FCP: Quicktime Movie or Compressor

Hello,
I would like to move my FCP movie to a DVD. Will I get better quality using compressor, Quicktime or a QT conversion? I was at the Apple Store this morning, working with someone on this issue at a one to one session and he seemed a little uncertain. He recommended Compressor but then wasn't clear on how it worked.
According to him, I send the movie to compressor, drag the location (desktop in this case) twice, one for video one for Audio, to the upper box, then drag the desired setting (DVD Best Quality 90 Min) placing the Dolby audio on top of one location and the MPEG.2 (video) on the second location. Hit submit.
Five hours later two files were to appear on my desktop which I was to drag into IDVD. The two files that have appeared are a Dolby, and a QT MPEG.2, neither of which I can seem to drag or import into the iDVD program. Any suggestions?
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Susan

I was at the Apple Store this morning, working with someone on this issue at a one to one session and he seemed a little uncertain.
You should have asked for someone with Pro Video Apps certification, not just some kid off the sales floor -these folks definitely exist at Apple, in fact they have to according to Apple's own in house standards. Many folks here, including myself also have that certification.
You don't use Compressor to work with iDVD. Drop in the master file directly into it and the transcoding happens internally. David already covered how to make the master file, above.
According to him....
He showed you the procedure for creating Elementarty Streams for use in software like DVD Studio Pro, not iDVD.
What is the value of compressor then?
The ability to convert video and audio to any other codec that your computer has installed.
Compressor is complicated but it can also be easy. It is also easy to get it wrong.

Similar Messages

  • Preparing my FCP Quicktime movie for iDVD

    Hi out there, can someone please explaine in detail what I have to do to a FCP Quicktime movie to prepare it for iDVD. Its 12 minutes long and 4.8GB. I tried putting it as is into iDVD and burning a DVD and the quality was bad. I presume I have to put it through Compressor?

    How did you export the movie in the first place? Did you choose Quicktime Movie or Quicktime Conversion?
    jk

  • How do I prepare a FCP Quicktime movie for iDVD?

    Hi out there, can someone please explaine in detail what I have to do to a FCP Quicktime movie to prepare it for iDVD. Its 12 minutes long and 4.8GB. I tried putting it as is into iDVD and burning a DVD and the quality was bad. Do I have to put it through Compressor? Or, should I make a different kind of Quicktime movie?

    Compressor is a program and you want to use it to convert your movie into an mpeg file and an ac3 file. 2 files to drop into your DVD program. Now, I haven't used iDVD so i don't know what it's asking for but. DVDSP is really easy to use if you just wan tto make a DVD without a menu. this requires an mpeg2 file and ac3. this you can make in compressor. in FCP have your timeline with your sequence in it active. FILE>EXPORT>USING COMPRESSOR. in compressor you can use the DVD 90 minute setting to make these two files. you have to check the manual cause it's different on how to do this with diff versions.
    once you have your files drop them in DVD SP asset box then drag them in the timeline. delete the menue blue box right click the green track box, select 'first play' build/burn button at the top and you're on your way.
    sorry if this seems confusing, but dvd technology is funky. idvd is great for making easy template menus but if you want to just make a playable dvd wihtout menus, DVD SP is the way to go.

  • Disabling Saving of Quicktime Movies In Compressor

    I'm creating a bunch of Quicktime Movies in compressor and I want to disable the save as option that the end user can see. (The drop down box on the lower right). I know I can do it through HTML by setting kioskmode to true, but that seems like an extra step.
    Cleaner had this function years ago - why can't I find it in Compressor?
    How can I make Compressor my one stop shop to compress as a H264 quicktime file, with fast start - compressed header, flatten for playback on all computers, and disable the end-users ability to save my quicktime file through the drop down in the player.
    Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
    Doug

    iWeb doesn't write the html page code until the file is published and you would have to hand edit those files to add some code.
    iWeb also uses special javascript to load QuickTime browser plug-in (and your file) and you would need to edit them to add.
    The "old" html method is to add the kioskmode="true" tags and that same code can be added to the .js file made by iWeb. It stops "Pro" users from having the "Save" menu.
    Since I don't have iWeb on my Mac mini, and I haven't looked very hard at the javascript code made by it, I don't have your answer.
    iWeb 2 does include a QuickTime Inspector that can set some parameters but I don't know its options.

