Whch produces higher quality m2v- Quicktime or Compressor

I use Final Cut Express HD and export mpeg 2 videos for use in DVD Studio Pro. I have exported both - NTSC high quality, 2 pass vbr, 7 mps bitrate with both Compressor and Quicktime. Both files look good when previewed, yet my finished DVD video is not a clear. Is there a better way or different codec to use to get cleaner DVD end product?
Thanks

We get the qt movies out of Compressor, the look great in DVDSP, but DVDSP won't even recognize them when they make the DVD.
Please clarify that statement. If you're using Compressor to encode MPEG2 files from your animations, you should end up with files that DVDSP will import. What presets are you using, if any?
We are using standard compressor settings for "MPEG2 60mintes" coming out Compressor.
I realize that DVDSP should support them, its that it won't that is causing the problems... :-\
And, if we allow the DVDSP to do the conversion to DVD itself, the results look VERY bad.
What are your encoding settings from within DVDSP?
Settings? We are going to DVD... thought that needed no settings to be set? (I could be wrong, I'm only the wingman on this one...)
and it seems to have something to do with the resolution of the files, going from 720x486 to 720x480... maybe...
Compressor handles that properly (crops 6 pixels rather than scaling). Not sure about encoding from within DVDSP.
Ah... that makes a little sense... if there is a difference between Compressor and DVDSP handle compression. Does it take 4 from the top, 2 from the bottom to allow the fields to be handled correctly?
We are making an animated 3d video, so there are no frames or codecs (DV) on the video... The workflow is then into After Effects, FCP and then DVDSP
Are you exporting Targa frames from Lightwave and then importing the sequence into AE? Once you export from AE you're certainly attaching a codec. Are you using Animation? Then, when working in FCP, what codec are you using? And are you working in 720x486?
Actually, we are exporting RPF (Rich Pixel Format) files from Lightwave3D, going into AFX, taking an animation codec QT into FCP, outputting both to MPEG2 and QT Animation format to DVDSP... then to cr*p DVD or nothing...
LW_Will

Similar Messages

Does tweaking iPhoto prefs file produce higher quality?

I'm about to order some books & calendars. In older versions of iPhoto there was a simple hack that was recommended to produce higher quality products. It involved editing the iPhoto prefs file and changing the dpi settings.
Is this still recommended for iPhoto 08? If so, where can I find the instructions?
Any other tips for a first-time photo services customer?

Steve M:
It's no longer necessary as iPhoto 7 has set the resolution to 300 dpi for all book sizes.
Happy Holidays
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Trying to produce high quality m4v content

I'm trying to find that "magic sauce" to create a sharp m4v file from Final Cut Pro.
here's my predicament:
I've edited s series of sequences in FCP; combined them by nesting and then outputted that out to a QT.mov that has 'self contained' unchecked - a reference file.
Opening up Compressor I choose the setting for "h.264 for iPod video and iPhone 650x480".
The result is fuzzy and I think that is being charitable at this time.
Knowing I'm opening up a can of questions, I'm wiling to field any and all to get an answer because, frankly, if I can't get sharp crisp m4v's then I will change that to mp4's and that will be a shame, personally.
Help?
Lawrence

Have you looked at the file on an iphone? You might be surprised.
If still no love, try upping the bitrate and adding a little sharpening. But remember that pushing too far out of spec may choke the device.

.mov to high quality .avi

We need to convert a bunch of movies from .mov format to .avi (our organization is requiring all PowerPoint talks to be in Windows OS, not Mac- don't get me started...).
Can anyone provide specific setting to use when doing this conversion in QT Pro? With the settings that I am choosing now, the quality of the .avi movies are significantly worse than those of the original .mov movies. Size is not an issue- we can make the movies as big as we need, we just need to preserve the quality.
Thank you!

