[Craig Seeman]

One could download the free trial of FCPX and then download the ProApps Codecs. When the FCPX trial ends, the codecs remain usable. If one wanted to buy something and get the codecs you could buy Apple Compressor for $50 rather than FCPX for $299. That might be especially useful since it seems you’re primary interested in using something for compression (MPEGStreamclip).

Compressor has become a very good H.264 encoder as well. Apple’s recent improvement may make it almost as good as x264 (and better than MainConcept from what I’ve heard). Compressor is IntelQuickSync too.

[Craig Seeman]

That would be it. You can download it direct from Apple’s site as well.

[Craig Seeman]

Either the menu Final Cut Pro > Download Additional Content or check the App Store and it would appear as an Update.

[Craig Seeman]

I looked at your Media Encoder version and it looks like it hits Vimeo specs.

My hunch is, unfortunately, that the problem might be on Vimeo’s encoding.
I see it struggles between the character’s skin and the animation backgrounds which have flat blocks of color. You’re own encode looks good and it doesn’t seem bit starved in any way that would make those frames worse off.

I think their encoder may be facing problems trying to handle two extremes in a single frame, parts of solids (background) and subtle gradient detail (skin) as well as the edging.

You may want to bring this up in Vimeo’s support forum.

I can post the specific frames where it’s easy to see the problems and you can show them but I’m not sure if you want me to post your before and after frames which make the problem clear.

[Craig Seeman]

You route the audio the way you need for delivery.

Telestream Episode has a Channel Mapper if you need.

[Craig Seeman]

I downloaded what Vimeo identified as your source file from your “following vimeo guidelines” link.
The data rate is certainly extremely high at about 185.5Mbps. It’s 1080p25
But it’s not CABAC and it’s Main not High Profile.

It looks like it might be all I frame as well as opposed to a GOP (IBP with an I frame once per second) so that’s not the most efficient use of bits.

Maybe I don’t have the correct source file but this file wouldn’t be Vimeo Guidelines.
I’m looking at bae-test-01.

[Craig Seeman]

Vimeo Guidelines for those who need the reference.
https://vimeo.com/help/compression

For 720p25
10,000 kbps
CABAC
High Profile
1 KeyFrame/s

[Craig Seeman]

Ideally compressors may need to be tweaked for animation because there’s large expanses of similar colors.

Handbrake might offer you more control but someone with animation experience might know the specifics. A long while back I had a friend who was the compressionist at the Cartoon Network and he said it would take hours of testing to come up with a custom setting.

Of course Vimeo and YouTube bulk encode so no matter how good you do, they’ll butcher it.

You could try uploading a ProRes version but I’m not sure if that would really be an advantage.

Also it’s not clear what settings you actually used. I had to make assumptions and even when you say “Vimeo guidelines” I can’t be sure you’ve interpreted them correctly. Of course I think their guidelines are for “live action” more so than your live/animation mix.

I do think you should have a look at Handbrake but keep in mind there’s little you can do to prevent the Online Butcher, if that’s where the problem lies.

[Craig Seeman]

There are some variables tied to frame size and frame rate but otherwise the variations would be small.
You should read Apple’s White Paper. Pages 21 and 22 for specifics on data rates.

https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/Apple_ProRes_White_Paper.pdf

[Craig Seeman]

Personally, as a rule handed down from the camera maker gods. Always copy the entire card intact.
You would no more pull files from a folder than you would rip the tape out of a cassette to copy it.
Various NLEs need the metadata intact to properly import.
In fact, I’d even avoid hand copying files since there’s no parity check. If you’re not going to use Sony Software to make the copy, you’d want to use something like Shotput Pro.

Sure they’ll be a score of people of who say they copy by hand and never had a problem… except you see posts often enough of the one person who lost key files. It’s like driving without a seatbelt, It’s fine until the one day you get into an accident. If you’re doing professional work, your job is to avoid the accident.