FCP 6 - Compressor Unavailable

The option to export using the Compressor is grayed out in my version of FCP 6. Any ideas?

Can you give ANY details in any of your posts? You aren't telling us what you are doing...How you are trying to do what you are trying to do.
Did you mark IN and OUT in the timeline? What steps have you done up to the point where you try to export?
Shane

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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

FCP 7 Compressor has Error every time I summit

Hello,
Can anyone help me figure out why all of a sudden Compressor (3.5) for my Final Cut Pro 7 stopped working (Exporting).
I was exporting videos earlier today perfectly with no problem.
All of a sudden when I summit to project the Batch Monitor pops up and has immediate error!
What in the world is going on. I open a new sequence and try export from a new sequence and I still doesn't work.
All Bin Clip are on line. Nothing is Off Line.
Thanks,
Jeff

Have you tried trashing your FCP and Compressor Preferences? This is a common first step when you get unexpected performance from Final Cut Studio components.
You can download Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion (free) and it will do it for you:
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/
Your preferences will be reset to default settings the nest time you launch the applications.
MtD

Problem exporting from FCP using compressor

Out of the blue - I'm getting batch failures trying to export from FCP for use in a DVD. Immediately after selecting compressor for export, I get an error reading "That file already exists", and a new tab appears in the media browser with a lengthy character string. Compressor opens fine, and I select Best Quality 4:3 encoding for video and aiff48 for audio. When the batch is submitted - it promptly fails and blames FCP for generating an error.
Did all kinds of restarts and work arounds to no avail. The promising news is that this error seems to occur only when exporting from FCP through Compressor.
My work-around is to export a QT movie of the piece, quit FCP, launch Compressor, and then import the QT for batching.
Hope this helps anyone else in similar situations
Martin
G5 PPC Mac OS X (10.4.8) FCP 512 post production

Hi:
How long is your movie?
The best workflow is FCP > Compressor > DVDSP.
You can encode your timeline directly to get MPEG2 video and Dolby 2 (AC3) audio files. Then import those in DVDSP and author your DVD.
Using Compressor you control the full encoding process. You can test with small parts of your movie (those where you got problems with iDVD) and find the best encoding options fopr your footage.
Of course the DVDSP learning curve is longer than iDVD but once you learned ir you probably never go back. Like iMovie and FCP.
To give you detailed info about what encoding settings to use you must post some info about your FCP project.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

What is the workflow from FCP to Compressor to preserve 24p frame rate?

I just exported my 108-minute project from FCP to Compressor (v3.0.3). I used the MPEG-2 "setting" in Compressor. My end result was a Compressor file whose frame rate is at 29.97. When I import this new compressed file into DVD Studio Pro, the DVD project defaults to 29.97.
I'm a little unsure of how this works. I have an FCP project set at XDCAM EX 1080p24. I'd like to preserve 24 frames per second for a "film" look in the final product, which right now is ultimately a burning of a DVD using DVD Studio Pro.
Should I be using a different setting in Compressor to achieve 24 frames per second? Am I missing a switch to toggle in Compressor? Or FCP? Or DVD Studio Pro? Or... is my final DVD product, which is listed at 29.97, actually preserving the 24 frames and I'm just seeing things incorrectly? (It looks video-ish.)
thanks,
Shanked

Hi Jerry,
To respond to your info request: my "settings" indicate my Editing Timebase is 23.98.
Moreover...
Editing Timebase: 23.98
1920x1080 HDTV 1080i 16:9
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
XDCAM EX 1080p24 VBR 35Mb/s
Quality: 100%
Audio: 48khz
Audio Depth: 16bit
Indeed, to achieve a film look I undertook the following steps in production and post...
shot 24p
shot with a Letus Adapter and Zeiss lenses
created an appealing depth of field where possible
avoided various "videofying" shots, like fast pans and so forth
crushed the blacks in color correction
used Nattress and adjusted the S curves in certain areas
I'm just wondering if I missed a step somewhere when it came down to designating the frame rate in Apple Compressor. When I saw the 29.97 frame rate designation in DVD Studio Pro, it surprised me. And then watching my movie on DVD (which is always a slightly difficult experience) I was really feeling like I was seeing an undesirable crisp video-ish feel that I hadn't seen before outputing to DVD.
obliged for the help,
Shanked

FCP to Compressor (can I still work in FCP will export is happening)?

