Importing from FCP

Hello:

I am using FCP 4.5. I am looking for the best way to export to Quicktime (or whatever works) for iinternet use. I am looking to export a 7 minute clip and wish to keep as much quality as possible using as little space as possible.

any suggetions?

thanks,
Michael

Sorry I mean Eporting from FCP

> I am using FCP 4.5. I am looking for the best way to export to Quicktime (or whatever
> works) for internet use. I am looking to export a 7 minute clip and wish to keep as much
> quality as possible using as little space as possible.

The question's too broad. Are you targeting PC users, Mac users, or both? For PCs, you can't assume they'll have QuickTime Player or the up-to-date codecs, so using H.264 may present problems. If you want PC friendly, WMVs and Flash movies are the safest. When you say "as little space", how "little" are you talking about? Are you talking about 100MB or 10MB?

You gotta give us more detail.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for that...I am targetting both PC and Mac. Because of my websight size limitations, I am looking to keep the 7 minute clips below 25MB (if possable)

Michael

I have clips averaging four to five minutes on my website at file sizes between 8-12MB. MPEG-4s at 320x240, 500 kbps, 29.97fps, audio at 64kbps, Mono 44.1kHz. Also WMV versions exported using Flip4Mac, 320x240 One Pass VBR, 70-80 Quality, Progressive Out, audio 64 kbps, Stereo 44.1kHz. Results were pretty good. You're aiming at file sizes double mine, but slightly longer clips, so in your case I'd probably raise the video quality settings a little.

Final Cut Pro 5 and QuickTime 7 have better MPEG-4 codecs (I used them at work -- smaller files and better quality compared with what I export at home), as well as H.264, which has been universally praised.

Many people on here -- Wayne, Joey -- have recommend encoding in Flash. They might jump in any minute now...or send you to the FAQ.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for that....I'm saving up for FCP 5

boy derek, you can sure smell me coming!

yeah michael, im pretty much the unofficial flash cheerleader here - i choose it because of the following reasons:

1. the flash player is (from my experience) the most widely available media player out there (both pc and mac). ive only seen like maybe 5 computers in the last 3 years that couldnt play back a flash movie. in fact i recently pulled teh sorensons down off my site because even my mom on her wonky dialup connection could play the flash videos

2. the quality to file size ratio is pretty much the best out there. h.264 often looks much better but results in MUCH larger file size. sorenson looks a bit better but also results in noticeably larger file sizes. also, ive had probably a half dozen folks lately who's browsers didnt have the appropriate plugin to play these two.

3. there are a lot more design options for integrating them into a web page.

here is a site that im doing that is nothing but flash movies:
[h2obo.net]
we intentionally keep the quality of the export set to "moderate" as this site is more about the content than the image quality. but the clips still maintain a [reasonable] quality overall. the 300k versions are 402x225 and come in at about 2 meg per minute

Hello Wayne:

Thanks for the flash tip. I downloaded Adobe Flash Palyer 9....My next question is how do I get my time line to export to Flash??

Michael

thats a good question. and there are about 6 different answers. in older versions of FCP (yours may be included) there was a built in FLV export. and if you own flash pro, there is a standalone FLV/SWF output module (ive seen it mess up a few times though).

then there are a number of dedicated commercial apps for doing it:

sorenson compression suite will export flash (and million other formats).
its about $450 - [www.sorensonmedia.com]
sorenson also makes a flash only exporter, "squeeze for flash", but its $250 and if you ask me, i say if youre gonna buy that, go ahead and pony up another $200 and get the full suite and youre covered for just about any format out there.

the one i use is the flix exporter from on2. they have a number of different versions that are very reasonably priced. [flix.on2.com]
they have a bare bones version for $39, a plug in module for FCP for $199 and a full featured suite for $250. i have the full suite, just because it did a few things the lower priced one doesnt.

in my opinion, the On2 products are the best flash exporters out there...

as a side note, if you own dreamweaver (newest version) it has flash import features that do several of the things the $39 version of flix doesnt do.

if you can get me your movie(s) (FTP, FED EX, ECT) id be happy to export them for you.

Hello Wayne

thank you for all that... I am using FCP HD 4.5 I actually had success with Dereks mp4 recipe. It is not looking great but the 7 minutes was only 9.4 MB, so I may have room to pick up the frame rate. I don;t see a built in FLV in export menu but I did find FLC- not sure what that is but will try it.

I checked out i the flix.on2 it looks great and necesary for serious internet work and thanks for the offer to export... For Right now I think I am OK with the FCP Ouput.

Cheers,
Michael