Life’s too short for Compressor, G5 kicks Mac Pro’s butt by 10X for DVDs!

[Joe Langenfeld]

Thanks for the hints, but my memory is configured in 4 equal parts by Apple, so that’s not the issue. I think that the issue is related to the complex sequences that I am trying to output directly from FCP. When it’s a single layer sequence without filters, the results are speedy.

[Andy Mees]

hey Walter

I was looking at this the other day … the long and the short of it seems to be that the specific component is not lost if you continually “upgrade” … but those who follow the clean install method would certainly lose this functionality.

Apple had a knowlegebase article about this, i’ll link it if i can dig it up

Andy

[Andy Mees]

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301871

[Joe Langenfeld]

Triple check my settings? What does that mean?

If you have been following this thread, you would see that it’s not my settings but the complexity of the sequence that’s exported which causes extreme Compressor render times. For some reason, it seems like the G5 QT MPG2 export does not care what you export, perhaps it sees a rendered sequence as a single QT. Compressor appears to look back into all the layers and filters, thus the extreme delay. (that’s a theory trying to explain why this is so FU)

Macbook Pro, comparing Compressor to Compressor in the G5, is faster. But we are not comparing Compressor to Compressor in this thread, we are lamenting the loss of a fast software encoding solution that encodes faster on older Macs than Compressor does on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is not fast enough (yet) to surpass this administrative(?) blunder.

It’s unfortunate you have nothing more to offer than to imply that I don’t know how to operate the system. But it’s a free country, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, so thanks for the reply none the less.

[Ray Lane]

The export is taken away, but can easily be put back in. Search the Apple message boards to see how to do it (I don’t recall how, but all my machines have had it restored).

[Ray Lane]

Here is why it is slow. When you output to compressor from FCP, compressor ignores all render files and creates new ones that are more compatible with the output format. So, for instance, if you do a project and hit render, and it takes an hour to render, then compressor will take an hour to re-render, plus whatever time it taks to actually compress the video. If you export your movie as a self contained file, and bring that into compressor, the time will be much less.

However, I still agree using QT in FCP is much quicker.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Ray Lane] “Here is why it is slow. When you output to compressor from FCP, compressor ignores all render files and creates new ones that are more compatible with the output format.”

Never heard that one and haven’t noticed a project that took longer because I used a reference file vs. a self-contained movie.

One thing that makes Compressor significantly faster is exporting the reference file, quitting FCP, then launching Compressor and performing the compression. Using the Export to Compressor option from FCP leaves that app running and really slows down Compressor. It’s a significant jump in speed if you quit FCP and run Compressor alone.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Ray Lane]

You are correct. Compressor re-renders the sequence when exported. This makes for a better encode, but a lot of wasted time. If you export a self-contained movie and then bring that into compressor it will go much quicker.

[Rafael Amador]

Whenever I export to Compressor from the FC time-line, Compressor re-render verything. It doesn’t matter if everything has being rendered before. If i send a refference movie which has been rendered, Compressor do not render again and work faster. Anyway I stoped send refferences movies since I had a look to these pictures:

https://www.visiontracks.com/compressortests/

Cheers,
Rafael
PS: I’m working with a G5 2x2Ghz, and with FC 5.04. and I’ve got the MPG2 exporter in FC (QT Conversion) and in the QT player.

[Jake Wheeler]

How would I export this reference file in order to use compressor on its own?

thank you much

Jake
Southpaw Films
southpaw-nyc.com