LUT in compressor 4.0 (new)

Hi everyone!
Just wondering before I download the new Compressor 4.0 if there is a way to import some sort of Look Up Table (LUT) 3D or 2D to adjust the look of the input file? Forexample a LOG-C ProRes file from Alexa to a Linear curve like REC709.
Or at the very least a Apple Color look?
I certainly hope so!
Hero Cookies for anyone that knows.
Cheers
Chris

The Require these Services box should be unchecked, but I doubt that's your problem. Funnily enough I lost my QC last week. What worked for me was running Compressor Repair twice – quitting– each time trashing preferences – and repairing permissions in Disk Utility after each repair.
If that doesn't work, I'd reinstall (and repair permissions once again).
Good luck.
Russ

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Compressor not opening / new version not functioning

Hi folks- This is a stumper for any of you non-Intel chip users.
Short version: A new version of Compressor was installed on my G4 recently , which doesn't function properly. I tried uninstalling it, and reinstalling an older version, but the older version doesn't open.
Long version: I'm a professional videographer, and use FCP (Studio 1, 5.1) on a regular basis, frequently using DVD Studio Pro (4) for authoring DVDs, thus using Compressor (my last version was 2.3) as an intermediary.
For an unrelated project, I recently purchased Logic (8.0.2), which during installation also upgraded a few other Apple softwares in the process, including an upgrade to Compressor 3.0.3.
Unbeknownst to me, the Compressor 3.0.3 doesn't work on my machine properly, I'm guessing because it's an older machine. I opened up Compressor today for some routine work, to discover a warning that said:"The installed graphics card does not support the OpenGL features recommended by Compressor."
This warning still allowed me to open the program, but when I loaded up several files for compression, it gave me a warning, saying "Each target assigned to a job must have a setting and destination" EVEN THOUGH every item did indeed have both a destination and two settings. Hmmm...
So, I figured that since Compressor 3.0.3 wouldn't work correctly, I would uninstall it, and reinstall my older version off the FCP Studio disc. But when I did this, version 2.1 would NOT open at all on the machine. I could click the application all day long, but it won't open. Hmmm. I tried upgrading 2.1 to 2.3 through Apple's Software update, but the 2.3 upgraded to the 3.0 again. Arghh!
I'm either left with an un-openable 2.1 or a non-functioning 3.0. Any suggestions, recommendations?
-Chris

Hi Alberto-
Thanks for the reply, and the help. I was indeed dragging my settings onto the job itself (rather than the empty window), so I knew that wasn't the problem per se. But I'm so glad that you had within your previous post the URL to the Compressor Tutorial. Because at the very bottom of the tutorial page, I found exactly the problem I was having.
It's some strange quirk with Compressor 3--sometimes when you drag your settings onto the job, it still leaves the first line as a destination with no setting. That's what my machine was doing. It's an odd bug they should work out--and you can see what was happening on the bottom of the tutorial page you sent me.
Even so, I wasn't aware of this last night, so I had found an older support page about how to uninstall Compressor 3 (deleting files from the library folders & such--frameworks, receipts, et all), so I went ahead and did that, then reinstalled my Compressor 2.3 from scratch, and things worked well after that.
For the time being, then, I'm back to Compressor 2, but now I know that when I reinstall Compressor 3, I have to look out for that problem, and I'll know how to work around that odd quirk.
Thanks so much for your help, Alberto!!!
-Chris

New MacPro 8 Core 12gig or 16 gig of ram?

