• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Compressor Not Compressing

  Posted by Melinda Hess on November 14, 2008 at 5:56 pm

  I’ve been working on a series of videos that vary from 40 min-1:30. They are all SD, DV videos. I export from FCP > Self Contained QT movie, then import into Compressor. For about a year, I’ve had NO problem compressing the files- both as individual movies, or running an overnight batch of several files. I recently ran a batch of about 4 movies, and in the morning came into the studio to find not only that my computer had crashed, no files had compressed, but the CPU was very loud – much noisier than usual. So I called Apple- they basically said I had to do a de-install, then re-install Compressor. I did it exactly according to Apple specs.

  When it was complete- a couple of hours later, compressor did work, and my computer was no longer making a loud noise. I loaded a batch of 2 files, and while it didn’t crash the computer, it took an inordinately long time to compress- about 5 times longer than it should have. So called Apple, they said re-install again. So I did. Since then I have been successfully compressing movies- but ONLY 1 file at a time. This is obviously not an effective workflow.

  However, last night I set up 1 movie to encode, and came in this morning to find that it encoded the MPEG 2 file just fine- but hung up before it could encode the audio file.

  I have been encoding all these files with the same settings as the ones I was successfully batching a few months ago. I haven’t upgraded the OS, or any apps that I know of. Having to stop production to de-install and then re-install Compressor is very problematic and timely when I have a deadline- like I have now.

  Here are the stats of what I’m using & doing:
  Power Mac G5 –Dual 1.8 GHz, 3 GB
  Using External HDs eSata & FW 800 connectivity
  Final Cut 6.0.4 /Compressor 3.0.3
  In compressor> Apple’s MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 2-pass or 1 pass, depending on the length of videos & audio- Dolby Digital Professional 2.0 that is tweaked, normalization off

  Any thoughts or advice is most welcomed.
  Thanks,
  Melinda
  Convivial Design

  Convivial Design Studio
  Abiquiu, NM 87510

  Zachary Stowasser replied 15 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Rafael Amador

  November 16, 2008 at 12:39 pm

  Hi Melinda,
  Before exporting anything from Compressor again, clean the “History” window.
  Rafael

  http://www.nagavideo.com
• 

  Andy Mees

  November 16, 2008 at 3:45 pm

  Hi Melinda

  I’ve not had reason to use this myself, but perhaps this recently released Compressor Repair utility could be used to your advantage. If an uninstall / reinstall is the regular routine then clearly its worth a try!

  https://www.digitalrebellion.com/compressor_repair.htm

  Cheers
  Andy
• 

  Zachary Stowasser

  October 4, 2010 at 4:46 pm

  That little utility really works!!! Fixed my problem! Thank you 🙂

  I have been starting to put my computer to “sleep” lately, it might have thrown off Qmaster somehow?

  who am I? Perhaps I am a person who can record moving photographs with passion and zest! oh yes?

  Here’s my vimeo site – https://www.vimeo.com/zstowasser and also youtube – https://www.youtube.com/zstowasser

  And my company’s website – Second Unit Services – https://www.secondunitservices.com

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