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Need to improve Compressor 2 output quality
After a year of telling a friend he should switch to Final Cut Pro, he finally did so about 3 months ago. He has been fairly happy with the decision but has asked if I could come over and help him improve his Compressor output quality. He does mostly 90 minute long wedding videos and chooses either the 90 or 120 minute Best Quality encode option in Compressor. However, he is not overly pleased with the quality of the resulting MPEG2 files. Artifacts are pretty noticable in dissolve transitions (lots of those in weddings). Blocks are pretty noticeable in black areas (tuxedos), and his menus in DVD Studio Pro look overly compressed. He previously edited on a VelocityQ system which did a real-time MPEG-2 output from the timeline (I think using the Main Concepts encoder.) I’ve seen DVDs he has done on that system, and they don’t exhibit any of these issues. What settings in Compressor can I check to improve his output quality? Are we doing something wrong? Here’s what he is currently doing:
1. Edit in DV in FCP.
2. Export to Compressor
3. Choose 90 or 120min Best Quality DVD Encode
4. In DVD Studio Pro, go into settings and set encode quality to 6.5mb (for motion menus)I’m heading over there this weekend and was hoping for a few additional suggestions. I read elsewhere that FCP automatically sets compression markers at every edit point and at the beginning and end of each transition, is this true? On his dissolves that are turning blocky, should I have him set extra compression markers mid-way through the dissolve? On his blotchy blacks, would messing around with the black/white restore filter help? Any other quality improvement suggestions? Would we be better off, quality wise, with Squeeze?
Thanks
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3 Replies
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Couple of Questions for you:
Which version of FCP?
Which version of Compressor?
Which OS (tiger 10.4.2 or panther 10.3.9)?If these were upgrades did they install on a fresh drive or upgrade from compressor 1 to compressor 2?
Has your friend run all the latest Pro App software updates?
Don’t export your file out of FCP via compressor. Export a self contained QT movie of the timeline first. Close FCP and then fire up compressor. Check to make sure the field setting is set to lower or bottom in all your settings (both compressor and DVDSP).
Do not use VBR 2 pass if your friend has compressor 2. There are issues with these settings. You can jump over to the compressor discussion list on the Apple website and read up on all the problems with Compressor 2. Especially if your friend upgraded from compressor 1 to 2. The version 1 presets do not work with compressor 2.
Just noticed the date of your post…..you probably already solved the issue this weekend…oh well.
Andy
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Hi there
I am also having this problem, as i export at a 2 pas vbr best using FCP7, at the end my video has blocks on it andthis does not happen on all the scenes it is different all time, this is after every new export. i use 6.0 and 7.0 bottom first 16 video.
Any advise will be appreciated
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At the top of the forum there’s a sticky on how to get the fastest compression help.
Please read it as you haven’t provided enough useful info.
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