Starting up Compressor

After having my clusters not working I trashed all Compressor prefs and took setps highlighted in this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22671648?ac_cid=op123456#22671648
I seem to have Compressor working now, well better than not at all like previously. Trouble now is that when I launch Compressor I get this. All the presets populating the job list.

marc smith6 wrote:
and took setps highlighted in this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22671648?ac_cid=op123456#22671648
Do you mean that you dragged Apple Qmaster folder in Applications Support to the trash?
What happens if you start a new batch?
Russ

Similar Messages

Having difficulty starting a Compressor job using a cluster

The batch monitor will error out- something having to do with timing out before Qmaster can open it's storage area on the host machine (not sure if that makes sense). Anyway, the cluster i created, has 2 service nodes, both with Final Cut, and DVDSP4 installed. I've never been able to submit a job to the cluster. It will always error out.

Are you submitting directly from Final Cut using "Export to Compressor"? Are you using a quickcluster, or a managed cluster? Do you see your nodes in Qadministrator? Do you have shared storage? If not did you turn on "Personal File Sharing" in system preferences and enable applesharing in network prefs on both machines. Did you disable the firewall?
I'm not in front of my computers, but there is a setting in the Compressor settings that allows you to change "Always copy files to cluster storage", "Never", etc Try changing that to always. I really don't know if it will help, but it got me hung up on my setup for ahwhile. Did you change the cluster storage in sys prefs on either machine? (You shouldn't) Also try resetting the nodes by stopping the services on them, then holding option-apple and click reset.
Finally, see if you can post the exact error that you are receiving. There is a log file somewhere in "/var/log" that might help to narrow down the problem.
I use NFS with a Managed cluster, but if you are using Appleshare I think you should be able to go to the Go->Connect to Server from finder and connect to your machine by typing in the IP address or hostname.
There's some ideas to get you started.
~half.italian

M2v files from compressor will not play in QT or DVD Studio Pro

I have 2 hours of HD footage that I am trying to put on a DVD. I tried exporting the entire thing (twice) to an mpeg2 but the resulting file would not open and froze quicktime. I then tried exporting the chapters individually. Even though I tried this twice, only the first clip worked. I then copied each chapter into a new sequence in FCP and exported each sequence to Compressor. This time, I could only open one of the 15 or so files in QT, but I could not even import that into DVD Studio Pro (it said it was an invalid file type). I have been using all the same settings, so I am not sure why chapter 1 works fine everywhere, chapter 2 works in QT but not DVD Studio Pro and the remaining chapters do not work anywhere. Anyone got any ideas as to what to do/try next?

I know that it will take a while, but after two tries exporting the whole thing and the result not working, I broke it up into smaller, 10 minute sections hoping that the computer would be able to handle them better and if one is bad, it is easier to fix than re-doing the entire thing.
The Compressor settings I am using: DVD Best Quality 150 minutes with all the default settings except that I put stream usage at HD DVD. I have also tried using Fastest Encode 150 minutes, also changing the stream usage.
I exported 20 minutes with Fastest Encode and changed the file format to 'H.264 for DVD Studio Pro' and it worked, but it is a mov file that is much bigger than the mpeg2 (m2v) file.
I started the compressor to work on the remaining hour at night and then left it until the next afternoon, but when I came back, it said there were 60+ hours remaining, but FCP was counting off the frames. I left it for another couple hours, hoping that compressor was simply estimating wrong, but when I came back, it said there were 93 hours remaining until it would be done. I canceled it and restarted the computer.

Getting 6.9gb DVDSP proj, 2hr Video, to fit 4.7gb disk without Compressor

I have no menus in this DVD at all. Track is first play, with loop.
Yes, my audio is aif, but it cant add up to >2gb difference for AC3?
QT DVNTSC movie is 25GB to start.
Compressor, not loading for some reason.
Can I make it fit, just using DVDSP 3?
When I change the bit rates in DVDSP encoder window, it doesn't show a change in size.
As it will take several hours to create, I wanted to check first if there is something I can do, or feel confident that changing the bitrate to say, 4- 4.5 max, will do it, even if it doesn't show it.
I don;t want to have to reprocess it with Toast to make it fit to disk.
Any suggestions besides the AC3 thing? Remember, no compressor.
I have ffmpegx that I've used for other conversions, but not DVD, and cleaner, which I've never used.
Help! I don't know why this is happening. Under 2 hr projects have always auto fit in these projects for me.