For people like me who are not too sophisticated regarding the ins and outs of digital video processing, here's a very useful answer posted on the MacFixIt Forums. I tried this program and it was incredibly easy to use and produced high quality .WMV files that play nicely with PowerPoint in a Windows OS world. Hope this helps.
... I suggest you don't bother with QT conversions. Instead
fork over the $23 for VisualHub:
http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/
It's free to try.
Al Bloom MDD G4 867DP, OSX 10.4.11, OS9.2.2

Can you change the Bitrate when you use the "Compressor" High Quality...?

I am having problems with the amount of video in DVD SP and I think I need to lower the bitrate when I compress out of FCP. Can you change the Bitrate when you use the "Compressor" High Quality setting?
Thanks,
Stone

Can you change the Bitrate when you use the "Compressor" High Quality setting?
Yes. Duplicate the preset, then customize it all you want.
-DH

Is QT conversion better than Compressor 120min high quality?

The reason I ask is because, I have a music video that I edited in FCP 4.5. I then exported it using compressor using the 120 min high qlty setting. I then tried to make a DVD using DVDSP3 and got a "Video bit rate is too high" error. I took the audio stream from the video and put it through A.Pack to create an AC3 file. I also re-exported the video using QT conversion the MPEG2 setting. The DVD was created successfully this time. My question is: is this standard operation? is the quality of the QT conversion the same as the compressor MPEG2 setting? I suspect that the audio was the only reason for the DVDSP to give me that error. Is the A.Pack AC3 audio of high quality?
thanks in advance.
Jim

Same encoding engine.
The key is using Dolby 2 to create an ac3 audio file.

Quicktime Screen Recording - Higher quality missing

Everywhere I've read that Quicktime screen recording has a medium and a higher quality setting, but when I try to do a screen recording, it doesn't give me any quality options. It just has options for the microphone. See the attached photo.
How can I get it to give me an option for high quality screen recording? The default seems to be lower quality, which I can't use. Thanks in advance for any help!!

I have the same question, and have looked at the answers here. I am not trying to answer your question, just add to it.
I have used snapz pro x and find that I like that way quicktime displays whats on your screen with the same amount of lag that will be in the finished video, while snapz does not. surely there is a way, deep in preferences or maybe even in terminal, that will enable me to take higher quality images in my screen recordings. I find the audio is fine but the image is what I have a problem with. I dont have the 100+ dollars to spend on other screen recording software, and would really appreciate some help.
thanks,
hemmy1416

Higher quality recordings with quicktime screen recording?

Hello all, first post here.
I was just wondering if it is possible to achieve higher quality recordings with quicktime player?
Because right now the recordings seem bad quality. I am a game developer and I am planing to use quick time to take videos of various special FX demos...
So here is the best video I could get with quicktime... Note this is not a very good video I was just testing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liY9ZKgauKI
Thanks for all your help!

I have the same question, and have looked at the answers here. I am not trying to answer your question, just add to it.
I have used snapz pro x and find that I like that way quicktime displays whats on your screen with the same amount of lag that will be in the finished video, while snapz does not. surely there is a way, deep in preferences or maybe even in terminal, that will enable me to take higher quality images in my screen recordings. I find the audio is fine but the image is what I have a problem with. I dont have the 100+ dollars to spend on other screen recording software, and would really appreciate some help.
thanks,
hemmy1416

Anyone Know High quality Compressor Plugin that has Sidechain?

I want to sidechain a compressor, like the one in Logic, but I want a different quality than the Logic one.
I can't find any high quality compressor plugins that take external sidechains. Sonalksis has one, but it's got a specific character and is not very tweakable.
Metric Halo ChannelStrip is supposed to have one, but they have a post in their tech support area that says it's currently not working in Logic.
Anyone know a good compressor that takes external sidechain?
I know that it can be done with any compressor by using a complicated buss/aux setup, but I want to use 3 or 4 of these, and I don't want to setup a million extra channels!
And I'd really love to find a multiband compressor that has an external sidechain!
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
try this link: (copy/paste it)
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=adv&soft=e&type[]=23&f=au&fe=au&osx=1&free=1&com=1&sf=0&receptor=&de=0&sort=1&rpp=100&start=100
regards, Erik.

Compressor High Quality DVD Settings Gone!

