.
Such as
Quicktime Pro
Cleaner
Sorenson Squeeze
FFmpegX

Similar Messages

Alternatives to Compressor 3 ?

I know this has been discussed before, but not in 2008 and after Compressor 3.
There is many alternatives to Compressor:
BitVice, Digigami, MainConcept, Compression Master on the Mac
Wired's or Optibase boards (?)
ProCoder 2 from Canopus, Cinemacraft, or TMPGEnc on PC.
I'd like to know if anyone has better results for MPGE2 encoding
1. on the Mac, witch software, what was better
2. on a PC, same question
Thanks a lot.

David Bogie Chq-1 wrote:
If you need MPEG2 realtime encoding, you are going to buy a PC and a special board. You can research any of those products with a quick google search. You look at your budget, your hardware, and your clients' needs and then buy what you think you can make money with. (I'm not watching the NAB coverage, there may be new products for the Macintosh but I doubt it, the market for MPEG2 encoding has been Windows-based for a decade.)
Just saw this on the cow. Might be worth looking into:
http://www.omni-cinemacraft.com/productscinemacraftencodermp.shtml
However, looks REALLY expensive.
bogiesan
Hi Bogiesan,
I talked to Ray at omni-cinemacraft. He said on an 8 Core Mac Pro each pass is about 9x RT (9 times faster than RT). He said on a 4 Core Mac Pro each pass is about 4x or 5x RT.
He has not set a price but agreed with me that they would have made more money on Cinema Craft if the price had been less. He said he is considering $499 and $799.
A little more info on these two threads I started:
About Cinema Craft on the Compressor forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1485285&tstart=0
And more details on the DVD Studio Pro forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1485286&tstart=0
Best Wishes,
Mitch
Message was edited by: Mitch Sink

Alternatives to Compressor

(I'm cross-posting this question in the FCP forum as I'm not sure if my question is Compressor related or FCP related. I'm thinking the latter.)
Summary of the story so far: G4 died. Upgraded to a Mac Pro. FCP 4.5 HD had issues with the new computer. Ordered ($35) a replacement install DVD so that I could crossgrade. Apple took two weeks to send the replacement DVD in which time the crossgrade promotion ended. Apple's response; "Ha ha! We fooled u! You r teh suk!!".. or something along those lines.
So, I've been trying to get the old version of FCP running on the new Mac Pro. I hit ESC to ignore the "missing AGP" error and everything's now running except for Compressor/Qmaster. I've been scouring the boards for three days, trying all the different suggestions out there on getting it to run, to no avail yet. There's still one thing I need to try, then I'll post to the boards a full version of everything I've tried to see if we can get it working.
In the meantime, I have a DVD project that I NEED to get done. So, in the interest of one thread = one topic, I thought I'd throw this out there..
Can anyone recommend an alternative to using Compressor for the purpose of getting footage from FCP to DVDSP so that I can finish my project?
I've already proved that DVDSP still works and I'm able to edit in FCP (even though the app acts a little flaky). My requirements are...
- needs to be close in quality to Compressor, but doesn't need to be 100% match as I plan on saving the money over the summer to upgrade to whatever Studio version is coming next.
- needs to be able to fit 2 hours of footage on a single layer DVD (DVD5, I believe is the name?) 1.5 hours would be a "next best senario"
- I'd rather not buy anything new for this. I'm hoping that in the multitude of options in FCP HD 4.5, that there's something that I can use.
- A nice to have would be to split out the audio from the video so that I could use AC3 encoding to get the audio size small to help with the "2 hour" requirement above.
I've got some DVD's that I can practice on, so I'm willing to experiment with a few different suggestions.
Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

you could let dvd sp do the encoding or at the very
least, hand it over to iDVD. you already have these
so they are no charge.
Confused by this suggestion, so I'm hoping you can expand. This is my current workflow (could you detail what I'd need to do different)
1. Edit footage in FCP. I'll end up with a 2 hour timeline that I'd like to put on a DVD.
2. Choose Export>Using Compressor.
3. Choose encoding format then submit to batch (this is where I'm currently try and am trying to fix the issue)
4. Take the .aif and .m2v files that come out of Compressor and encode the audio with A.Pack then import both files as assets into DVDSP to create a DVD with.
There's a way to do the compression (ie. step 2/3) in DVDSP? Sorry to seem so dim about this, but I've been doing this pattern the same way for years and am a little ignorant of other options.
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

What are the pro alternatives to Compressor?

