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“Export Using Compressor” versus “Export QuickTime Movie”
I know that you can export a QT movie of a sequence from within FCP without having frames recompressed, using the “File > Export QuickTime Movie…” command. So, if I was editing an NTSC-DV sequence, or an HDV-1080i60 sequence, the “passed-through” footage (i.e., “untouched” portions of the sequence, where there was no compositing, filters applied, etc.) would not be recompressed on export, from what I understand.
Now, if I choose “Export Using Compressor” from the File menu, and subsequently pick the NTSC-DV preset in Compressor (or HDV1080i60 for the second case), I wonder if Compressor will recompress all frames when it “transcodes” the sequence. I know that Compressor will render things (in the sequence) on-the-fly, as needed. This would be similar to using the QT conversion export option in FCP (if Compressor, in fact, recompresses everything).
So,
- Can anyone confirm or repudiate the statement about Compressor’s behavior when “transoding” a sequence from FCP into a QT movie using the same codec/settings?
- Is anyone aware of any other gotchas that makes one of the two choices better than the other, such as a gamma shift?
- Are there other issues to consider regarding quality, etc.?
- If Compressor behaves like the “export as QT movie” command in FCP, is there any benefit to using Compressor in this case?
FYI, my system includes the current version of FCS 5.1, running on a G5.
The goal is to simply export a sequence from FCP to a QT movie, having the same codec/settings as the sequence, without any unneeded recompression. My thoughts lean away from the Compressor route. Thanks for any assistance.
-Dave
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1 Reply
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[davemcc] “The goal is to simply export a sequence from FCP to a QT movie, having the same codec/settings as the sequence, without any unneeded recompression.”
Then don’t use Compressor at all. You only use Compressor to change from one format to another, such as from DVCPro HD to H.264 or any media file to MPEG-2 for DVD.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
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