Hello All,
I want to upgrade my memory but I am wondering what to buy? Should I get the (6) 2gigs? or the (8) 2gigs. I keep reading about not to fill up all 8 but only 6 for better performance?
Or should i just get the (4) 2gig each stick? This way I only loose 4 (1)gig chips. I am so lost.
Or should i just fill it up with (4) 2 gigs and leave (4) 1 gigs to give me a total of 12gig?
Thanks

I'm not an expert in AE (I use Motion more), but you're right: AE doesn't use more than 3GB +per render instance+. That's the key. AE CS4 will use all the RAM you have if you are maxing out all 8 processors - up to 3GB a thread I believe, when rendering. Bare Feats has more info on this, so check out that site.
Now just building your project, previewing, etc. doesn't use more than 3GB AFAIK, nor does any 32-bit program. But when you run compressor, or the new AE multiprocessor render engine in CS4, it spawns multiple 32-bit instances, each of which can use (potentially) 3GB of RAM. That's where the real power of 8-core computing comes into play and, frankly, is one of the few reasons to own such a beast. That's also where your RAM comes in... the more the better. Where you have to think is whether 6 sticks being faster than 8 outweighs the advantage of having 12GB vs 16. (32 seems prohibitively expensive right now as 4GB DDR3 modules are insanely expensive).
In general use, we're lucky to get use of 4-cores, never mind 2. These Mac Pros and their extra processors and RAM are best used for insane multitasking (multiple programs that use a few GB each and a processor or two), or mega rendering/calculation programs like AE, Compressor, Mathematica, XCode, etc. Personally, I render a lot of HD video into H.264 from ProRes. The MacPro is a no brainer in that regard.
vtonangi wrote:
Controller - this should probably be a new thread but you sound like you know what you are talking about. Currently I have 8 GB of RAM, and I was thinking if I should get another 8 GB to make AE render more quickly. But I read that AE really doesn't use more then 3 GB - so now I'm confused. I have a pretty powerful machine (at least I think it is) Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 8 GB of RAM, but some of the effects I use in my compositions just take forever for a quick ram preview. Would getting another 8 GB of RAM help this? What are you preference settings on AE CS4 regarding previewing and rendering? I would really appreciate any enlightenment you can give to me on this issue. Thanks.

Skipping compressor

is there a combination of hardware/software that will allow me to capture video input (component) directly to MPEG2 in real time? or is compressor the preferred method? and how fast is the encoding with compressor in the new line of G5s?
we have an old sonic DVD system that runs on a G3, and it has seen its day. i would like to use the new dvd station as a demonstration as to why we no longer need avid systems here, and could get twice as many G5 edit stations for the price of the avid upgrades, but for now we still need to be able to send from betaSP and the symphony and the adrenaline systems from avid.
Mac OS X (10.4.5)

is there a combination of hardware/software that will allow me to capture video input (component) directly to MPEG2 in real time? or is compressor the preferred method? and how fast is the encoding with compressor in the new line of G5s?
There are not many hardware things for Mac as compared to PC, but one reasonably priced on is the Lacie Fastcoder (thanks Hal M for that tip :)) Bought it for about $100 and it does real time encoding of DV (after in the computer, which you probably want to edit and so forth). Played with Compressor on a Quad G5 and it is nice and fast. Though depending on settings can take longer (almost got 1:1 I think on some) bitVice (a good software encoder) gets about 5:1 on my DP G5 2Ghz (i.e. around 5 hours for one hour.) El Gato makes some things that capture off TV feeds to MPEG2, and those can be used also.
That said though, you are pretty much better off for the most part editing non-MPEG2s to preserve quality, and just build in encoding times as part of the project. Usually many here turn it on overnight and it is done in the AM no problem and it works fine (subject to those last minute rush jobs) but then the Lacie does a nice enough job for good mock ups and even some final things

After install 10.5.7 update QMaster/Compressor hangs/not responding??