I've been compressing a lot of material recently, mostly shot on DVCPRO HD and edited on FCP. What's been happening is that some - but surprisingly not all dissolves - are breaking up into pixels or rather blocks of pixels. The problem, as I've recently found out, has been documented here so I won't waste anyone's time agonizing over it. I'll just say that using Compression Master, Sorenson Squeeze and bitVice produced artifacts free files right off the bat.
What's infuriating about the Compressor is that every time I try to test a short piece from the middle of the sequence, it compresses fine but then when the whole 20 min sequence is compressed the problem comes back.
I've tried CBR, closed GOP, IP structure etc as suggested in one of the posts and it did get rid of the pixelation but I'm still not happy with the results. The picture looks a bit soft and washed out. Shockingly comparable to a well compressed random, internet downloaded DivX file that I can play on the same player. Is it the Compressor, DVDSP or the true nature of the DVCPRO HD format showing its ugly face?
What are the professional MPEG encoders that could save me all that headache? I'd rather pay good money and finally get it done right than spend my time beta testing software that is clearly not ready for the prime time.

Never had problems whit Apple Mail. Till I updated to Maverick.
First problam was Gmail after updating to Mavericks, Apple mail went to download all my old mail's over 6800. Just delleted my Gmail account form the list to stop it.
Second issuu memory.
First dit not now what was te problem till I found out that Apple Maill took over al my memory. Try differened tip and trick of the Apple Forums. This one works the best. Other users had the same problem after Mavericks.
I restore my Accounts.plist form before the Maverick update.
Looked whit TextWrangler but what am i lookong for? Do not know how is supposed to look.
Size of Accounts.plist on 11/18 1.7MB
Size of Accounts.plist on 23/18 3.0MB
Hoping for the best ....

Compressor 3.5 'my computer' cluster option missing

Hello
I'm hoping someone can help me. I am using Compressor 3.5 and it's been working absolutely fine until today when I sent a project for FCP to compressor, added all my settings and destination, clicked submit but when the drop down box appears, the submit button is greyed out. For the 'cluster' option where it used to say 'my computer' now says 'none' and I can't seem to add anything here. I've tried the troubleshoot options of deleting caches for qmaster and compressed, deleting the 'com.apple.Compressor.CompressorSharedService.plist' and 'com.apple.compressor.Compressor.plist' etc but nothing seems to be working. I've tried googling this problem but I can't find a solution. I'm using a Mac OS X 10.9.4 (3.5 GHz intel Core i7)
Any help would be much appreciated
Many thanks
Kaylee

Oops! Forgot that Mavericks broke the Qmaster Preference Pane. You can still access it through the CLI (Command Line Interface), using Terminal. See this doc.
Alternatively, download and run the free and safe Compressor Repair form Digital Rebellion.
Let us know how you make out.
Russ

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Yes.
In iMovie use SHARE/Export Movie.
http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3a9e5615
Choose 1920x1080 (or size of your choice.
Give it a name and location.
You can drag this file into Compressor.
In Compressor, use "Create BluRay Disk"
That should work fine.
There is another alternative, where you could skip the DVD and Compressor.
Just SHARE/EXPORT USING QUICKTIME
Choose Movie to MP4
In Options, choose h.264 as the Codec.
Choose a bit rate of 16000 or less.
Create the movie.
You can then put it on a USB thumb drive and play it on the PS3.

Is there a deus ex maquina for the hashed over HDV- DV conversion issues in the temples of FCP and Compressor??

