[John Pale]

i dont think so…as I understand it, your render files are not used…thus everything is re-rendered frame by frame into MPEG2…thats why it takes so long.
This is written up in the Compressor manual…I could be interpreting it incorrectly, but I think I am right.

[John Pale]

Whether I am right or wrong, its a horribly designed webpage that is totally unclear…just too much info and not very well explained.
Anyway, like Walter, I downloaded the free version and it works just fine for FREE.

[John Pale]

Export your timeline as a Quicktime reference movie (Export/Quicktime Movie–uncheck “Make Self Contained”). Drag the resulting file into Compressor. It will compress MUCH faster that way.

Using the “Export to Compressor” command within FCP ignores your existing render files and renders your timeline directly to MPEG2. This is theoretically cleaner, but takes vastly longer. In most of the stuff I have done I cannot see a difference in quality (I work only in Uncompressed), so I would say it isnt worth the extra time in many cases. If its a DV timeline, it may improve your effects a bit.

Also, I have seen the time estimated for completion be completely wrong…it often incorrectly factors in the audio processing as taking the same amount of time as the video, when in reality it only takes a few seconds.

[John Pale]

Bob,
You are usually dead on about everything but you are wrong about this.
The $49.99 shareware product is “Stuffit Standard”, which includes the tools to create archives as well as decompress them.
Stuffit Expander is a free download as always. Click the Green Download button under the red word free and you will see for yourself.

John

[John Pale]

“Will AJA downloads, including AJA Kona System Test be offered as these native files, so we don’t have to purchase StuffIt for Tiger? ”

Stuffit Expander is a free download.

https://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/index.html

[John Pale]

A .Mac account and your iDisk can serve this purpose, but you may be able to find something cheaper.

[John Pale]

You cant mix resolutions without rendering except with the Cinewave card (which Pinnacle will now abandon, now that is has been aquired by Avid).

[John Pale]

The Io is nothing more than a breakout box of input output connections..it adds no acceleration. You can play uncompressed video over firewire without it., if your computer is fast enough. It works. try it.

[John Pale]

“No you cannot play uncompressed video out firewire”

Have you tried it? I am doing it right now. It works on a G5. Apple Uncompressed 8 bit codec. No joke.

[John Pale]

I think -31 should still be okay for you. As I understand it, -31, essentially leaves your audio level untouched from the original AIFF file, where the default -27 setting reduces your overall audio level. This is why you often have to jack up the audio on ‘Hollywood’ dvds to hear the dialog (though the effects then blow you out of your chair), which are mastered using this setting.