I find it funny that the 10.5.7 update was supposed to "improve OS stability". Well it looks like all it has done is made my Mac a worthless pile of pooh.
I have an older MacPro (2007) with two dual core processors (4 CPUs). I setup QMaster as QuickCluster with services (this is the only way Compressor will see it when I submit a batch). I selected 2 CPU instances. Hit "Submit" in Compressor and open the batch window, I see it "try" to parse out the video segments to 2 CPU instances, but get Audio successful and Video "Unknown" with a Service controller "error" and a progress bar for the main batch at 50% with time duration increasing (never decreases).
So I bring up Activity Monitor and find that coreaudio is "not responding" compressor is "not responding" and final cut pro is "not responding" ... oh joy!!
All this "used" to work before the 10.5.7 update, so what gives???
How to reproduce on my hardware:
1. Open FCP
2. Create a Sequence
3. Send Sequence to Compressor
4. In Compress I have a predefined H.264 setting and destination with "Job segmenting" checked, hit submit
5. Open batch window, look at 50% mark with errors mentioned above
NOT very happy.
Rob

Compressor repair? Can you give me more details on what this is?
I had FCP to Compressor using QMaster (2 CPU instances) working in 10.5.6. It created some bizarre project name under FCP (i.e. 13DAA64E-8A34-4476-A12B-86) but would work. With 10.5.7 the same steps just hang/fail -- fail as in they Submitted batch never completes (I can leave it for 10 hours on a H.264 small duration clip of 30 seconds).
So now (with 10.5.7) the only way I can get Compressor and Qmaster to work is if I export sequence to QuickTime movie, close FCP, open Compressor create a new batch using the exported QT movie, set my settings/destination then submit. Which defeats the purpose of using a 2 Instance QMaster in the first place since I've had to introduce a Export to Quicktime in FCP. So essentially any benefit using 2 CPUs has been negated by the extra export step.
Sorry for the frustration/tone, but if I wanted this much hassle with Mac software/OS, I would have just stayed exclusively on a Windows based platform -- as of right now I see very little difference between the two companies, both are not responsive to correct obvious problems and both create more work than solutions. I gotta wonder why I even selected to use a Mac and why I successfully converted at 11 friends over from Windows to Mac - SSDD.
Frustrated.
Rob

Compressor 2.3 just released!

Compressor 2.3 addresses performance issues and improves stability. This update is recommended for all Compressor 2.1 users.
Seems like the performance is improved quite a bit (especially the UI). No more lagging here at least
Does anybody know more details about this update? Why did they skip version 2.2?

- Compressor 2.3 adds compatibility with new options for transcoding to iPod-compliant H.264 files.
- Compressor 2.3 addresses issues with deinterlacing quality for the fastest Frame Controls settings
Note: This improvement requires Mac OS X 10.4.7.
Apple has updated their Compressor Late-Breaking News PDF, where you can read more about this in detail.
Enjoy

Compressor 2.3

After updating to 2.3 most compression times have gone into stupid figures eg. 90 minutes dv pal to m2v taking about 14 hours?? transfer project back to different machine with compressor 1.2.1 and everything is fine, This happens with all files not just this one. ???

- Compressor 2.3 adds compatibility with new options for transcoding to iPod-compliant H.264 files.
- Compressor 2.3 addresses issues with deinterlacing quality for the fastest Frame Controls settings
Note: This improvement requires Mac OS X 10.4.7.
Apple has updated their Compressor Late-Breaking News PDF, where you can read more about this in detail.
Enjoy

Want to get a better idea on Logic 8's Compressor...

I found two quite decent articles on the web for people to refer to. While the do cover the basics of compressors, they also cover information about TYPES of compressors, including Optical, VCA & FET.
The information should be useful for newbies as well as the more experienced.
http://recherche.ircam.fr/equipes/design/liens/docs/bigsqueeze/index.html#
http://www.cranesong.com/compressorarticle.html
It's just unfortunate it doesn't provide the answer to the BIG question...
"Exactly what compressors do the new Circuit Types model?????"

Been there done that... I'm quite thorough in my research usually, which is why I pose the question to other people.
I have an idea of a range of compressors they may be, but don't know exactly. Of course it won't make my music sound any better by knowing the answer, But if we knew which models we were using, we wont run the chance on wasting any money by buying a compressor we already have.
It is also possible we can then research the uses, applications and techniques concerning the appropriate compressor.
Apple doesn't even offer a vague hint at what they may be.
Wouldn't a guitarist want to know what amp he is using?? They all have different sounds and different uses. It's the same concept here.