I want to create a good quality SD DVD from 1080i/60 footage (20 minutes duration) from a Sony ZiU camera (mini DV tape) using FCP and Compressor. I can't do it. My hair has fallen out, but I don't want to throw in the towel.
I have imported the same footage with different FCP presets. The video quality in FCP is excellent.
But once I send the footage to Compressor. I end up with video exhibiting gradations of the following: blurry, jagged edges, jerky movement, darker color. Poor quality especially if a subject (kids playing football) runs fast.
The QT conversion process in Ken Stone’s article (May, 2008/updated in Jan, 2011) provides the most helpful information in getting a quality SD DVD. (Quality means looking as good as SD video DVDs). Except for the fact that the DVD is widescreen, the better quality alternative may just be to stick with the old 4:3 shooting, editing, burning methods that I’ve used for years. Unless of course, I am missing something. Hence my appeal to the knowledgable.
FYI Equipment/software: MAC Pro (OS 10.6.8); ATI Radeon HD 4870; terabytes to spare on 2 internal hard drives; FCS - FCP 7.0.3, Compressor 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2. All applications are on Drive 1. FCP project files, scratch and other setups are on drive 2.
My current settings in FCP appear below. What's wrong here? Better alternative? Or it just may be HDV should not go to a SD DVD.
CAPTURE PRESET: HDV - APPLE PRORES 422
DEVICE CONTROL PRESET: Sony HDV FireWire
VIDEO PROCESSING Render 10-bit material in high precion YUV
I now send the Sequence to Compressor I've tried various settings, and the split screen preview in Compressor reveals on the right side the jaggy, blurred, darker video. Same shows up after submitting; and of course if I try to burn a DVD in DVDSP. I've followed Stone's Aug 31, 2009 article on Compressor 3.5. I experiemented with changes here and there without success (like changing field dominance of even selecting DV NTSC, etc).
If you got this far, thank you. And I really could use the help.
Sorry.Presets: Apple Pro Res 422 1440x1080 60i 48 kHz, HDV- Apple ProRes 422, Sony HDV FireWire. Capture Preset: HDV-Apple ProRes 422; Device control Sony HDV FireWire. Sequence Settings: 1440x1080 HD (1440X1080) (16:9), PIixel HD(1440x1080), Upper/Odd, 29.97, Compressor Apple ProRes 422. Message was edited by: Richard Fera

Michael,
Thanks for the helpful comments. Two tactics today helped. Where ever field dominance was indicated I made sure "upper/top" was the same everywhere throughout FCP and Compressor. That almost eliminated the jagged edges. Also, in the easy setup, I selected Apple ProRes 422 as the format, using HDV to ProRes HQ - Sony -1080i60. Sending direct to Compressor rather than through QuickTime conversion also help produce a clearer, less dark picture.
I'll try your suggesstions especially adding compression markers. I'll check back with you on results.
Thanks

Poor result using Compressor

I need help. I use a Sony camera (HDR CX560) bought in US with NTSC as standard. I live in Europe and would like to burn a DVD for my Blue-Ray player showing it on my PAL TV.
The footage is 1080i, 1920x1080, 29,97 fps.
I have tried several different ways of achieving good results, but with no luck:
1. Editing in Final Cut Pro with original specs (1080i, 29,97). The result showing in FCP viewer is not perfect, but quite good. A little bit of stuttering and a bit blury pictures. I have tried "Send to Compressor...", selected MPEG-2 for DVD in Compressor (customized to 16:9 TV format). The process stops after a minute - a file is being created, but only the first 30 seconds of the movie is visible. I also tried Share>Export file using Compressor settings. The file created does not have acceptable quality, mostly bescause of very disturbing stripes. I also tried Share>Master file but the output is not good enough (using codec Apple ProRes422 (HQ) - same stripes.
2. Editing in Final Cut Pro with european standard (1080i, 25i). The result in FCP viewer is good with one exception - a lot of stuttering images while panning. I tried all the output/share alternatives mentioned above, with poor result.
I use OS X 10.8.3, Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8 and Compressor 4.0.7
Can anyone help?