This may be a dumb question. Usually I export from FCP to a master ProRes, THEN bring the ProRes into Compressor to make various formats. And I know I can continue working in FCP while this is happening.
I want to short circuit that process on this job, go straight out of FCP to Compressor. Which works fine. I'm wondering, once I've started the batch process in Compressor, can I be working with FCP while it is exporting THROUGH Compressor?
Or am I going to crash the whole process?
All ears,
Ben

Please excuse typo in question:
FCP to Compressor (can I still work in FCP WHILE export is happening)?
S'cuse me.

Exporting from FCP to Compressor 3

We just upgraded to the new version of FCP and compressor 3 which we use for exporting mpegs.
The way we used to export mepgs was though the "Export using compressor" function in FCP.
We would be able to export multiple clips to compressor and then hit submit meaning that we could create multiple mpegs easily.
When I try this in Compressor 3 it allocated each exported clip to a new tab (or new batch) and not to the same tab so i have to hit submit, wait for the it to finish and then hit submit again for the next clip/batch.
Does anyone have any idea how to get the newly exported clips to all be within the one tab/batch?

Thanks for the suggestion, doing it that way does make them all appear in the same batch. problem is that when I create a sub clip I loose in the in and out points of the clip so I have to go into each subclip set the in and out points again and then export the subclips to compressor. When i have to export 10 individual 30 second mpegs it's going take make the process a lot more complicated then it was with the old version of compressor. I will keep playing with it, seems like others are having similer issues http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1256649&tstart=1277

Jerky Export - FCP or Compressor Problem?

I have a 20-second sequence using the maximum zoom in. The background trees swaying in the breeze are "bumpy" or seem to be dropping frames once exported and burned to DVD. It seems the video in full zoom can't keep up with them. Yet the scene looks fine when played in Final Cut Pro, which does not display any dropped frames or struggling to produce smooth video in this sequence. But once exported to Compression it gets rough in spots and gives the jumpy illusion of dropping frames.
Not sure if it's a FCP or Compressor problem. Any suggestions?

Translation problem on your end or ours?
Burn to DVD? You mean you encoded to MPEF2 for playback on a set top DVD or you burned your QT to a DVD? H-U-G-E difference.
MPEG2 hates that kind of detail and fine motion. Of course it's going to skip and jump unless you very carefully tweak the encoding settings. Very carefully. There are entire books written on how to do that, how to get the best possible compression. The defaults in Compressor just don't do it for you, they are strictly generic but totally applicable to 90% of what you throw at it.
bogiesan

Best way from FCP using Compressor (too long render - 3 days?)

Hi
What's best quality, most efficient way to get our 85 min documentary out of FCP 6 to an SD DVD master?
Using 2008 model Mac Pro 3.0, 8GB RAM, I'm going from FCP to Compressor, via QT movie (current settings Pro Res) of Timeline, bring it into Compressor = NTSC, 16x9, 2 pass VBR best, 6.5 to 7.6 bit rate, GOP = IBBP closed, size 15, Frame Controls ON, resize filter = BEST, De-interlace = fast, Rate Conversion = Good...
I did a 2 minute test and it took an hour! And that was for a web-friendly 480 x 270 size. What's it going to be at 720 x 405 (the 16 x 9 version) - 3 days? What to do? Should I print the timeline to tape and bring it to a post house and they can do better or what? I know if I turn frame controls to OFF it'll speed up significantly, but then the FONTS/Text especially when over Black BG look horrible after compressed to 720 x 405.
Suggestions?
K

This ain't going to help much, sorry. Give us a few more hours, maybe a day or two, one or more of the DVDSP wonks will stop by and offer better advice.
What's best quality, most efficient way to get our 85 min documentary out of FCP 6 to an SD DVD master? < </div>
The DVD will be MPEG2. Working in anything higher quality than that has questionable benefits, the ratio of increased processing time to improved results is completely one-sided, a waste of time.
Compression is a disappointing series of compromises unless you totally understand the process. You can spend a few hours researching articles by Jan Ozer to help you decide what your workflow should be. Me, I would export a self-contained movie out of FCP to a codec that would hold a reasonable amount of spatial rez before going to Compressor.
Exporting self-contained creates a new media file that requires no further handling or rendering which is probably holding you up now. Every frame is being recreated before it can be compressed.But I never use Compressor to create the MPEG2, I let DVDSP do that for me. This shortcut produces every bit of quality I need for my projects.
Your situation, apparently, is different. And there is no real shortcut for you except to research it and try to find a recipe that suits your expectations. But whatever you do, MPEG2 is going to be a real bummer, especailly if you are shrinking or scaling your large format image to letterbox or anamorphic.
bogiesan

