Using Compressor to Encode HD content for Vimeo or ?

I wrote this article which, because of the many graphics, I couldn't just attach to this. However, I have gotten much good feedback and it may help some of you.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/vimeo...or_douglas.html

Steve

Hi Steve

Thanks for the tutorial. I know I should know better by now as I've had my Mac for nearly 18 months, but it taught me some new tricks in Compressor! Just for info - do you ever export directly from FCP into compressor (Export to Compressor), or do you always make a self contained QT file and then import that into Compressor? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Cheers, Simon

Hi Steve

 

Thanks for the tutorial. I know I should know better by now as I've had my Mac for nearly 18 months, but it taught me some new tricks in Compressor! Just for info - do you ever export directly from FCP into compressor (Export to Compressor), or do you always make a self contained QT file and then import that into Compressor? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

 

Cheers, Simon

One of the main practical advantages I have found with self contained is speed. Final Cut does not use the processors fully, while you can set up virtual clusters for Compressor to use. Ultimately can save alot of time, especially if you are going to do a couple of encodes, for instance the m2v is not quite to your liking or you want to make an iPod version, a web version and a DVD version. If using HDV with corrections really makes a big difference (still speed increase with AIC and ProRes though). Some other practical issues, with the cost of hard drives dropping it is good to hold onto some finished projects and not worry about missing render files that have been deleted. If any frame controls are adjusted in Compressor setting, even bigger speed increase with virtual clusters.

The big plus for direct from Final Cut is that some things are sent directly without being degraded, though I have found using a good codec offsets this. For instance if you were in a timeline and added text - if you sent straight from Final Cut to Compressor the text would hold up better than encoding as self contained DV.

I may run into something from time-to-time where I will switch things up to see if I can get better results, and sometimes I send things straight from timeline, for longer things self contained works out better.

Thanks Drew - I've heard people say that sending to Compressor from the timeline degrades quality and I've heard others say that it improves quality! Whenever I've tried a comparison I've found it hard to see any difference at all. Nice to know that there isn't a huge leap either way - horses for courses I guess

Cheers, Simon

Hey Simon,

I never export from FC to Compressor as then there is a rendering done as you are really exporting a reference movie. I have always found that self contained movies work best for me and using them does not tie up my system. While Compressor is doing its thing, I can still work in FC.

Steve

Yeah it seems so obvious and makes perfect sense to me now - I really don't want to think of the amount of time I've sat there watching the frame counter tick over into the 1,000's waiting for FCP to come to life for me again!

Cheers, Simon

Hey Real Drew,

When Snow Leopard comes out, one of the most important features is that it will allow all your cores to be used properly thus speeding up most everything. They are dragging their tails in its release but it should be a good one. I was disappointed in Leopard as most of the features are not really useful to me but to be able to take full advantage of your computers cpus should be exceptional. Of course, once it is released, I will buy it but wait to install. Let other's find the bugs. I especially wait when new QTs come up and out.

Steve

Hey Real Drew,

When Snow Leopard comes out, one of the most important features is that it will allow all your cores to be used properly thus speeding up most everything. They are dragging their tails in its release but it should be a good one. I was disappointed in Leopard as most of the features are not really useful to me but to be able to take full advantage of your computers cpus should be exceptional. Of course, once it is released, I will buy it but wait to install. Let other's find the bugs. I especially wait when new QTs come up and out.

Steve

And as for installing a new OS, well that is why I have a few computers and partitions myself, usually try it on non critical machines/laptops then sort of bring it in. Right now I am up to OS 8.6 As to QuickTime, no doubt as to that. I actually never do updates untiil I run into issues or really need whatever is being brought to the table. My old main machine which I still use is at 10.4.5 and will not change (though I do have a 10.4.11 partition on it.)

Snow Leopard should be cool for things like that, except I though with Final Cut is a Final Cut thing as much as an OS thing - they can get all cores a churning with the virtual clusters and things like bitVice also hit the CPUs pretty heavy.

As to Leopard, yeah it is kind of nice looking, but like most of any of the OSes I just care if it works - I rarely play with all the little gizmos and what nots, just launch my Apps and go

Start playing with thee Intensity yet?

Yep, they sent me the Intensity Pro and the Matrox MXO2. I should start writing them up this week. At this point, I think I prefer the MXO2 but much more to come and test.

Steve

It's not just about how many cores is utilized. There's a limitation in the system bus since transcoding is data movement. All eight cores in use will still be clogged down by the bus. One has to optimize based on available RAM as well, as each cluster demands its own cache. Once you hit page out memory access, you may as well go buy a powerpc G5.

Hey, Steve, I use basically the same settings except for "frame controls". What are the reasons for that? How these settings affect the outcome. Massively or just a bit? Is it just the size, or can it improve the image quality?

I find a lot of vimeo clips in perfect quality, however I could not find the perfect setting for my videos, they always downgrade a lot!

I don`t mind sending a 500mb clip as long as it is better quality.

Best to You all,

P!

P...Sorry not to have gotten back to this sooner. Final Cut Pro pretty much guesses at the frame rate, it looks at one frame and speculates on the next. The Frame Control actually comes from Shake and it calculates pixel by pixel the tween images, which results in a higher quality. Of course, this is at the expense of longer render times.

Steve

Steve, I have learned never to question why you choose what settings. I just wanted to publicly let you know that I tried out your Vimeo settings and they're amazing. Thanks again for posting this.

Now, I just have a bunch of stuff to re-upload now. =)

P...Sorry not to have gotten back to this sooner. Final Cut Pro pretty much guesses at the frame rate, it looks at one frame and speculates on the next. The Frame Control actually comes from Shake and it calculates pixel by pixel the tween images, which results in a higher quality. Of course, this is at the expense of longer render times.

Steve

I know I found that out a couple of days ago.... my god!!! changing that one setting makes a huge difference to render times.... but the quality is noticeably better.

Thanks Steve

Thanks Steve, I have done a little test and it looks a little better, especially on sharp edges.

Maybe You know a site where to look for explanation on other features of frame controls settings, eg resize filter, deatails level etc... What levels should be used? Why You didn`t set deinterlace to "best" and "resize filter" as well? Because of size or time to compress?

Piotr

There are many good editing sites for the Mac world of editors. I am not PC literate myself. I write for the www.kenstone.net website and then my articles are usually published on the www.lafcpug.org website a few weeks later. I have been asked to write a series of columns on video for Asian Diver Magazine which I have been writing for for the last several years, but most of these articles will be for newbies. Other websites are Izzyvideo.com and 2-pop.com 2 pop was the original fcp website when version 1 was released and no one knew how to do anything with it as there were no books or supplemental dvds and such. Of the tutorial dvds on the market, I recommend Ripple Trainings DVD on anything FC Studio. Some of the other brands are good but Ripple's are top notch.

Since I do not know what you are shooting with or what format, it is hard for me to answer your questions. I am going to, therefore, assume you are shooting interlaced footage and making a Standard Definition DVD since not many have Blu ray yet and Toshiba's HD went the way of the Allosaurus. So, since you would be producing a SD DVD, which is interlaced, why would you try to deinterlace it? Makes no point or purpose.

I never like rendering times but I am happy to wait if it will give me the best final output, thus the best image.

Steve

ps. The more I know, the more I realize how much I don't know. That's the absolute truth.