Is Compressor 2 Quad Processor Aware?

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience running compressor on a new quad g5?
Does it use all 4 proccessors? I'm dying to get my render times back to a managable amount.
Thanks,
John

I don't think Compressor has ever even been Dual processor aware. Since day one - on my Dual 2.0 G5 (original), Compressor has only utilized 50-70% per proc. of the available processing power at most. When exporting MPEG2 or any other format from Quicktime, FFMPEG and other apps - there is always a 100% usage (100 per proc.)
I've always found this unbelievable and frustrating. I don't understand why it hasn't been addressed by Apple - especially now that we are yet another version ahead. I mean, come on!!!! If shareware and freeware apps can pump the most out of these processors - why can't Apple's own products???
I wish someone would make a freeware app that somehow tricks Compressor into using all power. It would double my encoding speed.

Is this format possible to achieve in Compressor?

Hello guys,
I have HDV 1440 x 1080 60i footage. I have been asked to convert it for european local TV.
They require these technical specs for all delivered video material.
Pal DV
50i
.avi
4:3 aspect ratio
( It does not make much sense to me, because I have always assumed that .avi is a format for video streaming and as such can't be mixed up with DV format?? Or do I miss something? )
Would anyone give me an idea, what Compressor settings I should apply?
Thank you so much for your help.

You may want to doublke check what they need or want, but that being said
Anyway first thing to keep in mind is that when converting to 4:3 you may lose some of the shot and need to re-edit. If you are sure that all your footage is within 4:33 without editing, it makes it easier.
Generally what I do is export the timeline in ProRes to try to keep quality, then use Compressor to convert to PAL, make sure to use Frame Controls for resizing and timing to Better - I would change the 1080/60i to 1080/50i that way before doing anything else.
Then I would use Compressor (make a QT Component Setting) to convert to .avi, again with scaling in mind. Note there are different Codecs for .avi that can be selected.
Compressor, in the new versions, does some real nice jobs now for transcoding between formats. There is also Nattress filtrs and hardware solutions out there.
If it needs to be reedited to keep what you want to be seen, dropping the 16:9 into a 4:3 Sequence to edit as needed, then go with the same export process.
You could also just do a one step conversion from the timeline to the PAL avi, and you may want to do some tests to see if you like the results, but it seems to me I get better results with a couple of steps. Also make sure to export as ProRes and self contained if you have room, makes things easier for going back and adding the other steps.
There are other ways
[Various 4:3 16:9 Thread In Final Cut |http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?threadID=&q=16%3A9to4%3A3&objID=f939&dateRange=last90days&userID=&numResults=15&rankBy=100015]
You can also search 16:9 to 4:3 in the other forums in the Final Cut Studio (the thread above are Final Cut Pro threads)

How to achieve good non-interlaced video using compressor (newbie question)

Dear all,
I am completely at sea but I know that I have to use the "none" setting for the field order and cannot for the life of me work this out.
Now- I usually export direct from Final Cut Pro (H.264, best quality etc etc) but this time the exported QT file just will not de-interlace (not my footage but I have to deliver the edit), come **** or high water.
So- a kind soul said to use Compressor... And to not use any field ordering.
But HOW? I watched videos, sought to use the instructions given me here but am still totally lost.
What I did:
1. Launched Compressor,
2. Dragged in the self-contained reference QT file from my desktop,
3. Picked a setting (H.264 which has field reordering ON by default),
4. Dropped the "setting" into the blue field to right of clip thumb,
5. Double-clicked the "setting" and then-
6. picked the "Encoder" button, as instructed but cannot change the Field Order.
Because Compressor is completely new to me I don't know if I ought to NOT pick a setting until I have it how I want it, saved it as a "custom setting" and THEN bring it into the project or if I am to do it once brought in to the project. Either way- how to change the field order to "none". Or should I pick a de-interlace filter? Just that I have been looking and testing and nothing I do creates a de-interlaced final file.
All the tutorial videos I have watched (erm- about 5 now) go over exporting and how to pick your settings from those which exist but what I need to know is how to change a setting to suit (ie get rid of the evil interlacing).
I am hoping someone here can give me a very simple step by step or point me in the direction of one.