Only One At A Time FCP to Compressor

I have multiple movie tracks and want to Que. up compressor. In FCP I do file export to compressor - compressor opens just fine - I add the settings and destination and then when trying to go back to FCP to get the next track I see the FCP save icon, FCP will not respond. If I export QT movie (not self contained) and then import into compressor everything is OK -- just would like to cut out the additional step of export to QT. THX

Or, more simply:
(a) select several sequences FIRST, BEFORE exporting to Compressor - by cmd+clicking on them in the Browser,
then,
(b) with them all still selected, ctrl-click (or right-click) Export:Using Compressor...

Error MessageDuring Creation of Blu-ray Disc in FCP and Compressor 3.5

Yesterday I spent more than 7 hours trying to create and burn a Blu-ray disc (actually an AVCHD disc on DVD-5 media) in both FCP 7 and Compressor 3.5. In every case, disc creation would go to completion of the encoding of the video and audio files, but when I was asked to insert a disk, I would do so and the disc would spin for about 30 seconds and then I would get the following error message: "There was an error burning your disc. The bit rate exceeded the maximum allowable." This message cannot be a correct description of the problem because I used the Blu-ray template that Apple provides in FCP 7 and Compressor 3.5 to create my disc. This template limits the bit rate to a maximum of 15 mbs and my video was only 15 minutes in length.
Additional information as follows: I am using an Early 2008 Mac Pro 8-core. I have Final Cut Studio 3 installed with all of the latest updates. I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.4 (latest updates all installed),and I have experienced no other problems with FCP 7 or Compressor 3.5. My Mac Pro's internal superdrive is functioning fine, and in fact, I eventually took my FCP7 project and rendered it to a QT reference movie and used that in Adobe's Encore CS5 to burn and AVCHD disc using the same internal DVD burner on my Mac Pro and it worked perfectly.
I am seeking any suggestions for how to address the problem (whatever it is) that gives this error message. Would you recommend a reinstall of the applications in Final Cut Studio 3? Other suggestions? Has anyone seen this error message when trying to burn Blu-ray or AVCHD discs from FCP 7 or Compressor 3.5?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Tom

Guys,
I am deeply appreciative of all of the suggestions and help received on this issue. I apologize for not responding sooner, but i have been looking at the problem described in this thread from numerous perspectives.
Jeremy, you may well have hit upon the solution, and I am trying your suggestion now. I did not realize that when you selected the Blu-ray template and directed it to a DVD burner that would make an AVCHD that you could alter the bit rate settings. I looked at the default bit rate that Apple sets when you select this template and I found that it allowed a maximum of slightly over 17 MBs and an average of 15 MBs. That is too high for an AVCHD disk, and thus the error message that I am getting may well be correct and not in error as I previously thought.
I have found that I prepared Blu-ray AVCHD disk as recently as late April with no problems so I don't know why I have not run into this problem of too high a bit rate before, but I had not. It may be that I used a Custom Present that I prepared and set my own bit rate for those disks.
In any case, I am trying a run now where I have set the bit rate to a maximum of 15 and an average of 13. We shall see if that still produces the error message. I shall post my results when I know them.
Again, thanks to all of you for your fine help.
Tom

DVD Studio Pro not playing back audio of asset converted from FCP via compressor.

I exported project via compressor:
File Extension: m2v
Estimated file size: 4.34 GB
Video Encoder
    Format: M2V
    Width: 720
    Height: 480
    Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC CCIR 601/DV
    Crop: None
    Frame rate: 29.97
    Frame Controls: Off
    Aspect ratio: 4:3
    Field dominance: Bottom first
    Average data rate: 3.6 (Mbps)
    2 Pass VBR enabled
        Maximum data rate: 7.5 (Mbps)
    High quality
    Best motion estimation
    Closed GOP Size: 15, Structure: IBBP
    DVD Studio Pro meta-data enabled
This took about 7.5 hours. I exported the audio separately as AC3. Finder plays it sound & pictures. Quicktime plays the video. DVD Studio Pro, when I drag the assets (video, audio) to the timeline editor, so I can play it in the viewer, it plays the audio the video is black. No setting in view or any other setting will get it to play the video. This project is due to ship today and I don't want to re import it if I don't have to.
I exported this project before the MPEG2 export as a Qicktime with .mov suffix. This plays alright, but there is artifacting around motion. I think this is due to low VBR, but don't know. Can ayone help?
Dix Moser
[email protected]
FCP Studio
PowerMac 1.8G 3G mem 250G HD
750 G ext. Firewire drive (where media is stored)

