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Quickest way to add window code and encode for web?
I have a dozen hours of interview footage. I’ve captured in FCP and need to add window code and then turn into a low quality format so I can upload for a transcriber to download. The timecode window burn is necessary so the transcriber can note the code every 30 seconds or so in the transcription, making it easy for me to locate footage from the transcription.
The steps I’ve been using is 1) capture 2) put on the timecode reader filter, export using compressor to h264, 100kbps setting. Unfortunately, it seems to take several hours for each hour to render into h264, so this is a very slow process.
Any suggestions to speed it up? I guess compressor is doing a 2-pass encode, which slows it down a lot, but don’t need high quality, just enough to see the timecode on the image.
I also have mpeg streamclip, which seems to encode h264 a lot faster (because you can select one pass), but that involves a step of rendering out an hour of footage with the window time code (which takes about an hour) and then converting it to h264 in mpeg streamclip.
I have to have it in a web-friendly format because my transcribers are in India and so I have to use ftp to get them the file.
Thanks for any suggestions to speed this process.
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7 Replies
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You can change the H.264 export setting to single pass, by selecting the Video: Settings button in the Inspector. This will speed up the encode.
Not sure if this helps, but the latest version of Quicktime Player will display the timecode of the clip instead of the running time, if you select it in preferences. So if you can get the boys in India to read the timecode in Quicktime Player, you might be able to skip the window burn.
Export as h.264 (or whatever). Drag the new file back into FCP’s browser. Use the Modify Timecode command to manually change the start timecode to the start timecode of your clip. (you need to do this, because you lose the timecode when you export with Quicktime conversion)
If this workflow doesnt do it for you, Compressor 3 in FCS 2 can add window timecode to the files you encode. Supposedly encodes H.264 more quickly than before, too.
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Thanks, John. All useful stuff!
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[Jeff Nelson] “I have a dozen hours of interview footage. I’ve captured in FCP and need to add window code and then turn into a low quality format so I can upload for a transcriber to download”
12 hours of footage will take a long time to compress with or with out a time code burn. And it will take extremely long for you to upload it, and for them to download it, even if it is highly compressed it is still 12 hours of footage.
The easy thing to do would be to, hook up your deck to a stand alone DVD recorder and set your deck to display time code. Then just make some DVD’s to send to them.
Compressing and uploading just seems like way to much work, and depending on where you up load it to you most likely wont be able to upload all of it. Even though it is compressed 12 hours will still take up a decent chunk of space.
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You could try using a codec other than H.264. A heavily compressed Sorenson 3 could encode faster than H.264. Not sure if that still holds true if you do the H.264 as one-pass. But it might be worth doing a speed comparison for a few different common codecs before committing to rendering that much footage.
– David
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Jeff,
Just curious, are you going to save so much money by outsourcing this job to India, that it’s really worth the extra work you have to do? Is it about something other than saving money…. like maybe this is the best transcriber you’ve ever used, or the interviews are in Hindi?
I would think there are lots of efficient, and thus cost effective transcribers right near you in L.A.
Regards,
David -
Hi David:
You are probably right, that there are cost-effective transcribers who could do a great or superior job here in LA. But I don’t know where they are.
I do know you’re going to pay $120 to $150 at most transcription shops around town, and when you have 20 hours to transcribe, that’s going to be $2400 to $3000, whereas by going to India, I pay 1/3rd of that, which is a savings I appreciate when my total budget is only $15,000 or $25,000 for the job.
As far as the “extra work” I have to do — what extra work? I guess if I were doing it in LA, I could make video or DVD rushes and mail it to the place here, rather than upload. But the local places accept ftp upload as well.
I just shot 12 hours of interviews over the weekend and it took me one and a half days to capture, put timecode, render a quick and dirty h264, and upload. (All this work took place in the background while I did other stuff on my computer.) By Tuesday, the job was in India, I get the full transcript back this Friday, and start work on Saturday. And the price is probably a fourth of what I would have to pay here, considering what rush charges most places around here add for rush turnaround.
But if you find a cheap reliable transcriber here in LA who can turn things around fast, I’m all ears!
Cheers,
Jeff -
I’m sure nobody is going to meet those prices.
I’ve used someone in California who is very good. Fast and inexpensive, by American standards. Heather Larsen: hjlarsen@sbcglobal.net
As for your workflow question. Just wanted to give an example of a different approach:
I’m doing a pro bono project at the moment and needed some translation work. Got a former Peace Corp member who knows the language to help out, but I’m in New Jersey and she’s in Utah. We’re using the cataloging program, CatDV, which builds small preview files from your digitized footage with timecode intact. She’s using the software’s “Verbatim Logger” feature to type into (while watching the preview clip from within the program) and can capture timecode with a single keystroke. I own the program, and the very nice folks at Squarebox Software granted us a temporary license for my translater.
Regards,
David
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