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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy Compressor messing up encode right at end

  • Compressor messing up encode right at end

    Posted by Nick Ryan on July 22, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Hey all,

    FCP 5.1.4
    Compressor 2.3
    Intel Mac Pro

    I’ve got a problem that never existed until we upgraded to the Mac Pro system a while back. I’m exporting self-contained quicktime movies from Final Cut that are generally 25 min or less in length. These movies then go into Compressor (2.3) at a 2-pass vbr something like 6.2-8.0 with motion estimation set to best. The trouble is, somewhere towards the end of the movie – anywhere from 5 to 1 minute from the end – the encoding glitches out big time. The subject’s mouth will pixelate up badly, or the entire face or entire screen will pulse in and out of a bunch of blocky pixels. This phenomena is random, it doesn’t happen at the same place in each movie – but it will likely encode the same movie twice in an identical fashion.

    Now, here’s the kicker. If I take these quicktimes over to an older G5 machine and encode with the SAME version of compressor at the SAME settings over there – I get a nice, clean product. Frustrating huh? The obvious question coming to mind here is: is Compressor 2 compatible with the Intel Mac Pro? Or do I need to upgrade to Compressor 3 (assuming that was even an option that would be approved by upper management). We had this problem in the Fall of last year, and the advice then was to do a complete reinstall of the system. I did (everything, including OS), and we thought that fixed it – until my boss called me in the other day and said “What’s this?” pointing to a bunch of pulsating pixels. We can work around it right now by going to the older machines, but this obviously takes much longer, and sometimes they aren’t available when you need them, forcing you to wait even longer. Sigh. If ANYONE has ANY ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks a bunch.

    Nick

    Chris Babbitt replied 17 years, 9 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Rafael Amador

    July 22, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    B>[Nick Ryan] “motion estimation set to best.”
    Hi Nick,
    If you are not resizing, changing the field order or changing the time base, there is no point to set the Frame Control to ON. you don’t need no Motion estimation at all. Not a single advantage and much longer compression time.
    The problem with the picture is quite weird but can not be a problem of compatibility Intel-Compressor. Compressor 2 Universal works in Intel. If you are working with a intel machine you should be already in FCS2.
    rafael

    http://www.nagavideo.com

  • Chris Babbitt

    July 22, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Try “fastest encode” or 1-pass fixed setting. No need for 2-pass variable with a program of only 25 min.
    Set your bit-rate at 7-7.5 with Dolby audio. A bit-rate of 8 might be pushing it a bit, especially if you are not doing Dolby audio.

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