[Drea Solan]

Thanks for that clarification, Dave!

Last clarification (promise!): So after ProRes 422 re-rendering is complete in FCP, use Export QT Movie and choose self-contained QT movie. Do you recommend deselecting the Recompress All Frames option and choosing Current Settings from the Setting pop-up menu?

Thank you,
Drea

[Drea Solan]

Thanks so much for the last bits of info, Richard and Dave. I think I’m close here!

Actually the project I need to get out the door immediately is about 90 minutes in length so I can focus on that for now. It is comprised of about 60 minutes of DV footage from 2 cameras with blends and text overlays, as well as about 20-30 minutes of still image slideshows (Ken Burns effect with cross-fades). The afore-mentioned DV/DVCPRO compressor setting is specified in the timeline sequence settings.

To clarify:

1) Do I export as is with the current sequence settings then? From this thread I’m hearing that I resort to a ProRes Export when:
a) I have introduced multiple video codecs in the same timeline sequence -> the camera footage is all in DV/DVCPRO (though are the still images of consideration here?)
or
b) Per Dave’s entry: “If you have anything in your edit timeline that requires editing, … Change the edit timeline’s codec to ProRes 422, export a self-contained quicktime movie from FCP, and use it in Compressor.”-> So I believe this is my situation given all of my transitions, camera blends and text overlays, as well as the still image slideshows. Am I looking at this properly?

2) DV/DVCPRO or ProRes aside, do you recommend exporting from FCP as self-contained QT movie or using the Export using Compressor option?

Yes, I’m new to Compressor/DVDStudio Pro but I’ve done a couple of tests and the bare bones best practices to follow seem pretty straightforward, especially as I hear them further echoed in this thread. It looks like I’m just stuck on the “getting it out of FCP” step (Don’t know why I got hung up on the H.264 either!)

I appreciate your help!

– Drea

[Drea Solan]

Thanks for the reply and the link to the bit rate calculator. Can you expand a bit on your 3 bullet point instructions?

1) “Export your sequence to a quicktime file, use the same codec as your timeline codec. So no transcoding here.”

Are you advising that I always just ensure that this compressor setting matches my source clips and then export as is? (It is currently set to DV/DVCPRO-NTSC). I had previously changed this to H.264 and re-rendered the entire project then exported (does it matter where this transcoding is done, i.e. FCP vs. Compressor)? When does using H.264 enter the scenario?

2) “Use compressor to make MPEG2 (video) and AC3 (sound) files from the export quicktime.”

Can you fill in a bit more of the details here. Is this where I specify the H.264 setting (or other algorithm)?

3) “Import the MPEG2 and AC3’s in DVDSP”

Ditto here.

Thank you!

[Drea Solan]

Thanks so much for your answer, Andy. This only makes too much sense to me too – you’ve got HD so use it. Create an HD project and burn to Blue Ray one day despite the immediate need of only a regular DVD. The wrench in the works for me is my older system – a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro (2GB RAM max). I can only assume this is a no go for proper HD editing. Correct?

This serious limitation, further bolstered by the belief that the target audience is not discriminating by any means (unless something is way off) I believe I’m forced into an SD environment from the get go. Your thoughts?

And thanks for your thorough answer once again, Kati.

Sorry, can you add a bit more clarity to the following:

…You can nest your HD timeline, and add blur in to nested clip and then edit the whole HD sequence into SD timeline. (FCP scales the HD sequence automatically). Then you can add the sharpening. And edit you SD stuff to the that sequence.

Can you further explain the steps involved here, specifically the beginning about nesting your HD timeline. I create an HD timeline to do this? What exactly do I do? Trying to understand where the HD and SD timelines come in.

Thanks a million!

– Drea

[Drea Solan]

Thanks for the last bit of info. I am stuck with Compressor 3.0.5 but I’ll give that a go. Feel free to provide some no fail quick tips on the settings I should use for that conversion.

I don’t think I saw anyone asking about converting using QuickTime Player. What about that as an option? I have QT 7 and QT 10.

And can you clarify, are you talking about downsampling the HD clips before they’re placed into an SD sequence in FCP or do you do all of your editing in an HD timeline in FCP and then export the final HD movie and downsample that in Compressor? I would think the latter if ever one wanted to use an HD version of their FCP project, however, I saw previous threads referring to dropping in HD clips within SD timelines in FCP, which would describe the workflow of the first scenario (regardless of whether using that app to downsample was a good idea or not).

Thanks.

[Drea Solan]

Wow, Kati, thanks for the great, thorough post, which I have since saved offline for future reference!

I’m not sure if I should start a new post for this since I’m asking about my particular project but further clarification of your last bit of advice should solve this so here goes.

In my current situation, I am limping along with FCP 6.06 on an older MacBook Pro and do not have access to After Effects. My DVD audience does not have high end expectations from the final piece, so I’m hoping that I can get very good to acceptable quality out of this. This is my first go with HD so can you fill in the blanks a bit for the specific steps involved with your recommendations for downsampling in FCP? Specifically:

You recommend applying Gaussian Blur with an amount of 1.2 to 1.5 before downscaling.

a. I assume this means the downscaling is done of just the raw HD footage (1920×1080 30p) vs. the final edited material? (I’ll be adding titles, transitions, and overlaying HD clips from 2 camera angles). I assume you are recommending adjusting the raw footage (I will also be sparingly blending in a few clips shot in SD so it would make sense to add this after the downsample).

b. What are the actual steps to take for downscaling in FCP? So far, I’ve dragged and dropped HD clips into an SD timeline – is that in fact the downscaling method recommended or is there another way? Do I create an HD timeline for all of my HD footage, add the blur, and then what?

c. Your answer to b. should then reveal when/where I add the unsharp mask (your recommendations: add a little amount of Unsharp Mask afterwards to get some sharpness back. Try amount of 20 to 30 and radius of 1.0.)

d. And if I follow the above recommendations of blur/downscale/unsharp mask (hopefully with further clarification from you), will the results be markedly better than if I just ran with dropping the raw HD clips into an SD timeline and editing away and exporting as QT movie and on to DVD? I’m trying to judge how bad the latter route would be given my audience’s expectations and how little time I have to complete the project (of course!)

e. And I just saw Andy’s post asking about your thoughts about using Compressor, which I have and Apple touts as the way to go in thisw workflow (https://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutstudio/workflows/index.html#chapter=5%26section=3%26hash=apple_ref:doc:uid:FinalCutStudio-Workflows-CH104-SW3).

Again, I’ve got an older MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, so anyone’s recommendations on what I can get away with given that factor is much appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
Drea

[Drea Solan]

Hey Nikola,

Can you further clarify your comments with regards to FCP 7? That is, if one wants to create and edit a FCP 7 project in SD for output to DVD, do you feel one can do just fine by merely dropping in HD footage clips (1920×1080 30p) into the SD timeline? Will the resulting exported material look better than if the original footage was shot in SD? So in this scenario is downsampling the HD clips via MPEG Streamclip beforehand nice but not required? Also, do you happen to know if the same applies to FCP 6.06?

Thanks a lot.