Why is MP4 (MPEG4) Compression direct from FCP (vs from DVD) lower quality?

I am creating video podcasts and I have been fighting this issue for a couple weeks.
When I compress using mpeg4 directly from QuickTime I get unacceptable pixilation surrounding the subjects but when compress the same file from DVD using handbrake or iSquint it looks just fine. I am using the same settings.
Creating a DVD for each compression is silly work around. Does anybody have any advice here?
Note: when I compress using h.264 from FCP it looks fine, however I have decided against the h.264 codec at this time due to the processing toll it puts on the end user that can cause jumpy playback.
Power Book G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) FCP 4.5

I would rather use mp4 than h.264 and I have seen videos (eg. tikibartv) that look great with the mp4 codec.
Does anybody have any advice here?
I take it you've tried a workflow which emulates the site you referenced, such as...
File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion
In the Format drop-down, select MPEG-4
Click on the Options... button and...
Alter Image Size to 320x240.
Change the Data Rate to 500
Set Frame Rate to 15
Alter the Key Frame property to 75
Click OK
After you've selected the right destination folder, go ahead and press Save.
This will produce a .mp4 file. If you want to make this a .mov file, change the extension in the Browser.
...and that hasn't given you the results you're looking for?

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Compressor is not working. When I export to compressor from FCP to encode DVD, FCP freezes and Compressor appears to be working but the progress bar never fills no files are created. I'm using a MacBook Pro 10.6.7 version 2.66 GHz core 2 Duo 4GB 1067 MH

Compressor is not working. When I export to compressor from FCP to encode DVD, FCP freezes and Compressor appears to be working but the progress bar never fills no files are created. I'm using a MacBook Pro 10.6.7 version 2.66 GHz core 2 Duo 4GB 1067 MH. I'm not new at this. I re-installed FCP successfully. I trashed the preferences. Please help.

Do you have any filters applied to your clips?
This happened to me before, I accidently had applied a broadcast safe filter to a color matte that was black....
I figured it out by duplicating my sequence and deleting items from my timeline 1 by 1 until I was able to export a reference movie.
Anywho, export again, this time with "self contained" movie selected.
Then try to import to Compressor.

Keep chapter markers from fcp 7 to dvd studio 4

might've posted this before...
ive used iDVD for a while and know the preference for the chapter markers from FCP 7 to iDVD. finally using Studio pro trying to firgure out about automatic chapter markers. I edited it in FCP X and exported it to make the chapters in FCP 7
I have a few different format files
from FCP 7
8.03 gig DVD studio chapter marked
8.03 gig compression marked
then in compression
best quality 90 min DVD
A dolby Digital Pro 2 says "the destiation does not have read/write access"
or the mpeg 2 6.2mbps 2 pass """"""
then I tried using individual clips from fcp 7 in/out export feature, but that seems to to be to large
how should i fix this annoying issue

I'm talking about Compressor.
Compressor wants a destination to which to send an output file. Unless otherwise specifiedm the default destination is Source. That means it will be written to wherever (drive>folders path) the source file was stored.
Russ

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Can someone just spell it out for me? Going from FCP HD to DVD SD :-(

Hey folks. I hate to come here and ask a gargantuan number of questions, but this has been driving me out of my mind. I've tried asking specific question in hopes of simply finding one little problem that will fix my woes, but now it has come to this:
Can someone just spell it out for me?
How do I get my DVD going? I'll fill you in with all the knowlege I think you need.
I shot with Sony's HDR-FX1 and edited in Final Cut. That means I'm working with High defintion. The movie is set and solid, and runs One hour and twenty mintues. I'm trying to get it, the commentary track, the subtitle track, and a slew of video files (also shot in high def) onto one dvd. This goes beyond the 4.8 gig limit. Hence, i have a Dual layer burner, and have been burning onto DVD-R DL disks.
I've tried downgrading to SD format through steps from this website:
http://www3.telus.net/bonsai/Step-by-Step.html
I do all the steps to all of my files, and then start putting them into my DVD STUDIO PRO project. I have a recorded commentary which I add in, and I have written all the subtitles. The disk is in SD mode, and everything fits onto the dual layer disk. I've tried literally a dozen different ways, and something keeps going wrong. Either the menus won't come up, and just the film will play upon inserting, or the subtitle stream doesn't pick up- problem after problem. So, now I ask: Can someone simply spell out to me what steps I need to take to get my HD film onto a Dual Layer SD disk?
I apologize for how general this question is and how many directions it can go, but I'm at a breaking point after four months of failures. Thank you very much.