If I may chime in...
I'm a little confused on the "what plays what" part, but all that really matters is what DVDSP sees/plays.
I've worked on a system like yours and what I'd recommend is:
1. NEVER export via Compressor. It's just ungodly slow on anything less than a Quad. Export a self contained QuickTime Movie using the first export option and use that to feed Compressor.
2. Segment your output into manageable clips (I like 15-20 minutes) both to perfect the encoding and so you aren't re-encoding the whole show if something goes sour. It will all play fine as long as it's all in the same DVDSP timeline.
From what you describe, I'm thinking you're on an early version of Compressor that had A-Pack as the AC-3 encoder. This is no biggie, I mention it mostly to verify. Early Compressor was good too.
Make maybe a 5 minute piece to tune up. Just export as normal, then into Compressor. Your encoding values seem about right. Get the AV pair into DVDSP and it should play. I'm guessing that part of your problem is that the processor is fighting to handle the project size. Build the test clip project and look at it in DVD Player to view what would have been burned. If all looks OK, go for it. If not, bring back the results for discussion. This should be a snap, it's just a really big project. Keep your head up, I had a friend do a 225-minute disk on his G5...

Help with Workflow FCP to Compressor then DVD Pro and Shaky footage

Hi, I am new to using a MAC and also to Final Cut Studio so if this question has been asked before or seems obvious then I offer my apologies.
I have a clip on the timeline which is a little shaky but I need to use it. I have added a SmoothCam filter and when I playback in FCP all seems OK however after sending to Compressor then eventually to DVD Pro the clip shows as being shaky again, almost as if the filter had been deleted in the Compressor. Could someone perhaps talk me through the correct workflow I should be using and maybe suggest where I am going wrong please. As I said this is my first attempt to author a DVD with FCP on my MAC.
The footage was captured on my Panasonic Home camcorder. The settings in my camera were set at 1920 x 1080 HG mode for High Definition.
In my camera user guide it refers to the images being based upon the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec so should I have set something similar when capturing into FCP.
Any advice would be welcomed.
Regards
Fred

Hi Mike I tried everything to try and resolve this one, I tried all combinations of field dominance. I also followed the recommendations from the Apple help to use the intermediate codec (search under AVCHD in the Help files) If I get anywhere I will mail you
Regards
Fred
PS I had some advice from another forum group who said to try and export a Quicktime movie into DVD Pro and not to send to Compressor, I will try that later and see if that helps.

Scripting with FCP and compressor

Hi folks,
I run a video transfer business, therefore, my projects are fairly streamlined in terms of the processes.
After beginning a FCP export to a .mov file so i can compress into a m2v and aiff with bitvice, can i write a script to automatically take the aiffs, launch compressor, choose my created preset ac3 setting and create the ac3s?
I ask b/c i maximize my time by transferring/editing/colour correcting during the day and i run my files overnight. Most times, the files are done b/n 5 AM and 7 AM, but then my lovely macs sit there, unused for a few hours. I would love to have them grab the necessary files and go to work?
I would never ask if this is possible on a peecee, but i wouldn't put it past a Mac
I'm on FCP 4.5, with G5 dually 2.0 and a g4 dual 1.25 MDD.
thanks in advance for answering either way,
Keebler
G4MDDdual1.25; G5 dual 2.0 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

i think you could do this quite easily, the basic steps would be:
in the Finder, create a Folder on the Desktop called "Converted Files" or something like that
in Compressor, choose your preset and set the Destination to your "Converted Files" folder ... then save this setup as a Droplet
now create a "Folder Action" applescript, to open any files contained in the folder with your Droplet, and attach the action to your "Converted Files" folder
then export your aiff's to this folder and the compressor action will run automagically
you might also want to check out Automator in your Aplications folder

FCP-X Compressor 3.0.5 (need chapter-markers)

Can I send a FCP-X-project to Compressor 3.0.5?
I just need to set DVD-chapter-markers in there!
Or do you have another idea how to set individual chapter-markers??

This is more evidence that Apple really is not catering to a professional audience. Their agenda for a while has been digital-only content. They focus on getting finished products to ipods, ipads, and apple TVs.
Even consumers have complained about iDVD being ignored over the years in terms of feature set. I bet the next iLife will be the one to not include it.

FCP 6 - Compressor Unavailable

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