pnils wrote:
. Created a project with the original settings (1080i, 1920x1080, 29,97 fps).
FCP is usually pretty bullet proof in handling formats – and most of the time letting it set the project properties is the best way.
From what you've said about the camera and the footage, you shouldn't encounter any potential problems until after you export and start the standards conversion.
Create another project. When the new project dialogue window appears, make sure the settings are set to automatic (video properties set by first clip). Take one of the 1080i 60 clips and edit it to the timeline to set those properties. Export that clip as a test. If it plays smoothly, and it should, proceed to delete the clip from the project and paste the problem sequence to the new project. Delete all project render files and event render files. Now export (don't bother to re-render).
Post back with results.
Russ

PLZ HOW I CAN T USE THE COMPRESSOR AFTER FINAL CUT PRO X WHY???????

HOW I CAN EXPORT MY VIDEO FROM FINAL CUT PRO X TO COMPRESSOR TO YOUTUBE???

You don't need to use Compressor. In FCP, Share>You Tube and then choose the quality setting you want.
Alternatively you can use Compressor to give you more control over your settings. If so, choose Share and either export a master file and bring that into Compressor…or SHare>Add Destination>Compressor settings.
Good luck.
Russ

OK, I have a .mov and .ac3 file output by Compressor. How do I make a DVD from these?

I'd like to use Toast 8 but I don't know where to drag the files...Toast help is no help at all...

First off, you should have compressor turn your .mov into an mpeg-2 file with an .ac3 file. Once you've done this, you simply select the Video button in Toast (I'm on Toast 10, but I think 8 was the same). Next select your Menu style from Toast and type in your DVD name. Finally drag your mpeg-2 file over into the Toast window. It will then ask you "do you have audio for this file?". Drag the .ac3 file over and have it burn the DVD. If you've done everything correctly it shouldn't re-encode your video, but simply add the menu to your already encoded files.
As an alternative, you could have Toast do the encoding as well. If you choose this route, you simply drag your original .mov video file over to the Video window. At this point there are some choices you need to make about how Toast will do the encoding. This way takes longer as Toast has to encode both your video and the menu you created.

How does Compressor handle the upscaling??? Architecture animation render.

good5day!
it seems that the due date is becoming my do date for a 3d architectural animation. therefore i'm looking for alternatives.
for the first time* i need to deliver an animation as dvd movie (previously- mov, mpeg, avi, xvid blabla)
when i want perfect quality, i render an animation in 1280x720px (16:9), format-uncompressed .mov or targa image sequence. steping up this resolution is insane, render time would be years for my machine...:)
well, but this time..no time
therefore:
if i did the render in 853x480 (also uncompressed mov or tga), how would apple final cut compressor perform when upscaling to 1280x720px (720p)? is the upscale factor too big for getting good quality? or compressor can handle it?
the presentation will be shown on apple 24" displays (where probably even SD DVD would look good if watched from reasonable distance) and as i am informed- a monster tv, dunno what they meant, but it's scary:)
so- anybody has experience/knoledge about upscaling vs quality in compressor?
thanks in advance,
reinis

If you are planning to play these back from QT player, there might be some advantage in having Compressor scale these up to HD resolution. Compressor should be able to do a good job with the upscaling, but it will take a long time, particularly if you turn on the frame controls.
The only other option for full-screen playback that I know of would be DVD Player, for which you would have to play back a VIDEO_TS folder from the hard drive. I don't think it will play back an HDDVD build, in which case you might as well encode an SD mpeg. You are still converting the frame size in this case, and compressor will take a long time.
To get the output to the Monster TV (eek!) you might find the most expedient method would be to create an SD DVD and play it back with an upscaling DVD player. I find that upscaling in hardware in this way can often give better HD quality than trying to convert in software.