Hi man.
I don't really know which ways you've taken to put
the video into dvd studio, but since you're asking
for a step by step process, then here's what i do:
- export the entire hour out of FCP to a qt file
- take that QT file to compressor. the only audio you
really need is dolby 2.0. this would also reduce the
file size of video to make things fit in a single
layer dvd
I have always found that the 'Dolby 2.0' and '5.1' AC3 settings in Compressor badly affect your audio mix...it collapses the soundstage, takes away a lot of depth and imaging, and smudges the frequency range, so I usually output a 16-bit 48kHz, which holds things together much more nicely when working with a stereo mix. Problem is, for a feature-length films, the resulting output from compressor makes it too big to fit on standard DVD-R's with the M2V picture file. My workaround was to actually take take the original exported FCP QT movie (which has a 48kHz aiff soundtrack to begin with), and only lay the audio part of it in the track timeline in DVD studio pro, then lay the compressed M2V video on top of it. They're both still in sync, unless you picked different in/out points in Compressor. When you 'build' your Video/Audio TS in 'advanced burn' it somehow makes it small enough to all fit onto a DVD, while still maintaining the audio quality of the AIFF, instead of the crappy-sounding 2.0 AC3. Then you just use Toast to burn your disc. The difference in sound quality is night and day. So basically I do the picture in Compressor, but let DVD Studio Pro prepare the audio in the Advanced Burn stage.
It will be very difficult to get a good-sounding AC3 (what they call 'dolby' 2.0 or the wierd 5.1 encoding they use) unless you mix/master/encode your soundtrack professionally like regular studio films do. Just encoding it in compressor straight out of FCP or ProTools isn't enough. You lose too much.

Is Compressor 4 necessary when sending from FCP X to DVD Studio Pro

I am making a FCP X movie and when it's finished I want to put it on a DVD using DVD Studio Pro. I have done this before but now I'm wondering if I should first export it to Compressor 4 and then to DVD Studio Pro. I understand that if I was puting it on YouTube or an iPod device I would need to Compress it however why would I need to go to Compresss 4 first if ultimately going to DVD Studio Pro? Would I get a better Codec quality then what I get from exporting in FCP X using their default Compression format i.e. Quicktime? Should I use an Apple ProRes Compression from Compressor 4? I guess I really don't understand the encoding quality options very well however I do want the best quality on my finished DVD. The DVD or Sequence is somewhere around 20 - 25 minutes if that makes any difference in your response.

People will tell you that encoding in Compressor will give the best quality, but that assumes you are using a suitable preset and for your length of video the ready made ones are unsuitable and will waste time as they are all 2-pass with variable bit rates (VBR).
For DVDs under 70 minutes long the best quality and fastest encoding times are achieved using a constant bit rate (CBR) of around 7.5mbps.
For your short DVDs you should achieve the highest quality and fastest processing by simply exporting the project from the timeline as it is, drop it into DVDSP and set DVDSP to encode and burn it at the specs I gave above.
Returning to my opening comment, you will frequently find that the theoretically best solution to a problem results in no discernible improvement but often entails a lot more work and time-expenditure.
P.S. You might get marginally better quality by raising the bit rate to 8mbps but you run a slight risk that some old or cheap players may not be able to keep up, resulting in dropped frames.
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

Upgrade from FCP 6(motion,DVD,etc) to FCP 7 (motion,DVD,etc) takes so long

I am just wondering why each "content disk" takes along time - I mean at least an hour but it starts the count at 15 - 40 plus hours.... for each disk. Is there something wrong? Or is this everyones experience. Eventually is rackets down but it just seems overly slow....
Just asking:)
Thanks!

