Export to SD / H.264 Takes 21 HOURS?

[Rob Grauert]

Enabling your virtual cluster with QMaster. Export a non-self-contained, full-res Quicktime and bring it into Compressor.

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Rob Grauert]

https://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/compressor_3_a_virtual_cluster_makes_an_impressive_speed_boost/

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Steve Crow]

I don’t know if this is the same thing but I aborted the Final Cut export that wanting to take 21 hours and instead did a full rez output as a reference movie – this is going to take about an hour.

THEN I read could take my reference movie into Mpeg Streamclip and export my Web ready version from there – don’t yet know, of course, how long that will take.

I have only used compressor a couple of times because I generally find it very confusing but I understand that compressor accepts reference movies as well – the QTMaster thing you mentioned – is that a separate application from Compressor or….? I just have 2 cores but I assumed Compressor would automatically use both of them, not so?

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT, VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

[Steve Crow]

Thanks again, I will read this now

[Rob Grauert]

I suppose it could take an hour to make the reference file. I mean, you are only using a Macbook Pro.

Bring your reference file into Compressor. It is a superior program to MPEG Streamclip. If you find Compressor to be confusing, read the manual. No one opens up a program and immediately knows how it works. Ya gotta read the manuals in this field.

QMaster can be found in System Preference, but to utilize the Quick Cluster, you’ll have to choose it right before you submit the job in Compressor. So no, Compressor doesn’t automatically use all cores. And honestly, you only have 2 cores. Your encoding speeds will not be that much faster.

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Phil Balsdon]

Hi Steve,
I normally export my FCP project as self contained movie with current settings.
I then bring this into Compressor for my final output file. This way Compressor isn’t dealing with the different layers, filters etc from a reference file when compressing. It seems to speed up the process and is useful if you need to create different final output versions.

With a big project like yours I’ll also normally create a shorter duration version of the export from FCP with identical settings and use this as a test for quality out of Compressor, rather submit a huge file and find it wasn’t quite up to quality or file size expectations.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Steve Crow]

Hi Phil,

Well yes I tried that as my first option but after many many hours of exporting I ended up with a 440GB video file which was simply too large for my system to handle.

I also do as you do in so far as conducting tests, oh by the way the export out of FCP to make a full resolution reference video was an hour and a half, not one hour, then compressor took another hour 45 or so to export out a MPEG4 – combining those two time periods comes out to a lot less than 21 hours so I am pretty happy.

I ended up importing the MPEG-4 out of compressor into Mpeg Streamclip because I didn’t drag the correct H.264 configuration file over into the compressor window when I first created the file. The file itself played and looked fine but my eventual destination is Vimeo and they really like the H.264 codec so it’s worth the other hour or so to do a pass with Streamclip.

All the best and thanks for replying!

[Chris Tompkins]

You should always export a ref file using “Current Settings” as mentioned here. Drop the ref file into your compression program of choice to create files for DVD or WEB or BD or whatever delivery.

Making a “ref” file is fine. The only reason to make it self-contained would be if creating a digital master for archive or taking it to another machine. Ref files save space. Any app on the same machine will work with the ref file as if it’s the original movie file. There are no layers of anything, it’s just a movie file. That saves a ton of space.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Nicholas Zimmerman]

Vimeo also works very well with the built in “YouTube Sharing” droplet. I recommend adjusting the video settings for higher quality.

[Steve Crow]

Built-into what? Are you talking about iMovie?

Would what you are talking about work with a reference movie?