Compressor fails to create output after hours of processing.

Question

I've had mixed results from Compressor 2, it does seem very slow, the interface is not intuitive, the error reporting is unhelpful. It does seem to offer everything I need, if only it would work as expected.
The problem I'm seeing now is that often when the batch-processing is finished (after hours of waiting), there is nothing but a Zero KB m2v file and no audio file in the target folder, or no files at all. The only error I've seen is a triangle with a "Target Error" help tip that appears when I hover over the filename in the Batch pane (worse than most Windows generic error messages). However, there seems to be nothing wrong with the hard disk or path...but the output files were not created in the folder I specified in Compressor, but up one level, so maybe that's the issue. The warning triangles don't appear of course until after the processing is all done. It would be nice to be warned in advance of or immediately upon submitting a batch that there are problems.
I'm trying to create a 123 minute DVD from an FCP 5-created 25GB QuickTime file. Between Compressor failures, DVD Studio Pro failures, and FCP 5 crashing, I'm beginning to wonder if I should go back to the dark side (Windows).
PB G4   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  
PBG4   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

Answer 1

hey tomahawk
instead of trying to specify an output, why dont you just let compressor creat the compressed file where the source is?
for SOME God awful reason, when you start tweaking compressor, it coughs up a MAJOR hairball. i know, what a hassle, but if you want a work around, try to tweak AS LITTLE as possible (the setting that is) and see how that works out.
trust me, i know about all of us FRUSTRATED compressor users!
my box is even starting to give me problems.. ARGH!!
Mikey