Just "upgraded' to 4.07 and now under "Disc Burning' only H.264 for Blu-ray and now only MPEG-2 single pass (low quality) are available.
Where are the "Best Quality 90min" etc setting?
Thanks.

Yes. In the newer version, for disk burning, it's up to the user to create a custom setting and save for repeated use. So duplicate the setting and make whatever adjustments you require.
The old MPEG-2 settings were 2 pass variable bit rate, 6.2 Mbps average and 7.7 Mbps maximum. The Blu Ray setting is actually much higher quality in C4.
And there are a few things that C4 has that previous versions didn't offer, so on balance I would consider it an upgrade.
Good luck.
Russ

How do I achieve a high quality PAL SD DVD from Final Cut Pro?

From a PMW-EX1 camera file edited in Final Cut Pro I am unable to produce a high quality PAL SD DVD using compressor and DVD Studio Pro (tried multiple combinations).
Using Final cut pro and Magic iDVD I can achieve a high quality SD DVD with no changes in export.But am limited to the iDVD restrictions.
From discussions it appears using compressor and DVD Studio pro it is not achievable, it is very frustrating that the Apple product you have to buy is not as efficient as the free one?
If not possible then how do I access the encoded file from IDVD?
My Final cut pro sequence settings:
General - Aspect ratio: HDTV 1080i (16:9) 1920x1080, square and upper(Odd)
Quicktime video settings compressor: xdcam ex 1080i50 (35 mb/s vbr)
I

iDVD does everything automatically for you. With DVDSP and Compressor, all steps must be done correctly. The trade off is that you achieve better quality using Compressor over iDVD.
1. First thing to do is export your sequence as an uncompressed interlaced 25i 720 x 576 16x9 Anamorphic QT.
2. Determine your optimal bitrate by using a bitrate calculator. Here's a good one. Remember you need to account for all video on the disc, including motion menus.
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
3. Bring your down converted QT into Compressor and use the manual settings set your bitrate. Also encode out a Dolby digital AC3 file. These files take up less bandwidth than uncompressed audio. Also remember to match your upper fiiled dominate filed order as well in Compressor. This must be consistent throughout the export and encoding stages.
4. bring your encoded video and audio files into DVDSP and author

Higher Quality Export

In iPhoto, you can export a slideshow to iDVD, or to a QuickTime file at a maximum resolution of 640x480.
I want to present a slideshow elsewhere on a Windows laptop, so I can't simply run it off iPhoto, so it seems logical to produce a video file that I can play back. Since the resolution the computer is capable of producing is far better than 640x480, it seems absolutely criminal to degrade the high quality of my pictures, but I see no alternative!
Does anyone have any suggestions they could offer? Maybe there's a way to get iPhoto to put out a better resolution?

Make your slideshow in an app like iMovie, PhotoToMovie or Final Cut Express. They all have a wider range of export options, and in conjunction with Quicktime Pro will do right up to HD.
Regards
TD

Best way to produce good quality DVDs?

Hi,
Am using FCE, external LaCie DVD burner and Toast.
When I convert a FCE project to quicktime, then transfer to DVD, using an external LaCie burner and Toast, the resulting quality is very poor.
I had previously thought this was just par for the course with the footage I was producing, however I recently had a film shown at a cinema (straight from tape) and the quality was amazing - even on a large screen.
I commented to one of the guys who worked at the cinema that I was surprised by the quality of the footage given that my DVDs are so rubbish. He told me that they are so poor because of the equipment I am using to burn them and that if I had it done professionally, the quality would be much better.
What causes this?
Is there any software/hardware I can upgrade to which will produce good quality DVDs?
Nicola

Hi,
Am using FCE, external LaCie DVD burner and Toast.
When I convert a FCE project to quicktime, then
transfer to DVD, using an external LaCie burner and
Toast, the resulting quality is very poor.
Which version of Toast are you using? Are you using Toast's encoder to create the disc image? The latest version of Toast (Titanium 7) is supposed to have a much improved encoder. Also iDVD5 and iDVD6 show big improvements over earlier versions. However, I don't think MPEG2 DVD will be the full equal of the original DV, but it should come close. I suspect high-end DVD mastering programs are needed to get the best results.
867 MHz PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

How can I upload my FCP project in high quality on youtube?