Alternative ways to use NAS with FCPX

So here is my dilemma, I would like to use my NAS to have an "archived" library of all my video files that I've worked on in FCPX. Thing is I've tried opening the library file directly from my NAS, but FCPX will not recognize it. It give me an error something that I have to use "SAN"... I've read some other threads where you can create sparse images but I don't want to have a set size as my "archived" library as it keeps growing. So I guess my question is, are there any alternative ways to utilize my NAS with FCPX. I want to be able to easily access these "archived" files every so often. TIA!

Youn can't use it in FCP, only with Compressor. In Compressor make a new QuickTime preset or duplicate an Apple preset and change the codec to x264.

Final Cut Pro (render) quicktime compressors

I have over 200 clips that I need to edit from my camcorder, and I don't have much space on my Mac for rendering. I recently leaned that to avoid rendering you can go into Sequence>Settings and then choose a compressor in the quicktime video settings, and all clips that use that compressor don't have to be rendered. The Clips are all Apple MPEG-2 SD that I imported onto my computer using iMovie'09. My mac can play these files perfectly, and I even had the MPEG 2 component before hand, but in Final Cut Pro in the sequence settings there is no "Apple MPEG-2 SD" in the compressor list. Is there anyway I can download one for FCP, or an alternative to avoid encoding/rendering?

MPEG 2 is a delivery format, not an editing format. You'll need to transcode those clips to a format that is FCP friendly first if you don't want to render after every edit.

Why is compressor 4.1.1 only giving me mp4s with 128kbps audio?

Hi everyone,
I'm using the mp4 encoders a lot in Compressor. It recently was updated to 4.1.1 and the OS to Mavericks 10.9.2. The bitrate slider in the settings has absolutely no effect on the resulting file regardless of the source file and the settings being used. It only gives me audio with 128 kbps.
Does anyone have an idea where the problem is?
Thanks alot
Markus

HI Markus, just a heads up to other alternatives suggested by Russ. I haven't encountered this error myself. The compressor.app V4.1.x MAY certainly have an flaw in this part of the UI. You might like to try this out to see and also happily complete you job. Here are two suggestions.
Plan A:
Use Compressor.app V4.1.x Command LIne Interface (CLI) with your own customised setting. The Compressor CLI is really good for a quick transcode. Syntax like most takes a little time to learn. It's rather dumbed down now in Compressor.app V4.1.
in Compressor.app V4.1.x, make a customised setting for your AUDIO or VIDEO with AUDIO and set the SLIDER or the LIST BOX to the desired setting B/Rate using the inspector.
either create one or OPTION+DRAG one form the APPLE settings.... go grab an AUDIO one to try
rename it to "markus_fat_audio" (click and overtype)
from my memory this should be automatically saved in your home directory's ~/Library/Application Support/compressor/Settings/markus_fat_audio.cmprstng
launch the Terminal.app (/applications/utilities/terminal.app) and
paste this first part of a long command into it: /applications/Compressor.app/Contents/MacOS/compressor -batchname markus-audio -jobpath
now use the FINDER and DRAG and DROP your SOURCE.audio.mov file into the terminal at end of the previous text.. let's say the file is /volumes/sourcearray01/masters/markus-master.mov. so you get this
/applications/Compressor.app/Contents/MacOS/compressor -batchname markus_audio -jobpath /volumes/sourcearray01/masters/markus-master.mov
now type the text " -settingpath " at the end of the string in the ternimal pane.. blank delimiters please.
now add the -settingpath paramaters using your newly created customised settings: markus_fat_audio to the command string.
use the FINDER to navigate to your ~/Library/Application Support/compressor/Settings library then
select markus_fat_audio.cmprstng and drag and drop that into the terminal.
/applications/Compressor.app/Contents/MacOS/compressor -batchname markus-audio -jobpath /volumes/sourcearray01/masters/markus-master.mov -settingpath ~/Library/Application Support/compressor/Settings/markus_fat_audio.cmprstng
then type the text string " - locationpath " at the end of the terminal string. Your string command should now look like the following....
/applications/Compressor.app/Contents/MacOS/compressor -batchname markus-audio -jobpath /volumes/sourcearray01/masters/markus-master.mov -settingpath ~/Library/Application Support/compressor/Settings/markus_fat_audio.cmprstng -locationpath
lastly, add the path of the destination TARGET output file. For demo sake, lets call it /markus_dist.mp4 and put it on the the file system somewhere at say ~/desktop.
in the terminal type the path of the output file called ~/desktop/markus_dist.mp4
your final terminal command string should look something like this.. make sure no blanks and the "-' are included.
/applications/Compressor.app/Contents/MacOS/compressor -batchname markus_audio -jobpath /volumes/sourcearray01/masters/markus-master.mov -settingpath ~/Library/Application\ Support/compressor/Settings/markus_fat_audio.cmprstng -locationpath ~/desktop/markus_dist.mp4
Press enter and watch the batch take off. Review any errors in ~/Library/Compressor/Logs (use Console.app)
or.... if that doesn't work..
Plan B
use ye old QUICKTIME 7 PRO (you need a licence for it) and simply EXPORT the audio using the vast selection of options.
i added this last because most don't have a separate QT 7 pro licence these days. It DOES run ok in 10.9
i believe you need a paid up licence (a licenced registration) for this separate app (2004?).. it was not included after or around the OSX 10.5 time.. (i'll stand corrected)
Post your results for others to see.
Warwick
Hong Kong

