older FCP and newer Compressor

[Alexander Kallas]

[Dennis Couzin] “When I use the “Export QuickTime Movie” command, I first change my sequence settings to an uncompressed codec. Then the exported QuickTime file has not seen recompression, or just a tad. The original question remains: is feeding that QuickTime file to Compressor less good than exporting straight from the FCP timeline to Compressor?
“

Your method still involves a codec change before going to Compressor, the later workflow is preferable if you can tie up FCP for the time required.

Cheers
Alexander

[Dennis Couzin]

Alexander, doesn’t that depend on the codecs?
I’m starting with DV-PAL, so the conversion to 8-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 should be pretty nearly harmless. Doesn’t Compressor have to decompress the DV-PAL anyhow? Compressor can’t apply its frame controls to the DV-PAL directly. There are no pixels to play with until the video is uncompresed.
There might be small loss involved with the color subsampling. I don’t know how FCP is converting the 4:2:0 to 4:2:2. I suspect that Compressor needs 4:4:4 to best apply its “flow technology”. So Compressor has to transform the 4:2:2 to 4:4:4. Maybe the FCP conversion from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 followed by the Compressor conversion from 4:2:2 to 4:4:4 isn’t exactly the same as Compressor’s conversion from 4:2:0 to 4:4:4. Or maybe it is.

We are losing track of the original question. It is whether Compressor renders some effects better than FCP does, so that any rendered output from FCP, in any codec, is less desirable than letting Compressor render those effects.