It takes a long time to read and write from the DVDs. There is a lot of material to move around and if you do not have a fast DVD reader ...
One way to speed things up is to create disk images of all the FCS install disks. Mount all the drives to your desktop and the install time should be 30 minutes or so and you won't have to baby sit the process.
I have mine stored on a portable firewire drive so they don't take up drive space on the computer.
I'll usually clone my system drive before a major installation/upgrade procedure so that if things go badly I can revert to the old system and be back working with minimal downtime.
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Export sequence of still images (JPGs, TIFFs) from FCP timeline into DVD without interlaced issues using Compressor

Hi,
How to export a sequence with stills (jpg) into a DVD format by using Compressor without having the interlaced issue on the outcome? The stills in the Canvas look crisp but once exported to DVD format, the outcome images look interlaced. How can I best match the crisp look of the high resolution JPGs in time line when exported to DVD?
My Sequence settings match the image settings:
Frame Size: 1024 x 768
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Field Dominance: None
Compressor: Photo JPG
I tried to export the sequence of img as an independent QT movie file by using Apple ProRes 422 output settings. The video file looks great. I then imported it back to time line into new sequence and exported into DVD format trying both: deinterlace and "same as source" setting. Both output DVD files still have the interlaced issue.
I also tried to work with JPGs converted to TIFFs on a different sequence with same as Tiff settings and the issue still persists.
I will appreciate any advices.
Thank you,
Izabela

Dear Nick,
Thank you, I understand now it is the aspect ratio issue.
Are you suggesting that I should use Photoshop or Graphic Converter to convert the 1024 x 768 to 720 x 480 prior to importing them into FCP seqence?
> Give the DVD authoring software the correct size:
I am using FCP 7.0.3 to create the sequence of images (there has to be specific timing and transitions), which I then export to DVD format by using Compressor.
Do you mean that I should set the FCP timeline sequnece settings to 720 x 480?
Please let me know. Thank you,
Izabela

What will make the picture from FCP studdering from the HDMI output, but not from the firewire output ?

I have a Mac Mini 2010, 8G ram,running on Snow Leopard. I'm playing some video clips from FinalCut Pro 7.0.3. When I'm using the HDMI output,the picture will be studdering on a horizontal panning picture. This problem does not happen when I'm using the firewirw output, which I can't use anymore with my new playback system..
Is there any setup I can use to fix this studdering?

Sorry about that, have had no need for pasting output so far as I was using Ubuntu/Mint/Sabayon so could work most things out myself. Thanks for letting me know Also, please mark this post SOLVED as well as STUPID lol. I removed Pulseaudio and went over my Alsamixer settings with a LOT more careful attention, discovered that something vital was not unmuted. Doh!! Have to say, Arch is the best learning experience ever, though

Aspect ratio problems when exporting from FCP and creating DVDs

Hi there
Can anyone help? I'm using FCP to edit material shot using a Sony z1 in SD 16:9 mode. My media displayed correctly in FCP with the 'anamorphic' option ticked in the browser.
I then exported my short films as QuickTime movies and created a DVD in iDVD using those video assets.
When I then viewed the films on a widescreen tv, the films did not display at the correct aspect ratio. They were horizontally elongated, as though they had been stretched twice over, so that objects, people and text appeared fatter than they should.
Can anyone let me know whether there are any settings I could change in either FCP or iDVD to stop this happening?
Many thanks!
Jacqui

this thread may help
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7422463

Steps to exporting from FCP to Compressor/DVD studio pro

Hello,
I have just completed editing my video and would like to know the steps to exporting my video so that I can burn it on a DVD. I need help with the steps involved in exporting my project to compressor then to DVD studio pro.
Thank you for your help in advance!
p.s. on a separate note: I shot in 1080i and converted my raw footage to .mov format (640 x 480) to edit. Now that I'm done with editing, is there a way to bring the quality back up to 1080i?
Thanks!

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12830379&#12830379

Why is all the music on the I tunes store of low quality.

So everything I downlaod has a Kbps of around 250.
It is already an MP3, so you have loss of bit rate. So make it atleast 320 kbps.
Cant understand that a big company like Apple that make billions cant even give us the best quality MP3'sC