Let me see if I can wrap my head around what you're trying to do. You started with an HD timeline 1280 x 720 (16:9). Into this you want to add your SD PAL clips, shrunk down for a picture in picture effect (a completely different concept from multicam.) But your shrunk down clips have nasty interlacing, and the one clip which was meant to be full frame looks like rubbish, right? Sorry but there's no way to blow a clip up 180% and have it look even halfway decent. At least not in FCP. Compressor has an upscale algorithm, available in the same Frame Controls tab where you did the de-interlacing, which can give you somewhat better results. There's also a plug-in from Red Giant called Instant HD which may or may not yield better results than Compressor.
Here's where you went wrong. The clips to be shrunk should have been deinterlaced before bringing them into FCP, and into your sequence. Go ahead and do this, using the ProRes 422 setting, with the deinterlacing technique from before.
Your sequence in FCP is fine, except that you want to change its compressor to ProRes 422 so that it matches your newly imported de-interlaced clips.
You want to de-interlace your P2 1080i clips beforehand as well. The other change to make to your sequence is to change Field Dominance to None.
If you've already finished your edit, you can still do all of the de-interlacing, outputting all of the results to a new folder. But you have to do every source clip in its entirety if you want to re-link to retain your edit.
When Compressor's done - this will probably take all night - open your FCP project, select all the source clips, right-click and choose Reconnect Media. Locate the newly de-interlaced ProRes clips and Connect.
Then you only need to export your sequence as a Quicktime Movie, Current Settings, Self-contained. This will give you a pristine master which will play fine on your computer, and from which you may then use Compressor to create a web or dvd version as needed.

How can I edit .avi files in FCPX?

What's the best way to convert .avi files so they can be edited in FCPX and then "shared" with iPad and Apple TV2? Definition of best meaning least amount of time and effort without noticeable degradation of quality. I'm an advanced amateur photographer with increasing interest in video but limited knowledge of the technical aspects.
Now shooting HD with a DSLR camera but have over 100 hours of home/family video taken with Canon GL1 (mini-DV tape) then captured using Sony Vegas Pro. Captured files are .avi, NTSC, 29.97, 720x480, interlaced, 15 minutes or less duration.
Re-capturing original DV tapes to FCPX would be very time consuming. Don't know why but Vegas Pro 8 running on my older PC (Windows XP) refuses to render out to any of the QuickTime presets including uncompressed. Have Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, FCPX and Compressor running on new iMac.
My "trial and error" approach isn't working. Main problem seems to be with de-interlacing. Have converted .avi files to ProRes 422 using both Adobe Media Encoder and Apple Compressor. Interlacing "jaggies" are apparent with both when edited in FCPX. Jaggies can be eliminated using combinations of "progressive" field order and "blend frame" output option but this results in artifacts and/or noticeably soft image. Best results so far are by converting .avi to ProRes 422 using Adobe preset (lower field first) then using Apple Compressor's "Apple Device: SD for iPad …" output preset to convert the ProRes 422 to .m2v. Still seems a little fuzzy on iPad but maybe my eyes are just wearing out from all the hours I've spent on this problem.
Thanks in advance for your time and any help you can pass along. The more I work with FCPX, the better I llike it.

MPEG-4 isn't nearly enough information. There are many other factors that determine whether it will work in FCP. Many MPEG-4 files can be imported and optimized directly into the application.

