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FCP, Compressor, h.264 & MTS files nightmare with screensize inQT
ok, this is a long post, but please bare with me, I’m self taught and I guess it’s time to learn right.
I was handed a ton of .MTS files that are supposedly 1920×1080 25fps to edit down to these specs:
1280×720 h.264 2.4mbps
720×405 h.264 1.1mbps
480×270 h.264 512kbpsNow on my mac I can’t open the .MTS files with final cut, so I instead opened em in Adobe premiere (cs5) and to my delight after not having use Premiere in 7 years it edits and runs them great. So I finish my editing, and I export them to MPEG2 1920×1080, then put that into compressor.
at the end this is what Quicktime opens them as:
1280×720 opens at 1248×702 and video is slightly zoomed in cutting off some outer pixels
722×406 opens at 876×406 no video at all
480×270 opens at 582×270 and video is slightly zoomed in cutting off some outer pixels
Now the videos open fine in any other player, flash, or mpegstreamclip.
I’m totally baffled!
here’s the 1280×720 compressor settings I’m using and thanx for the help in advance:
File Extension: mov
Estimated size: 460.8 MB/hour of source
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 1280
Height: 720
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls On:
Retiming: (Fast) Nearest Frame
Resize Filter: Linear Filter
Deinterlace Filter: Fast (Line Averaging)
Adaptive Details: On
Antialias: 0
Detail Level: 0
Field Output: Same as Source
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 24
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 1.024 (Mbps)
Fast Start: on -
8 Replies
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You started out wrong…
You use MPEG STREAMCLIP to open the .MTS files…or ClipWrap…and convert to ProRes. Then edit. Then Export a self contained QT movie USING THE SEQUENCE SETTINGS…then use Compressor to convert to what you need.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[David Simonton] “MPEG2 1920×1080”
Why in the world would you export these into another highly compressed format. I would go out to ProRes. But that is another matter.QT Player resizes stuff and corrects for aspect ratios. It should not be used to evaluate.
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MPeg Stream clip says “file not supported” and won’t open.
I used Clipwrap to rewrap the files and it was like mud in FCP, but I didn’t try using “pro res”, which pro-res? 422, HQ, proxy or LT?
“Export a self contained QT movie USING THE SEQUENCE SETTINGS”
You mean after I pull the pro-res into FCP and edit it? What sequence settings should I use?
To think I bought a hardware h.264 card to speed things up was rendering from compressor at faster than realtime, now the QT export just killed my month cause that’s taking forever.
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[David Simonton] “which pro-res? 422, HQ, proxy or LT?”
ProRes 422 or ProRes Proxy. HQ is too much…
[David Simonton] “You mean after I pull the pro-res into FCP and edit it? “
Yes…after you are done editing, THEN you compress.
[David Simonton] “What sequence settings should I use?”
Same as your imported footage. FCP will set the sequence up properly when you add the first clip. SAY YES when it asks…
[David Simonton] “To think I bought a hardware h.264 card to speed things up was rendering from compressor at faster than realtime,”
Yes…you do that AFTER you are done. Convert…edit…export a full res file…Compress with Compressor and the hardware (MXO with MAX?)
There are proper steps to these things.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Ok shane, thanks a million for the help, I will give the new workflow a shot and post the results.
I got the CompressHD card, and so far it’s impressive on it’s own, just gotta get my workflow down to take advantage of it. They are coming out with support for Media Encoder CS5 later this fall so that will cut down on my editing times for sure.
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ok, ran through the new workflow, took forever, but all the videos EXCEPT the 1280×720 play with the correct dimensions in Quicktime.
Absolutely ridiculous that the 1280×720 opens at 1248×702 in quicktime, the other sizes all play fine now, and they are just dupes of the 1280 compressor setting.
Now I know that the video work in all other players however this particular version will be a high quality download for surfers, and many of them will get quicktime opening this file by default and they will see the same issue.
Any additional help/theories would be appreciated.
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well I now use pro-res.
Reason QT is important is because the videos will be downloadable and many users will have QT open the files by default.
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After more testing I can see the problem only happens if I use one of compressors pre-set choices for “dimensions” for example, if I chose 1280×720 as in my previous posts it won’t play with proper dimensions in QT.
Now when I change it to 1276×718 thus forcing a “custom (16:19)” it plays back perfectly. Very strange!
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