sequence settings:quicktime compression question

[Brian Miller]

Can anybody tell me what exactly is being changed if you change the quicktime video settings within the sequence settings menu? after you have already established a sequence!

the codec of the sequence is being changed. you can change it to whatever you want, although as a general rule set it the same as your footage

Will this setting effect what your project becomes when you make a .mov? or does it only reflect what you see within the FCP timeline?

well you can export two ways – same as source or change the codec. so it depends!

I know that you cannot change the editing timebase after you have already established a sequence that you have a project in and it seems that you ARE able to make some changes with the sequence settings menu.

If a mistake was made at the beginning….established an editing timebase that is standard NTSC when the footage was shot at 24p…..what effect will this have on the final project??

but what you can do is make a new sequence with the correct settings (native to your source), then copy from your incorrect sequence and paste into the new one.

[Joe Jennings]

Thanks for the info.
I went a head and copied and pasted into another project with the sequence settings matching the footage that i shot. From playback i cannot tell any difference between the two. Why is this? And if the final product is going to be a DVD, isn’t the timebase going to play at the standard NTSC anyway??? (what it’s compressed to)

And if you can change the codec when you export, why does it matter if the codec in the timeline doesnt match what you shot? especially when you can change it back when compressing. Is there quality loss with that?
Just curious. I know there are ways of doing things, and standard procedure is just that, but i am curious to know what the difference would be.

And i cannot figure out why there is a need to double compress? I am creating the .mov reference movie in FCP and exporting it. I then use compressor to make the codec that is for the dvd. Then after I import the assets in dvd studio pro, when the project builds and burns….isn’t it compressing again?? why?? is there quality loss with this workflow?

any additional info you might be able to add?
thanks
joe

[Brian Miller]

I went a head and copied and pasted into another project with the sequence settings matching the footage that i shot. From playback i cannot tell any difference between the two. Why is this? And if the final product is going to be a DVD, isn’t the timebase going to play at the standard NTSC anyway??? (what it’s compressed to)

sometimes the subtleties of different codecs is hard to discern with the naked eye which is why it make look the same. also, if you try to bring in a 23.98 file into DVD studio pro, it either won’t accept it or it will convert it to 29.97.

And if you can change the codec when you export, why does it matter if the codec in the timeline doesnt match what you shot? especially when you can change it back when compressing. Is there quality loss with that?
Just curious. I know there are ways of doing things, and standard procedure is just that, but i am curious to know what the difference would be.

let me use an example i typically encounter. say i get footage that is all native pro res. i build my sequence as a pro res sequence with the same frame rate and frame size and my footage. now when i drop footage into the timeline, there is no need to render (unless you add effects). that’s why you match sequence settings to sources. so let’s say the client doesn’t have time for me ship a HDCAM tape, so instead they want an h.264 posted on an FTP site. Then i would export the file from my pro res sequence as an h.264. yes there will be some loss as h264 is not as good of a codec as pro res.

And i cannot figure out why there is a need to double compress? I am creating the .mov reference movie in FCP and exporting it. I then use compressor to make the codec that is for the dvd. Then after I import the assets in dvd studio pro, when the project builds and burns….isn’t it compressing again?? why?? is there quality loss with this workflow?

you say you are going to compressor after you come from FCP in order to get it to a certain codec. that codec should be available in FCP so there is no need, you should just eliminate this step. can you tell me what codec you are using in compressor? yes there is quality loss when you encode the asset through Studio Pro, that is why it’s imperative to give Studio Pro the best quality possible source file from which to encode…here is a workflow tip. cut with the footage at the frame rate you ultimately need it to be. this might mean FIRST converting 23.98 footage to 29.97 through compressor -or even better use Shake- and keep the codec the same as the source.

[Joe Jennings]

you say you are going to compressor after you come from FCP in order to get it to a certain codec. that codec should be available in FCP so there is no need, you should just eliminate this step. can you tell me what codec you are using in compressor? yes there is quality loss when you encode the asset through Studio Pro, that is why it’s imperative to give Studio Pro the best quality possible source file from which to encode…here is a workflow tip. cut with the footage at the frame rate you ultimately need it to be. this might mean FIRST converting 23.98 footage to 29.97 through compressor -or even better use Shake- and keep the codec the same as the source.

I am using the dvd best quality 90 min codec…. mpeg-2 6.2 Mbps 2-pass with aiff audio on a dvd-5.
How do you eliminate this step? Is it when you create the .mov file? or do you have to do something else?
I apologize for the elementary questions, it has been sometime and I am diving back into it.

Also… If dvd studio pro will not recognize 23.98, then if i leave my sequence settings ‘editing timebase’ the same as it is already…29.97, that eliminates the need to change it when compressing right?

I shot on canon xl h1s. 24p …(1440X1080) HDV footage. Shot on HDV tape, so there is automatic compression going on correct?? From what i understand the compression that HDV uses is mpeg-2? So when you compress a codec into the same codec, all you are doing is making the file size smaller???

I am making some training videos for dvd and the web. I know that i will have to use a different codec for both mediums.

I am not familiar with shake. I has come up in many articles/forums that i read in. Is it’s main purpose to do as you stated…. first converting movie files before you edit?

Would that mean I would take the movie files from the scratch disc folder and put all that into compressor (or Shake) and compress before i import the footage into FCP?

My ultimate goal with the training videos that are to be used on dvd, is to get the best possible quality and to fit all the footage onto one standard dvd. I have approx. a total of 2 hr and 45min of footage but the longest project will be no more than 40min of footage on one dvd. I am going to bundle the dvd’s into a multiple disc package.