Ok
Thanks for the responses.
I got Compressor reinstalled, and A.Pack too.
Compressor as you noted, wants to encode 120 minutes at 3.5, but as you said if the audio is AC3, then I can try 4.8, and I assume once it's in DVDSP it will fit.
I imagine that this is a four step process: 1) export my audio from my QT movie; 2) encode it as AC3; encode QT video with Compressor at the recommended settings; 4) import both audio and video separately into DVDSP and burn.
A couple of things...
First, my project files are 640x480. There doesn't seem to be anyway in Compressor to set this. It seems to automatically be set to 720x480. Will it then stretch out the video?
Also, I can't seem to get A.Pack to do anything. I selected open from the file menu. It didn't see my movie files. I exported the audio as aif, and it still doesn't see them to open. There is no help menu. Can you direct me to how I can use, or find out how to use, this app?
Thanks again.

Compressor fails to create output after hours of processing.

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)

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

Compressor s l o w ! ! WHY???

I've seen the question asked several times, but it's never truely answered. The question: Why is compressor so slow??
I remember years ago finishing a project, and letting DVDSP do the encoding. Those were the good old days. Then, a couple years ago I started using compressor to do my encoding. The result? It took about 8-10 hours to encode a one and a half hour video, and it looked pixelated and ugly as sin. I had a friend turn me on the the 'mpeg2 quicktime encoder' which was no longer available in FCP. I've been using this for a year now and my encoding has looked great, and it encodes quickly.
Cut to today...I thought I would try out the lastest version of Compressor. I figured they worked out all the bugs by now...I just finished a two hour project. Loaded it into compressor...and now I have to wait a whopping 12 HOURS for it to encode??!! 12 HOURS?? Will it encode all the way down to about 2 hours and stay there for 10 hours more?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will even fit onto my DVD.
Is it me? Does Compressor need a complete overhaul? Are people really happy with it? Is there a better way? AM I ALONE?????

I've got a similar nonsence: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=883002&tstart=0

Batch window in compressor not opening

Hi I just started using compressor and I can get all windows to open but I cannot get the batch window to open. I need to compress WAV files to MP3s for inclusion in my elearning software that I develop.

If you click in the batch window, the target options should become available. There are also other ways to apply new settings and destinations.
Good luck.
Russ

Compressor Custom Preset Template

Hello All. Does anyone know how to make a custom preset available to all users in a school lab? I tried putting them into the Compressor folder in the User Template directory on the server, but the don't show up when they log-in and start up Compressor. Any hints would be appreciated.
Thanks,
D. Porvin

If your on windows, perhaps this script will suffice:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4359008#4359008
It may work in pse 6-pse 9 as well.
I didn't write the script, just modified it for use in elements.
The script was written by Paul Riggott and this is the page:
http://www.scriptsrus.talktalk.net

Compressor - nothing happens when I press submit

I've just started using Compressor, I've been through the very useful tutorials which give a quick guide on encodeing files. Everything seems fine - uploading the file and dragging on the desired encoding but when I press 'submit' nothing happens, no matter how long I wait, the progress bar does not change and the time is always 'unknown. I am not doing it right? seems fairly simple. Any advice, I would be grateful for...

Thank you for the response. Nothing happens when I press the button or the space bar. I have look in the Audio Hardware settings, and ensured that my speakers were selected. I also tried using a headset and selecting it, same thing. I get no audio at all. I also am not able to record anything (not that I would want to until I could play back.)

How did I end up with compressor 4 and qmaster 3.53?

I'm having my first experience with distributed processing via Qmaster and I figured that it would be easy to start with compressor, but I also wanted to set it up for rendering in Final Cut Pro.
I notice that despite having bought compressor 4, I still have the old qmaster. Is that because the Qmaster I have came with my final cut? I thought qmaster came with compressor?
If not, how do I get the newest qmaster, so that I can set up a network of compressor 4/qmaster linked nodes?
This might be worth mentioning:
I have 2 macbook pro's:
Osx 10.8.5 and 10.9.1
One Mac Pro
10.7.5
Thanks in advance for your help!