  • FCP Quicktime Movies works well in iDVD, but not in DVDSP

    Hello,
    I work in a film school with several iMac & PowerMac editing suites running Final Cut Studio 2.
    Every computer is set up exactly the same way, yet we are having odd problems with DVDSP on one of the PowerMacs.
    From FCP6, we export self contained quicktime movies, that we then Compress, and then import into DVDSP. This system works well on all of our new iMacs, but on the 3 year old PowerMac, the resultant DVDs that it burns do NOT playback on any DVD Players at all.
    Yet strangely, when I take the same QT Movie into iDVD on that computer, it burns a perfectly good DVD.
    I have even tried bringing the QT Movie files and Compressor files from the Power Mac and transfer them onto an iMac and have been able to burn them fine that way as well. This is occurring with all the FCP projects on this computer.
    Any help would be much appreciated,
    Sincerely,
    Marc Griffin

    It could be a few things, but it may be that the drive itself is dirty or going. It sounds strange but there were people on the board who ran into issues where they could burn the DVD but not play it back on the same drive. Could be something became corrupted. Also people have noticed some strange things happening if an install of Studio 2 was done over a prior installation - it seemed to be most reliable by doing a fresh OS install then installing 2. Also does the computer have all the updates to the software? Are all the computers running the same OS? Have you deleted prefs and repaired permissions?
    Also check your settings on the PowerMac, are you doing a proper build/burn? Did you set a first play? Are you using the same type of media?

  • Export QuickTime movie with Compressor running in background

    I've rummaged through the forums many times to figure out the absolute fastest way to get an FCP sequence compressed for DVD Studio Pro while maintaining the best quality. I always seem to come up with:
    Export QuickTime Movie (not self contained) --> Compressor (DVD best quality settings)
    This seems to work fine. I am currently exporting sequences in HDV 1080i60 and they take an extremely long time to export into QT movies. Because of that, I am editing a sequence, waiting for it to export, then dropping it into Compressor. At this point, FCP is available for editing again while Compressor is working, so I repeat the process. However, when I export to QT from FCP while Compressor is still running in the background it seems to take much longer to export.
    Here is my question:
    *Am I doing anything wrong by allowing Compressor to work while I am trying to export QT movies from FCP to the same drive?*
    Is FCP actually taking longer to export, or is that my imagination? Would it be faster if I only did one at a time, or should it take the same amount of time either way? Am I putting the data on my final movies at risk by doing these things at the same time?
    Any help would be appreciated as this is a time sensitive project. I am working in both FCP 5 and 6 on two different computers. 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB.

    Compressor takes a lot of system resources. It will slow the computer down in other tasks.
    Because Compressor can run unattended, why not take advantage of that?
    Do your regular work that needs you to be there and run the Compressor Batch overnight or at other times when the system is idle.
    Compressor's default destination for its processed files is the same directory as the original -writing the files to a different drive might help, at least that way your media drive is not reading and writing at the same time.

  • Chapter markers lost from quicktime MOV in compressor

    I searched on this topic and can't seem to find it specifically. Soo....
    When we export from FCP through compressor to an m2v, chapter markers come through fine and appear in DVD SP just fine. However, an editor of mine exported to a quicktime MOV with the chapter markers. The file, when opened in quicktime, show the chapters there.
    However. If I run the MOV through compressor using the same set ups, the chapter markers are striped from the resulting file.
    I am wondering if there is something I am missing when I have to do this from an MOV with chapters.
    OR
    If there is some way to export or extract the chapter marker information in a way that DVD SP can import. The text track that is in Quicktime has a good deal of other information that DVD SP won't accept as a chapter marker file. Argh.
    Can FCP export JUST the chapter marker text. I am obviously going to just go in and add the chapter markers to the track in DVD SP myself. But, as everyone knows doing this after compressing to M2V I will no longer be able to have those markers on the exact frame I want due to GOP.
    So, I am asking this for the next time I have an MOV with chapters that I want to convert to mpeg2 and retain the markers for DVDSP.
    Just so you know... yes. These markers where properly tagged as chapter markers. (obviously because quicktime shows them as such.)
    Thanks guys. I know someone else has had to deal with this somewhere.

    I must be losing it. I meant to post in this thread.
    My chapters are clean. Pretty good at avoiding anything problematic. I even keep spaces out of my folder names because when I learned to use computers they weren't allowed. (only 128 characters too, if I remember correctly)
    I have the previous versions of Final Cut Studio. The recent decline of DVD and the economy has eaten my departments budget to upgrade the OS to Leopard and to Studio 2 so FCP 5.1.4, etc.
    Maybe this has been fixed in the upgrade?
    My editor has upgraded. So, this would be entirely a moot issue if Apple saw fit to make their projects backwards compatible. (Don't get me started on that) I guess I will have to stay on top of my contract editors and sending me an XML so I can work in their projects. Or giving me the M2V's I ask for already rendered.
    Until we can upgrade around here.
    thanks for the help tho.

