• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Export Codecs and quality?

  Posted by Jeff Hoffman on April 2, 2010 at 7:58 pm

  I transfered 720p24 footage out of a varicam 2700 into FCP.
  From the sequence exported three ways as an experiment.

  1) DVCPRO HD 24p size 960×720 file size = 415 mb
  2) ProRes 422HQ 24p size 960×720 file size= 688 mb
  3) ProRes 422HQ 24p size 1920×1280 file size= 1.36 gb

  There did not appear to be any difference in quality (just size)
  Since the footage will end up on the web, am I missing something or should I go with the smallest file size?

  Bret Williams replied 16 years, 5 months ago 5 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  John Fishback

  April 2, 2010 at 8:10 pm

  I often shoot 720 24pN and edit in a 23.98 (23.976 actually) sequence. When exporting a file to be converted for web use, I Export QT at Current Settings, either a self-contained or ref video. Do not use QT Conversion! I then use that file in Squeeze, BitVice or Compressor depending on the final use.

  John

  MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
  FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

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• 

  Rob Grauert

  April 2, 2010 at 8:38 pm

  Exporting to ProRes doesn’t make your footage look better. You can’t do anything to make it better…sorta. I guess color grading makes it look better.

  And also, if you’ve recorded DVCProHD, you only need to export your stuff as regular ProRes. HQ is for sources originating in 10-bit color depth and/or 2k or higher resolution.

  As for exporting for the web, I personally like to export an H.264 file and post a quicktime on my website. Quicktime isn’t as popular as Flash though.

  Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
  http://www.robgrauert.com
  command-r.tumblr.com
• 

  Gary Adcock

  April 2, 2010 at 8:51 pm

  [Jeff Hoffman] “Since the footage will end up on the web, am I missing something or should I go with the smallest file size? “

  What did you expect?-
  just converting to ProRes will not make previously captured footage any better, however should you need for lots of processing on the file ProRes will stand up better than DVCProHD.

  FYI -you Converted the file in Software and thats why the thin raster format maintained after you did your conversion.

  gary adcock
  Studio37
  HD & Film Consultation
  Post and Production Workflows for the Digitally Inclined
  Chicago, IL

  https://blogs.creativecow.net/24640
• 

  Bret Williams

  April 3, 2010 at 6:30 am

  Compressor does a wonderful job, but isn\’t usually neccessary for a quick web output.

  My standard is QT conversion:
  h.264
  24 fps
  auto keyframe
  one pass- faster
  750kb max data ate
  640×360
  32khz mono

  that’s it. Exports faster than realtime for a 720p seq.

  For something that’s going to be on the web for swipe I’d tweak it in compressor , but the above is my standard client view export.

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