Ok so I finished a 4 minute project on Final Cut Pro and it's perfect. But when I bring it out of FCP the quality fails completely. The video is blurry. Even the music sounds terrible. This happens when I export through share masterfile even though it's 4 GB
I'm trying to put it on youtube. What's the best way of doing it?

Don't share directly to YouTube. YouTube has bandwidth limit requirements and I'm pretty sure FCPX is trying to upload its usual high quality H.264 video. If you upload a video to YT at a higher quality than they allow, they will re-encode the video for you to fit their requirements. Their encoders are not as good as the ones you have available on your mac... and... they don't care. The only exception is for creators with enterprise quality internet connections, in which case, youtube will take what FCPX feeds it.
Use Compressor, or Quicktime 7 Pro to transcode your "master" export out of FCPX (I'll usually just use ProRes 422 LT).
You need to encode the video with H.264. (Using QT7Pro:) if the video is 1080, then you need to set the Data Rate to 8 Mbps (Restrict to 8000 Kbps); Keyframes Automatic; Frame Reordering off; Optimized for Streaming; Best Quality (Multi-pass Encoding). Audio: format AAC; Rate 48kHz; (I use) Variable Bit Rate encoding with a sampling rate of 192kbps (typically - anything from 128 to 384). The last step you have to set up: Prepare for Internet Streaming: Fast Start. As a matter of habit (since this step seemed to make a difference a couple of years ago) I'll go into the Size options and check the Preserve Aspect Ratio by using: option and select Letterbox from the options. [I prefer using QT7Pro because there are less things to screw up. I've never had *satisfactory* success with Compressor — I'm always getting into things that complicate the procedure.]
Anyway, if you get the numbers under the limit, the upload to youtube is faster, it's "ready" right away (almost as soon as it's uploaded) and you'll get at least what you expect to get (what you see before uploading.) Compressing some types of video (usually high contrast/high action) down to 8Mbps is going to cause problems you'll just have to live with.
YouTube has an encoding requirements guide here:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en
but it's for PC people... you do not need the .mp4 container, .mov is just fine (been using it for years).

Rectangular Pixel Setting: Where? (also tips for higher quality?)

The bottom line: Where can I find the setting -- in Final Cut, in Compressor, or in DVD Studio Pro -- to use rectangular instead of square pixels on export (or burn or wherever)?
The story: I'm trying to burn a DVD for a friend of our kids' jazz concert. It looks great on computer. Once in DVD Studio Pro's simulate function, though, all the the performers look slightly stretched. They look that way on TV, too. My understanding is that this is due to the difference in computer and TV pixel shapes and that there is a setting somewhere to address it.
These are my settings in Compressor. If that helps. And, if anyone can recommend settings for higher quality (I'm getting some stepping which looks lousy on big TVs), I would love to hear them
Name: MPEG-2 7.5 Mbps 2-pass
Description:
File Extension: m2v
Estimated size: 2.88 GB/hour of source
Type: MPEG-2 video elementary stream
    Usage:SD DVD
Video Encoder
    Format: M2V
    Width and Height: Automatic
    Pixel aspect ratio: Default
    Crop: None
    Padding: None
    Frame rate: (100% of source)
    Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
    Start timecode from source
    Aspect ratio: Automatic
        Selected 16:9
    Field dominance: Automatic
    Average bit rate: 6.4 (Mbps)
    2 Pass VBR enabled
        Maximum bit rate: 7.5 (Mbps)
    High quality
    Best motion estimation
    Closed GOP Size: 1/2 second, Structure: IBBP
    DVD Studio Pro meta-data enabled

Found it!
It's in DVD Studio Pro, on the Settings drop down found in the upper right corner of the Viewer window

Whch produces higher quality m2v- Quicktime or Compressor

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for