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40 Minute HD Project- Best Way To Export From FCP
So I am in the middle of doing a corporate video and its around 40 minutes all together and I’m trying to find the best way to export it. The video will be viewed off a computer and projected in front of a meeting room. The footage was all shot on the Canon 7D and converted using mpeg streamclip using its 422LT codec. The audio was recorded on a zoom h4n at 48/24. Now I did do an export as mpeg 4 with the dimensions (800×600) just as a tester and the file came out at 2.2 GB… I would like to have the final project be hopefully no bigger than 5 GB but in better quality than mpeg 4… I know H.264 is the go to codec for exporting and then you just change the dimensions to fit your need but I started a tester export last night at around 11 PM (PST) and its now 10 AM (PST) and the video is at 27% with “27 Hours Remaining”…. This video needs to be in by 830 AM tomorrow morning.. If worse comes to worse i can figure it out and I’m sure they will be happy but is there anything I’m missing here? I just want the video to be in decent quality and to hopefully be sent off by 8 am… Let me know if any of you guys have any tips here on this situation….
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9 Replies
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Do you have any compression software other then Compressor?
If not, I would export out of FCP using “Current Settings”
Take that file into compressor. Modify the templates there and use:
h.264 / .mov
1280×720
same frame rate800×600 is cropping or squishing your vid.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Correct workflow is key.
[James de Boer] ” I know H.264 is the go to codec for exporting and then you just change the dimensions to fit your need”
This is NOT the way to do it.
Export a self contained QuickTime Movie from FCP. Export/QuickTime Movie (check self-contained) do not change any settings.
Drop that file into Compressor and create an m2v and ac3 for a DVD and h.264 with a bit rate between 2k and 6k for h.264. Once again do not change and dimensions.
You will end up with a Self Contained Movie (highest quality), a DVD and a compressed version (h.264) of your project. All three are options for playback.
Do not work with USB hard drives. FW800 minimum.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Thanks for the info Steve… How long will that take to export do you figure?
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I couldn’t even take a wild guess. I do not know what your computer specs are, hard drive etc…
40 minutes shouldn’t take more than a few hours on a decent system.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Hey thanks again man I’ll give it a try, you’ve been a great help
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Glad to help. A word of advice from an expert. Know your stuff before you get onsite. Better yet, hire someone who does.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Hey Steve, Currently following your instructions. I am running the footage off a seagate usb harddrive and doing the first export (as self contained, saving to my computers harddrive) and it says its going to take 10 hours…. I have a macbook pro 2.26 GHz, intel core 2 duo with 2GB of Memory 1067 MHz DDR3… My only question is, will this export come out looking great and will the file be over 20GB? I only have like 23 gigs free on my computers hardrive right now and am hoping this will work out. I don’t mind that it takes long to export I mean as long as it comes out looking good and being sent off by 8AM tomorrow morning then I’m happy but I don’t want to wait and have the export looking shitty…. I never used to use usb harddrives only firewire but heard that usb was just as fast so I never really paid attention… Is this why my exports take so much longer? or is my macbook just not fast enough to export hd video ?
Exporting is one of my biggest downfalls so anything you can expand on would really help me…
JD
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I’m exporting as a self contained right now and it says it’s going to take 20 hours (still at 0 percent) in using a MacBook pro 2.26ghz dual core 2 intel with 2gb memory 1067 MHz ddr3… I’m saving it from my USB hard drive to my computers hard drive which has 23 gigs free space… I’m guessing this file is going to be massive, is that enough room? If the export doesn’t work I guess I’ll resort to exporting using mp4 just because I know that works… Exporting really isn’t my forte so any additional info you can give me would be fantastic, I just need this to be done by 8 am pst tomorrow so I know if it takes so long to export then I have to be pretty sure about what to do, anyway thanks
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[James de Boer] “I am running the footage off a seagate usb harddrive”
Nothing you can do but wait…and wait…and wait. I warned above that you should NEVER use USB drives. USB is very very slow as you see.
If you can find an external FW800 drive soon buy it. It’s going to be very expensive now that hard drive prices have sky rocketed due to the floods in Thailand. If you can borrow one for this project do it now.
Working off your internal drive is also not a good idea to do. It can corrupt your system software.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
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