-
Compressor woes: workflow efficiency and quality
I have a show shot in HD and edited on a ProRes 1080i timeline. One small SD network wants an SD (720 x 480) mpeg-2 final output, for which they have supplied a Compressor droplet. My current workflow had been to render out an HD (1080i) master right from the timeline. Then, for this client, i drop the HD QT on an SD timeline, and re-output to make a SD QT master. I then drop that SD QT master into the mpeg-2 droplet and render. It looks “okay”, though it seems the graphics could be better. Lately, the client has been complaining that the file they receive looks “blurry”, and even jittery (like field-flipping issues) at times. On my computer, i can see a bit of “blurriness”, and the graphics are quite sub-par, but no field issues.
I thought this might be the most efficient workflow, rather than outputting via Compressor right from the HD timeline, which would not allow me to work in FCP while it rendered (and i thought that Compressor out of FCP was much slower than drag and drop onto a droplet?). Anyway, if you know of a higher quality AND/OR more efficient method to receive the best results, i’m all ears.
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________FCS3
2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro
6GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
…and a few TeraBytes o’ storage
(then it’s on to PetaBytes, ExaBytes and MosquitoBytes!) -
3 Replies
-
Keep it simple. Export a Self-Contaned QuickTime Movie. Drop that file into Compressor and choose and modify your Compressor setting to meet the broadcasters requirements.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group -
Thanks…i always do render out a self-contained, but if i drop the HD QT onto the 720×480 droplet, it always renders it “squished”, the 16×9 squished horizontally into the 4:3 droplet. This is why i’ve always gone back to FCP and dropped the HD QT onto an SD timeline to render out a SD letterboxed master…but it does seem to lose something in quality with this extra step.
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________FCS3
2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro
6GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
…and a few TeraBytes o’ storage
(then it’s on to PetaBytes, ExaBytes and MosquitoBytes!) -
…trying some other tests out of FCP via sending to Compressor, but it is SO slow this way…though i’m guessing this will give me best results…
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________FCS3
2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro
6GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
…and a few TeraBytes o’ storage
(then it’s on to PetaBytes, ExaBytes and MosquitoBytes!)
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up