  • FCP Quicktime movie files not working with iDVD

    I have been using iDVD for years with no issues. Now, whenever I export a QT file from FCP 7 and use it in iDVD, I get a blank screen with audio and no video.
    I am able to work around the problem by using "Export Using Qucktime Conversion" and creating a smaller file, but I've never had to do that before. What in the world am I missing here? Shouldn't I be able to export as a QT movie, as long as the file is not gigantic? (the most recent one I used and had this problem occur was only about 500mb). Thanks for any help...
    Ben

    Hmmm,
    Well this is helpful information but unfortunately didn't solve my problem. The movie in question is only 5 1/2 minutes long. When I export it as a QT movie, iDVD "acts" like everything is fine; I can preview it within iDVD, etc.But when I burn the disc, it comes out blank. I then went back to FCP and exported it using QT conversion, and the DVD burned just fine. (I exclusively use Taiyo Yuden media and have never had a bad disc).
    This is just a simple 16:9 movie, shot at 720/30p on a Canon DSLR. I ingested with Log and Transfer using ProRes422, then dropped it onto the timeline, added a music track, rendered, and exported as Quicktime movie. It looks great on my desktop using the QT player, but it simply will not work in iDVD.  Still stuck here...
    Ben

  • How do I prepare a FCP Quicktime movie for DVDSP?

    Hi there, I'm a beginner at FCP and have a deadline of the morning to supply to a client a DVD with two videos I have just finished. My editor is sick. Could someone please take me through each step. I have produced FCP Quicktime videos of each film which are sitting on the desktop. I have dragged them both into Compressor but its asking me to "Drag Settings and Destinations Here" I don't know what setting and destinations they mean. Also, can you lead me on from there, please........

    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1285710&tstart=0
      Alberto

  • Making master DVD from FCP Quicktime

    Could someone please explain to me exactly what process, every step, I have to do to with my master FCP Quicktime movies in order to make a DVD master using iDVD? Its 4.8GB plus a second film of 2.4GB. Much appreciated!!!

    Terry
    You can start here:
    http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#idvd
    but, what do you mean with DVD master?
    Besides that, the key factor is not the file size of your source movie but the total lenght in minutes. Why don't you uses DVDSP?
    Hope that helps !
      Alberto

  • Visual glitches in exported QuickTime movie (but not in FCP); any ideas?

    We shot a short film with a Sony camera (standard def), but it apparently isn't compatible w/ FC Studio software. So we captured and did a rough-cut on my friend's PC rig (Adobe Premiere Pro), burned raw files of our rough cut on to dvd's, then transferred from those discs to my rig. The codec of this footage worked fine in FCP, but wasn't supported by Color. So I used Compressor to convert all referenced files to Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), as it seemed the best conversion I tried (no loss of film quality) and obviously now is supported by Color.
    However, the final rendered QuickTime movie (exported from FCP) had some odd visual glitches that occur right before the end of a clip (perhaps 10-15 frames before the end): it's like the brightness or gamma level suddenly drops a noticeable amount right at the end of a clip (again, ~10-15 frames). I couldn't say for sure if it's the last 10-15 frames that are appropriate and the REST of the clip is what's out of whack.
    Initially, I thought it was a problem with Color (as these were Color-corrected sequences I was exporting). But I just tried it with a non-color corrected sequence, and the errors are still there.
    Any ideas what's going on? Any suggestions/solutions? Did I pick an inappropriate conversion on Compressor?

    I think this may be an AVI conversion glitch.
    Well I am guessing that from Premiere Pro they came out as AVI? If that is the case well the best thing to do would be to open it with Quicktime Pro and export it as DV/DVCPRO NTSC .MOV
    From there you should be able to bring it into FCP without a hitch and then put color down,
    But in order to save time I would try first exporting just that last little segment again throwing it into Compressor and see if it comes out okay. It may be that on capture there was some dropped frames on the end so double check that last little bit.

  • FCP 7 crashing on render and when exporting quicktime movie & rendering

    Hi Guys,
    I recently upgraded to Lion and am still using Final Cut Studio 3.
    I have a 1.37min sequence which i wanted to export and burn the DVD. My normal workflow for this is:
    - Export/quicktime movie/make self contained
    - Open compressor and convert
    But FCP 7 keeps on crashing on export, in fact is very unstable recently. It also crashes on rendering, and quite often when im editing.
    - Final Cut Studio 7.03
    - Footage is HDV 1080 50i
    Any ideas on a solution??

    Are you converting those clips to ProRes in ClipWrap? Or keeping them native? You MUST convert them to ProRes.
    The NXCam came out just before 7.0.3.  FCP did update to mesh with that camera, but it's still rocky. And now that FCP 7...legacy...has been discontinued, there will be no more updates. But you have ClipWrap so that should be fine.  As long as you convert to ProRes.

  • FCP export to "QuickTime Movie" distorts aspect ratio of all text, displays video correctly.

