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Extraordinarily long conversion time
Hi, everyone – I have a 93 minute 1920x1080p movie with a ProRes HQ codec and 48 khz audio. I have to convert it to an H.264/44.1 version. My first attempt was through Compressor, bringing in the 123 GB QT movie, and changing the video and audio codecs. After letting it run all night, the time remaining this morning was 17 hours AND RISING. I figured that this couldn’t possibly be right, so after 12 hours of compressing, I gave up and tried it directly from the FCP7 timeline, using QuickTime Conversion, hoping for a better result. I started it at 10:00 this morning, it’s now 1:00 AM, and it’s now at 40% with another 24 HOURS STILL TO GO.
Can THIS possibly be right? I’m using a mid-2009 MacBook Pro, 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8 GB of RAM, which is staying pretty consistent with 5 GB free. I have never had problems converting material before, but this is the first time I’ve gone from ProRes to H.264, and I don’t know if this is standard operating procedure. The extraordinary conversion times are the same with Compressor and FCP. I can’t stop it now — I’ll feel like I’ve wasted two full days — but I just wanted to know if this was a normal procedure. Thank you all in advance.
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4 Replies
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Okay, here’s the damn thing. When I started writing this post, at 1:00 in the morning, it was at 40% with 24 hours still to go. Twenty minutes after I hit “post,” as I was going to bed, it had jumped to 83% with 3 hours to go. Ten minutes later it was done. So I did it, but it still took 14 hours from beginning to end. I’ll ask it in a different way — is this something I should be expecting with future ProRes to H.264 conversions? Thanks!
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[David Dean] ” I’ll ask it in a different way — is this something I should be expecting with future ProRes to H.264 conversions? “
On a MacBook Pro, yes, pretty much. The times will go up if you try to set a target bitrate that a broadcaster might insist on.
jPo
“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
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If you want to speed up Compressor, you can use QMaster to set up a cluster and have Compressor work from that instead of “This Computer.”
Depending on your project, you could also try other options like QT7 or MPEG Streamclip and see if one is faster than the other.
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That was a massive render! From a “full HD” dense HQ intraframe file to a compressed GOP file. Nothing is wrong with that render duration. One improvement might be to have one drive writing to another, that’s what I do.
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