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Quicktime Movie
I am editing SD PAL DV footage (video and also JPEG stills & Live Type Graphics) with FCP on a DV timeline. My first question is; when I export the finished movie from FCP to a ‘self contained’ QT movie (not QT conversion), does it compress or change the quality in any way when it converts it to a QT MOV? So, is there any difference in sending the QT mov to compressor V’s exporting direct to Compressor from the timeline?
Secondly, My goal is to make a DVD from this project, and I have access to compressor / DVDSP & Cinema Craft SP2 encoder… which would end up being the best quality video??
1. FCP export direct to Compressor
(2 pass VBR) from the timeline, then DVDSP or Toast (no re-encode)2. FCP export QT movie, then to iDVD (2 pass professional settings)
3 FCP export QT movie, then compress to Mpeg2 with CCE SP2 (2 or more pass VBR), then DVDSP or Toast (no re-encode)
Regards
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4 Replies
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Martin,
Don’t sweat, forget about the three scenarios you’ve written, and just stick to the following:
1. After you finish editing your DV timeline, go to Sequence>>Settings and under Quicktime Video Settings change the Compressor in the dropdown to Apple ProRes 422.
2. Now re-render the sequence.
What you’ve just done eliminates the compression horrors of DV’s 4:0:1 color space on your text and graphics, ultimately doing more for you final DVD than anything else you were contemplating.
3. Next, export a self-contained QT. A QT movie using “current settings” is identical to what is on your timeline, with no added compression step. This one will be ProRes, because when you change the Compressor in Sequence settings it both compresses and exports files using the codec you set there.
4. Import the QT file into Compressor and use the “Best Quality DVD” preset that that most closely matches the length of your project.
5. Use the separate encoded audio and video files from Compressor in DVDSP to author your DVD.
Sure, there are various and sundry tweaks in Compressor that might yield a a 2% improvement in quality, but you’re not going to make any quantum gains by over-thinking DVD encoding. FCS2 is a a mature product and the presets included with Compressor are very good and just fine for almost any video. You’d do a lot better to spend your time mastering Color and applying great color correction to your projects than worrying about the fine points of DVD encoding.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Thanks David.
I knew I could rely on you!
Regards
Martin
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David, re the export QT movie from FCP to Compressor having no compression, in the Compressor manual, it says that doing that way creates ‘generational loss’ and is less prefered than exporting direct from the FCP timeline to compressor..
What do they mean by that? and is it noticeable?
Regards
Martin
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It is generally acknowledged that a self contained QT at current settings, made without the “recompress frames” button checked is “identical” to what you have on the timeline. Exporting using any other method does indeed introduce a recompression step.
Exporting to Compressor directly from the timeline has some advantages and some disadvantages, the chief disadvantage being that both FCP and the person editing are both tied-up during the entire operation. After careful evaluation, I have determined that, at least for me, in most cases I would prefer to free FCP and keep editing. I think you’ll find over time that any difference is not worth the time to consider.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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