“best”/fastest client preview movies

[Nick Meyers]

“reference files don’t work effectively with these codecs (only the first clip instance will be referenced, the rest of the timeline will be rendered, so the resulting file will be almost as large as a fully self-contained file plus will take all but a few minutes less to encode)”

if they are already rendered in the timeline,
will the reference move will use the existing renders?

“why not export back to disc and then send just the client the MP4 proxy of the edit that will be created by the XDCAM device ?”

not that’s lateral thinking!

nick

[Andy Mees]

hey Nick

what seems to happen is that the first clip instance is referenced as per usual, but the remainder of the timeline would seem to get conformed to a single clip / render that’s then embedded within the reference file … now, its highly unlikely that renders in your timeline would ever exist in such a state naturally (ie a single fully conformed timeline render of everything but the first clip) but if my analysis is indeed correct then its possible that the reference file would point to that existing render file.

if you’ve the time and energy to investigate this a bit Nick, your feedback would be much appreciated. I spent some time looking at reference files created by XDCAM HD / HDV timelines and came to the conclusion that reference files were a waste of time with these formats (i’d like to have said, “quickly” came to the conclusion, but with all that darn conforming there was nothing quick about it!)

cheers
Andy

[Michael Singh]

Curtis,
How to further compress the 5.9 GB MPEG-2 export file of my 2.25 hour roughcut? DVDSP apparently will not automatically compress it to fit onto a 4.7 GB DVD. Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks
Michael

[Visionstudios]

https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

This will help you calculate your bit rate.
You might want to try dual layer disks if you want to keep the bit rate higher if you have quality concerns.

Using AAC audio will save you lots of space.
Format: AC3
Sample Rate: 48.000kHz
Channels: 2
Bits Per Sample: 16
Target System: DVD Video
Data Rate: 192 kbps

[Michael Singh]

In bit-rate calculator: Is “bit rate” same as “data rate”? Also

–should I re-do everything by first creating blank FCP sequence, dragging original sequence (6 video trax, 10 audio) into it to create 1 vid, 2 aud?

–then export via Compressor instead of Quick Time Converter?

–Either way, which tool adjusts size? If Inspector, I couldn’t figure out how.

Finally: can you suggest more efficient way to super a (c) bug of four words onto top right corner? My present method is using FCP’s “text” across entire show, pasted repeatedly in its maxiumum 2-min segments. Then FCP requires 3 hrs render time! Cannot figure how to use DVDSP subtitling feature for possible similar bug.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Michael

[Visionstudios]

Well, First I am going to recommend that you go and check out lynda.com, they have tutorials on Final Cut , Compressor, and The Mac OS. You will learn lots.

I would export my timeline as a self contained .mov file just to be safe.
1 video channel and 2 audio channels.
I would import it into compressor and set my data rate around 3800 kbits/sec for the video.
I would use aac 192 for the audio.
This will fit your 2.25 hours of content on a 4.7 GB disk.
In compressor you can set it to encode an ID bug on your video for you. Go to inspector in the video settings. choose watermark and select a image that you are going to use for watermarking your video.

You will want to test this with a short peice of video first.

3800kbits per second is pretty low quality MPEG video.
Test a 1 min chunk of your video and time how long it takes to export from final cut. Also time how long it takes to encode. Then Check the quality.
If you are happy with it then export your full movie.
You will be able to estimate your export and encode times with the information you learned from your 1 min video tests.

Its going to take a while.

Now take your files that you have encoded and bring them into DVDSP. Check to make sure that they are going to fit on 1 disk. You may want to add some chapter markers on a long video like this so that your viewers have the ability to skip ahead or go back easily.

Take a look at this article if you are interested in speeding up your render times.

https://visionstudios.ca/RenderFarm/RenderFarmleft.html

[Michael Singh]

Wow. Fantastic. Okay, to lynda.com I go. And thank you v much for the precision of your recommended steps. Saves me days of wild goose chasing. Gratefully, Michael.

[Anthony Dean]

what was your final solution? I follow the same workflow you mentioned in your post in order to send clients regular updates on drafts of work.

…..it’s slow work!

I’m mostly working with HDV footage in FCP. I work with it natively at 1080i50 which has proved to be pretty quick rendering although yields large file sizes.

I export out an uncompressed QT reference (which is also pretty quick) then within QT PRo I load the reference file and export a ‘small’ H.264 QT file to send via yousendit.com. I export a ‘small’ h.264 file (559 x 315) to try and keep the final file size down. My file sizes are small but it does take a long time to do. At least FCP is freed up!

[Walter Biscardi]

[mortimer heathcliff] “1) first make a single QT file from the timeline (always using “current settings?”), THEN;
2) compress that single file with Compressor in the mpg-4 codec. “

That’s exactly what we do, but we never email them. I have been using the MediaBatch software for over a year now right on our web site host server and it works like a charm. We use that almost exclusively for client reviews both in Atlanta and all over the world.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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