The problem with Beatport is that they only sell electronic music for the biggest part.
I am also in to Funk, Soul, Disco, Rock (led zep, pink floyd, rolling stones) Clasical (bach, Chopin) Jazz, acis Jazz, latin Jazz.
The iTunes store is a great store, everything works perfect.
They atleast could make the option to to let you chose a higher or better quality.
Even for a highe price I would oay for that, so would others. Some arguments given here in this topic are bull ****.
Apple could make more money, there are allot of people who would purchase that.
Calling me an Audiophile lol, there are so many people with a good sound set. You definitely hear the difrence. Low tones, and a hishhh trough out the songs. That by a company that also invented the iPod and is known for music. Allot of people who listen to music also bought apple products. There is market for it. So still people havent got me one reason next to stating the obvious they just dont sell it any higher.
Also you do get scammed because nowhere you can see to my knoledge at what kbps you are buying it.
Also the argument about that this is cheaper is bull, they pay rights so they can sell it. To make it a higher quality would not cost them a thing. They only need to adjust some settings when releasing an album.
Or are people going to tell me when ever they bought a CD, and then convert it in iTunes that they dont set it on the highest quality cause otherwise they would notice on there electrical bill.
Nah and even then I would pay more cents. Buisness wise it would be a smart thing to do for us "audiophiles"
I am just loving music <3 Music is love and love is music.

Everytime I export from FCP using comressor I am lose my audio, any ideas as to why this is happening. Or do I have somthing turned off and I am just missing it? Dual 2.7 Ghz PowerPC G5 1.5 GB DDR SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Everytime I export from FCP using comressor I am lose my audio, any ideas as to why this is happening. Or do I have somthing turned off and I am just missing it? Dual 2.7 Ghz PowerPC G5 1.5 GB DDR SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Exporting via Compressor may be recommended but it is slow and doesn't fully support all available filters, etc.
Try exporting the timeline as a QT Movie (the "normal" export) using Current Settings and them submit the resultant clip to Compression. Works for me...

Exporting direct from FCP vs. sending to Compressor?

I've done both, but the choice ends up being a coin toss. So I'm curious if there's any accepted wisdom as to the Pros & Cons of each workflow (using the current versions of each app, and in a hypothetical All Things Being Equal scenario)?
In other words, if you were to create the exact same "Master File" from a given FCP Project using each route (in terms of the finished file's dimensions, frame rate, etc), and you selected the exact same codec/quality options to create that file (assuming the identical options exist to be chosen), would there still potentially be any significant difference between the two files? Either in terms of file size, length of time it takes for the file to be created, or any appreciable difference in image quality (despite the theoretically identical file settings)?
Because a difference in any one of those three categories might be enough to tip the scales towards using one workflow vs. the other, depending on the priorities in a given situation.
(And for the sake of this comparison, I'm leaving aside the issue of which app could still be used for other tasks while the export is in progress. Let's just assume for the sake of argument that in both cases the machine would not be being used for ANY other work during each of the exports.)
Any theories? Real-world experiences? Or has some 3rd-party test site already attempted this kind of direct comparison (using the latest versions of FCP-X and Compressor 4.x)?
Thanks,
John B
Toronto

Without considering every possibility, here are a couple of general thoughts.
Given the same Compressor preset there should be no quality difference between the output from a master fie to Compressor and sending it from the timeline to Compressor. There are speed differences and exporting from FCP X is the fastest workflow. Lately, I've found second fastest to be Send to Compressor. But the inferences differences aren't great.
Most of this depends on one's workflow preferences. The most lengthy workflow is to first export a master file and then bring that into Compressor;. Funnily enough, that is how I work because I want to have an iFrame master file that I can compress for different purposes over time.
One user recently posted that he used Send-to-Compresssor because it gave him the opportunity to pause the processes without losing his work.
In the past (particularly with legacy FCP) the Send-to-Comnpressor workflow was something I avoided. It was slow and unreliable. 10.0.x to 4.0.x was faster but troubled in other ways. The latest versions, however, seem to get it done efficiently.
Final thought: if you do your own tests, check o ensure you have similar amounts of free memory. Otherwise, it's not a "fair fight"/
Russ
edit: override the auto complete

Export from FCP directly into DVD studio pro?

Is it possible to export from FCP directly into DVD studio pro? If not, what is the preferred file format because my exported quicktime files come up as "incompatible format" when I try to add them into my DVD project. Any help is appreciated.

You need to encode audio as well from Compressor. You'll have 2 files - audio and video.
Here's a tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFgJpd7DEWw
Message was edited by: Eric Pautsch1

Why is MP4 (MPEG4) Compression direct from FCP (vs from DVD) lower quality?

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