Whats the best compression software for delivery video to the web?

[Chris Poisson]

Travis,

Take a look at Sorenson Squeeze Suite or Compression Master 3. The later is at popwire.com. Also, this article is hugely helpful.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/qt_movies_from_fcp.html

[Travis Watkins]

Thanks a lot! This article is awesome, exactly what I needed.

[Gunner Jones]

Why not use Compressor? It works great and it’s free. Distributed Encoding ROCKS!

[Chris Poisson]

Gunner,

Wouldn’t you agree that Compressor is somewhat limited as to file formats? The other two make just about anything, plus have a gazillion presets for the Web.

[Pdr]

Hi Chris

Compressor can output to ANY format QuickTime can.
You can make your own presets — I do it all the time.

I make up folders of presets, and drag them onto Compressor sequences, and set them running.

The best part of Compressor is encoding directly from the timeline; footage does not need to be rendered into DV first, and thus with no intermediate encoding, results are better.

Regards
Peter

—
Peter Dominic Ryan – Freelance Editor
raycity* media – pdr@raycity.com

PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz, 4GB, Mac OS X 10.4
FCP HD 4.5, Motion 1.01, DVD SP 4

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Peter,

Could you elaborate a bit on how you set up presets for Compressor?

Good to know, but it still doesn’t do Windows media or Real files, no?

[Pdr]

Hi Chris

I will answer your second question first, regarding exporting Windows Media and Real format files.

I think one of the most powerful things about QuickTime is that it is not a media format, but rather a media architecture that allows addition of different formats via way of modules. Developers can literally produce a module to allow QuickTime to export media of any kind of format.

As such, it is possible to export Windows Media and Real format files; all you need to do is install the modules to allow this. And luckily, these modules exist!

[Pdr]

Hi Chris

I will answer your second question first, regarding exporting Windows Media and Real format files.

I think one of the most powerful things about QuickTime is that it is not a media format, but rather a media architecture that allows addition of different formats via way of modules. Developers can literally produce a module to allow QuickTime to export media of any kind of format.

As such, it is possible to export Windows Media and Real format files; all you need to do is install the modules to allow this. And luckily, these modules exist!

[Pdr]

As an addendum to my previous post, I have finally been able to clear the decks, and install the Final Cut Studio monolith that has been siting on my desk for a week. I have been reviewing the Compressor 2 documentation, and have come across an exciting new feature: QuickTime Export Component Output.

Whilst I have not as yet had the chance to experiment with this feature, at first glance it would appear that third-party extensions enabled in QuickTime (eg. Windows Media, Real Media) can now be accessed via the Compressor workflow. For me this (thankfully) signals the final death knell for Discreet Cleaner, and allows much more flexibility and ease of workflow for those of us that do a lot of cross platform output.

It also appears that the Dolby Digital Professional format (also known as AC-3) encoding has also been integrated with Compressor 2. Now there is no need to separately encode from Final Cut Pro to AIFF to AC-3 (via A.Pack) to DVD Studio Pro. All, one step encoding via Compressor now, and best of all, this can be built as part of a greater collection of settings, or job.

Imagine: encoding a sequence, in one batch, from Final Cut Pro or Motion to QuickTime, AC-3, MPEG2, HD-DVD, Windows Media, Real Media and H264! All in one step, and all without intermediate transcoding. An incredible promise, so let’s hope it works as expected. Good news all round!

Back to install disc #5!

Regards
Peter

—
Peter Dominic Ryan – Freelance Editor
raycity* media – pdr@raycity.com

PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz, 4GB, Mac OS X 10.4
FCP HD 4.5, Motion 1.01, DVD SP 4

[Chris Poisson]

Wow!

This is one of the most informative posts I’ve seen here. Thanks Peter.