OK. Up until C4.0, Qmaster was a stand-alone application and accessible through the Preference Pane in Systems Preferences. In C4.0, and until 4.0.7, it became an embedded app – found within the Compressor.app file. That's why you don't ordinarily encounter the Qmaster file…you have to go digging to find it. (And it's altogether different in 4.1)
Russ

Long Unresponsive Delay with Spinning Color Wheel After Compressor Launches

I'm running FCS3 with Compressor 3.5.
After I launch Compressor, there is a 1-2 minute delay before it will respond to my mouse clicks. The Choose a template window will finally appear after the long delay and then Compressor is responsive to user input.
The reason why this is happening is because I have six (6), yes 6, external optical DVD and Blu-ray burner drives connected to my Mac Pro through a combination of FireWire and USB. When I turn them all off, the delay and unresponsiveness in Compressor is significantly shorter (about 6 seconds). Compressor tries to scan for all your optical drives upon program startup, and this can take a long time if you have many optical drives connected. This issue does not exist in Compressor 3.
This is just a tip for anyone else out there who may have several optical drives connected to your Mac. If you only have one or two optical drives, then you may only see a 6 second delay with the spinning color wheel after Compressor starts up, which is bearable.

Again, this is just a tip. If you want to avoid long delays after starting up Compressor, then disconnect or turn off any external optical burning drives you may have connected.

Output to an ftp server via Destinations or Applescript

In Compressor, you can set the Destination of a compression batch to be a remote server, such as an ftp server.
When you start a batch, if the destination is not available or reachable then the documentation (p.230) says: "When there is a problem with your destination, a yellow warning triangle appears. You must resolve this problem before you can successfully transcode."
Although I have not tried it, it implies that if your remote ftp server is not accessible when you drop a file on a created droplet with the Destination set to an ftp server, it won't be able to begin encoding until the destination is available: "As soon as you resolve the problem, the warning triangle disappears and you can continue to transcode." (p.230)
For a lot of people, this is OK.
Some people need to compress and then tranfer the output to a distant location, and they may not have continuous, reliable access to the remote location. They may need to make a temporary connection via modem dial-up, satellite phone or third-world Internet connections. Think news reporters in remote locations.
So, for those people, the option of Applescript should allow them to have their output files saved to a local destination, and then staged up to the ftp server using the built-in commands. But, the problem is that a small file is created at the Destination when the compression is started, and Compressor is not Applescript aware (apart from being able to call an Applescript). This means that any Applescript called as a post processing activity knows nothing about the files Compressor just processed and outputted. It has to glean information about them from the Destination folder where the output files are placed, and then sort out the completed output files from the ones that have just been started, then ftp the completed files up to an ftp server and delete sent files from the Destination folder.
What I would like to see is either
1) a Staged Destination where files are created on the first Destination then staged to a secondary Destination, with an option of keeping these files on the first destination, and/or
2) Applescript support in Compressor which will allow information about the files that have just been compressed to be passed to another Applescript aware application or script.
I would be happy even with some sample Applescript to do the transfer or files from Destination to an ftp server that avoids copying files that haven't been fully processed.
Has anyone else run into these issues?
Bill Lee

Oh, trust me, I do know about Apple and the fact this discussion site is not an official contact point for Apple. I'll be escalating this Request for Enhancement through my contacts at Apple.
There is a reason I have not posted before in this forum (and relates to the above).
There seems to be few people who are using the Applescript post-processing feature, and I was trying to gauge any support for enhancements in this area (and maybe stir up some villagers with pitchforks and burning torches).
Apple will listen to normal users input, but it needs to have a business case that justifies any resources devoted to this. The more people affected, and the greater the impact on your business, and the size/importance of your business has an effect on whether you will get what you want, and when.
Sorry if I was not clear on what I wanted: information as whether this was important for other (non-Apple) people, and whether people had scripts that solved the problem of staging output files to an ftp server that was not consistently connected during the compression process.
Thanks for your reply,
Bill Lee

How do I make 29.97fps look like film?