Very Slow H.264 Encoding in FCP 10.1.2 and Compressor 4.1 on nMP

I have a fully maxed out 12-core nMP and editing with this machine in FCP 10.1.1 has been a delight. I recently completed a 4K project from footage shot with the Sony AX-100 and then output the project from FCP X using File>Share>Master File to ProRes 422. This operation occurred in about the same length of time as the length of the project (18.5 min.). I then brought this 75 GB ProRes .mov file into Compressor 4.1, and set up Compressor to encode to an H.264 file at 70 Mb/sec. This encode to h.264 is only 1/4 complete at 48 min. and it appears that it will take Compressor about 4 hours to encode this 18 min. project to h.264. Furthermore, I noticed that with the share to a master prores file FCP X was using 50-60% of my total CPU resources while the encode to h.264 in Compressor is using barely 16% of the total CPU. Thus it appears to me that while FCP 10.1.1 is optimized for the nMP, certainly Compressor 4.1, at least for h.264 encoding, is not.
My question is basically what am I missing? Is there a better workflow than using Compressor 4.1 for high bit rate h. 264 encoding of 4K? If so, what is the best way to use my nMP to get a high bit rate h.264 4K file for sending to YouTube and other online streaming?
Thanks for sharing any thoughts on this you may have.
Tom

Russ,
Thanks for responding.
I am encoding only a single project from FCP X in Compressor 4.1 and using only a single instance of Compressor. I don't really see that using multiple instances of Compresor with a single job would be helpful, but perhaps I don't understand something.
The project has now been encoding for 2.5 hr and is slightly less than half complete. The CPU usage is still at 16-17%. Overall this seems like a ridiculously slow encode to h.264 from a ProRes 422 file in Compressor 4.1.
Here are some thoughts on alternatives that I may try. (1) Take the Pro Res 422 file into Adobe's Media Encoder CC and encode it to high bit rate 4K h.264. (2) Take the Pro Res 422 file into Handbrake and encode to high bitrate 4K h.264. Handbrake does seem to make far more use of the nMP's CPU's than Compressor 4.1. Don't know about Media Encoder since I have not tried any h.264 encoding in Media Encoder.
The irony is that my nMP will play then entire 18.5 minute 4K project from the timeline with virtually no dropped frames, but rendering it to h.264 at 4K and high bit rate seems to take forever.
If you have any other thoughts, I would love to hear them. Thanks so much for responding, and I would love to hear from any FCP X experts who are encoding 4K to h.264.
Tom

Compressor Alternative

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