    Hi you all,
    My name is Alexander, I'm from Belgium.
    I'm working on Final Cut Pro 6.0.6, on a MacBook Pro with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, running version 10.7.2 of Mac OS X (Lion).
    I'm editing a 'making of' of a Flemish feature film. I shot this 35 minute documentary short with my own Canon HDV-camcorder (XH-A1). The Final Cut Pro-project is stored on an external hard drive (1 TB LaCie Minimus).
    I've been doing exports to "QuickTime Movie" for years now, without any problems, but since a week or two, FCP started messing up the titles over the video - and the titles only. Their aspect ratio is messed up once exported, but they look just fine in the FCP Timeline (in Viewer, I can verify that the aspect ratio of the titles is always "0"). I'm trying to export this to "HDV - 720p25".
    Here's a comparison between the two:
    As you can see: the MOV has the titles' aspect ratio all weird, the upper one partly covering the lower one. All titles and text in the docu come out like this, but the video (and audio) is exported correctly.
    Any ideas on how to solve this very annoying problem?
    Many thanks!!
    Alexander

    Hi Studio X,
    Thank you for your quick reply.
    The producers of the film want to upload this making of-documentary on YouTube. Therefore, I need to give them a high-quality-mov with the least possible Megabites. My film has a 35 minute running time.
    So I figured: Let's start with the 'smallest' high-quality FCP-export to begin with (HDV-720p25), and throw that one in Compressor, in order to end up with a 'small' but good looking H.264-MOV for YouTube.
    But for some reason, those "HDV-720p25"-exports mess up the titles. And I can't figure out why.
    Alexander

  • 16x9 HD FCP Quicktime Export to 4x3 with Letterbox in Compressor

    Okay I'm sorry if this has been posted on here, but I've searched a bunch of post and no one seemed to answer this the way I need it done.
    First I have a 16x9 HD file that was edited in FCP and rendered out to a "Quicktime Movie" (the one that renders it out to your timeline specs with no compression).
    I then want to take this file and put it in Compressor. Because I want to give Compressor the best version of the file. I now want to render out a Quicktime H.264 file to 4x3 with a 16x9 letterbox. Meaning I DO NOT WANT TO CROP the image, but rather keep the 16x9 aspect ratio using black bars above and bellow the video to deliver a 4x3 SD video file.
    I've played with a variety of settings and have had no luck. I
    I've used the "Geometry Tab" and played with "Source Insert (Cropping) and Padding, but it always distorts the image.
    I also have tried the "Letterbox" option in the "Filters" tab with no luck.
    I find it hard to believe that this cannot be done in Compressor. So if someone could please walk me through this in Compressor I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading!

    I did change those settings, but the section in the geometry tab that I need to change is still grayed...
    Yes but the setting had changed as need right?
    and the preview window shows the dimensions still at 16x9.
    Switch between source settings and preview settings view (using the two buttons at top right of the preview window) and it should refresh the preview display correctly.
    I don't understand why I things have to be grayed out. I wish I could have full control over everything.
    Am not conversant enough with Compressor to answer as to the why Stew, it may be that it really is possible to enable the setting by some specific method ... but I appreciate your point that the controls as they appear to exist are not intuitive in this regard, display controls for frame size but making you switch to another tab to actually change those settings is bizarre ... but nonetheless you DO have the control over these settings, and that's the main thing.
    Best
    Andy

  • FCP "Export - QuickTime Movie" gamma shift

    Above is an example of what happens when I do a direct export in Final Cut Pro, using the Export -> QuickTime Movie function.  As you can see, the image is significantly brighter and the colors are a little more washed out (this image isn't particularly colorful, but trust me, it washes them out).  I always thought the Export -> QuickTime Movie meant the image would not be compressed--that it was a straight export using the sequence settings. 
    The image you see above was shot natively in ProRes 422 (HQ) using an Arriflex Alexa.  It has never been transcoded.  The bottom image is what it looks like using Export -> QuickTime Movie.  Totally unacceptable for a piece of professional software, if you ask me. 
    I can't express how infuriating this is, to have everything looking perfect in FCP and then exporting only to have it look like garbage.  I've been able to play with gamma correction a bit and have gotten it PRETTY close to the original look, but this seems like a horrible workaround.   
    Anyone else know why this is happening?  Is there a fix for this? 
    I'm working with FCP 6.0.6 and QuickTime 10.1.

    Sure thing, Meg. 
    Here's a source clip with "approximate" gamma correction:
    "Approximate" gamma correction makes the image look flatter within Final Cut Pro than it actually is.
    Now, the very same clip and frame, but with gamma set to "Accurate" :
    Now, things are switched.  The exported image looks flatter than the source clip within FCP. 
    Here's another tidbit of info--the frame from my first post was professionally color graded and exported as a self-contained movie--so there were no filters, FCP or otherwise, being applied there.  But the difference is just night-and-day to me. 

Maybe you are looking for