Burning a 4:3 DVD using 16:9 FCP Project

I have a project that is HD (16:9) but I need to burn an SD DVD in 4:3 (full screen, not letterbox.) Is there a way to do this? I essentially just want to cut off the sides of the video. Yes, all my graphics were built with 4:3 in mind. Thanks!

No, there is no way to automatically do this in DVD SP.
You have a number of options. Your best option is to keep it 16:9 Letterbox. "Full screen" videos suck, given that almost half the video is being cut away.
Your next best option is to create a new SD sequence in FCP. Drop your HD sequence into that, scale, and then slide the video to the left or right depending on where the action is during the scene.
Your third option (worst) is to simply bring your HD video into Compressor, create a new MPEG-2 preset that crops off the sides of the video.

Why still no AC3 5.1 export?

It puzzles me that Adobe tries to present Production Premium CS6 as a complete solution for video editing and disc authoring, but yet it lacks a simple option to export as AC3 in 5.1 channels. As far as I know, every other NLE has the option, at least I know Edius and Vegas do, and if I remember correctly, even the old FCP had it through Compressor. But new versions of Premiere keep coming out, and still no 5.1 AC3, unless of course you want to spend $300 in that Surcode encoder, which is like a bad joke. "Hey, you just paid a ton of money for the Production Premium package, but if you want 5.1 AC3, you have to spend another $300."
I was lucky that I had an older version of Vegas and I got an email from Sony that yesterday the upgrade to the newest version was only $99.95, so I bought it and now I can export 5.1 AC3, with the extra step of exporting a 6 channel wave file, importing it into Vegas and then exporting from there. I understand that many of the people that use Premiere might send the uncompressed file to some audio lab for encoding, but not everybody has the budget to do that, which would be pointless anyway if you already did the mix in Premiere or Audition and only need to export to AC3 for a DVD or Blu-ray.
Annoyingly enough, I exported a 6 channel wave file from Premiere, imported it into Vegas and exported it as 5.1 AC3, but when I loaded it in Encore it allows the file to go untranscoded for a Blu-ray disc, but it requires recompress for DVD (of course without 5.1 since it's not available in the quality presets), so if I have the same project that needs to be authored to both disc formats, I would have to do one with Encore and the other with Sony's DVD Architect. Absolutely ridiculous for what is supposed to be a complete solution. And the AC3 encoder in Vegas is Dolby certified.
Unless of course I missed something and it's available somewhere, but I did a search for both AC3 and Dolby in both the Premiere and the Audition PDF manuals and there's no mention of it.

In the case of Sony Vegas, Sony has a direct licensing agreement with Dolby Labs. Because of the nature of the Sony license, they can offer DD 5.1 SS on some pretty inexpensive programs. Though I doubt that Sony would respond, I do agree with Jim Simon, that one would have to inquire of those companies, exactly how they do the licensing.
Adobe does not, so licenses the DD through Minnetonka Audio, and the SurCode encoding module.
Some NLE's offer 5.1 SS encoding, but not DD certified 5.1 SS. In those cases, the DD 5.1 SS logo cannot be applied to the DVD's, or BD's, as it can if the SurCode module is used, with but a little paperwork. I do not have a list of the certified, and non-certified DD encoding, but a bit of research on the Dolby Labs Web site might yield such info.
Also, Minnetonka does not charge that much more for the SurCode encoding module, above the licensing fee that they pay to Dolby Labs. I was surprised at how expensive that license was, relative to the price of the SurCode module, when I inquired about "volume licenses" from Minnetonka. They were very forthcoming with details, some years ago - also, at that time, they offered a special Adobe-user license deal, but that was dropped a bit later, and, unless something has changed, the fee for Premiere users is the same as buying directly from Minnetonka Audio.
Just some observations,
Hunt

How to use x264 with FCPX

I used the automatic installer for x264.
There were no instructions on how to use it with FCPX or compressor.
Can someone offer a tip?
Thanks
10.6.8
iMac 2009,1

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.

LUT in compressor 4.0 (new)

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