Sorry for the novice questions, but all of my footage has been shot on a relatively inexpensive camcorder which records at 29.97fps. Is there any easy way to make it look like a 24fps film when I play it back on my NTSC television?
I am relatively new to FCP but I have started learning compressor and I also heard about a program called 'Nattress?"
Any help would be appreciated!!!
-Brian

There have been endless discussion and tutorials on how to make 29.97 look like film, so I would also check Google. One of the more commonly known plugins that will do this is called Magic Bullet. But be aware, there is only so much that can be done with DV footage shot on a relatively inexpensive camcorder (I'm assuming DV). Most "film effects" plugins will provide you with a nice number of presets that will soften your image, simulate pulldown, add grain, and do some heavy color correction. But they can't invent pixel data that isn't there to begin with.
What really makes shooting on film so unique and eye catching is that if you can afford to work with it, chances are you can also afford high quality lenses and professional lighting. Things like motion blur, grain, lack of color sampling and a high dynamic range are what give film a unique look. Personally, I think getting a true "film look" for DV is a bit of an impossibility, but people have done some nice stuff with these plugins. Unfortunetly, until the really high end video formats make it into our Handycams, I think we're stuck with simulating the effects, rather than duplicating them.

How to get a good vocal sound with Logic Pro 9

I apologize for the ignorance of this question, but I am really looking to figure out a way to get my vocals to sound the way I would like them to sound, but I'm not really sure where to start.
I started out using Garageband years ago, and really like the vocal setting of "Live Performance" when I went to real instrument/vocal. It had a sound that I liked, and I didn't have to go to a lot work to achieve it. When I went to Logic Pro 9 a while back I saw that they had the Garageband setting of Live Performance, but it really didn't sound the same, so I ended up starting songs in Garageband, and then importing them into Logic Pro.
I would really like to move on and be able to set up vocals from scratch, and put in different inserts and play around with different sounds to experiment with for vocals. Does anyone have any advice on learning inserts to use, and perhaps a tutorial video they might suggest that could help educate me on this?
I don't even know if you should start with Compressor, then Chan EQ. Perhaps someone might be able to steer me in the right direction. Thanks so much.

Klunde, you are missing out the most vital parts in your post. A vocal chain for recording is:
You (your voice) - Microphone - Mic Pre - (perhaps hardware compressor, perhaps not) - (perhaps hardware eq, perhaps not) - then finally what you are recording into.
The source is the single biggest influence on what you need to do in the mix regardless of what you are recording into. In our case here, it happens to be Logic. My own vocal chain changes depending on what i am aiming to achieve and this carries through to the mix. On one song I may use a blue face 1176 plugin if required and on another a CL1B etc. Both sound great but both sound different and there are a myriad of ways to use each one. The same goes for EQ's and reverbs. But what you need for all of this is a great source. Get this right and your mixes and decisions will be a lot easier and your desired results faster to achieve.
So what is your source for your vocals?
After this it is all down to taste. For example, a compressor going into an eq sounds different from an eq going into a compressor. Neither one is right or wrong. Experience and experimentation will tell you which you want to use for a particular song. Top mixer Chris Lord-Alge uses lots of compression on everything. Top mixer Bruce Swedien is notorious for using virtually none. Both consistently mix great records and both have spent a life time honing their art and skill set. Experiment but get your recording chain right which means choosing the right kit for your vocal and gain staging everything properly.

Really bad image quality when burning

Hi, i am very new at this discussion thing and am a french speaker so hope i do this ansking question ok.
I'm having problems with image quality of my 1h46 min movie imported from imovie (initially from quicktime made from final cut pro). I am having pixelly images when camera is moving... Although have read some things about this on the forum none of the answers seem to resolve my problem.
I have selected best quality in my prefs but with no success. I figure it's a compression / codec problem but i do not have a clue about all this technical stuff. I don't know what next move i should make.
Thanks for any help...
V
I'm using iMac G5 divided my 250 GB in 2 disks wich has 31 Go of free space on my HD at the moment. Using iDVD and i Movie 6.0.2
Imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.1 GHz Power PC G5, mémoire 1.5 GO DDR2 SDram

Hi ! Thanx for responding...
In FCP i did choose export DV/NTSC and imported from camera with apple firewire NTSC (720x480). Should i have imported material in (640x480/30fps/interlaced...) ?
I have had this problem with smaller projects of 20 min of video also so i don't think it has to do with size... At the moment i am making a disc image of my dvd on my desktop hoping to burn through Toast. Otherwise i am also thinking about exporting movie from FCP to tape then importing back to iMov through camera...
I'm kind of desperate and don't really know what to do... I'm also gonna start reading compressor 2 and maybe forget about iDVD an d just burn it through toast. Wich is kind of dissapointing cause without interface, menu and all...
V

Starting up Compressor

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