Need recommendations for file compression

Hello, all:

I work with a G4 Dual 1 GHz PowerPC with 1.5 GB of RAM, Mac 10.4.6, 80 MB storage and 500 MB of external storage, and FCP 3.0. I have captured about an hour's worth of video, reassembled, color corrected and added transitions, and I would now like to save on a DVD. I need to compress all video and audio onto a 4.7 GB DVD -R, and I don't want it consume hours upon hours of valuable computer time.

My question: what is the best format and compression settings that you recommend I use in order to compress an hour's worth of video efficiently and quickly and still be able to see the image fairly well on a DVD? FCP 3.0 lets me choose different formats (Quicktime, MPEG 4, etc.), different default settings (broadband, dialup, streaming), video settings (Compression H264, MPEG 4 video, JPEG video, etc.), export size settings and audio settings. I tried a couple of different combinations, such as compression type H.264 and compression size NTSC 720x480, but my computer politely informed me it would take 20 hours to save the file as a Quicktime movie.

For one thing, are you doing a video DVD or a data DVD?

If video DVD, are you using iDVD or DVD Studio Pro, or another method (eg. Toast) to burn the video DVD?


www.derekmok.com

Good question. I guess it is just a data DVD because I want the file to appear as a Quicktime movie that someone can just click on and open up. Once the file is saved in Quicktime, I just want drag onto the DVD, then burn it using the computer's DVD burner.

> I guess it is just a data DVD because I want the file to appear as a Quicktime movie

Okay, that's important information. Aside from data rates, you also have to know the specs of the computers that are going to be playing the file. For example, an H.264 QuickTime movie will have good quality at lower file sizes, but PCs and any Mac not equipped with QuickTime Player 7 will not be able to play it.

Some good cross-platform codecs include MPEG-4 and Sorenson 3. Photo JPEG will give you higher file sizes. MPEG-1 is the guaranteed playable format, but I don't think any current FCP/QuickTime tool gives you that option.

I'd recommend this first: Render all effects, perform an Audio Mixdown, and then export as a full-quality self-contained QuickTime movie. If you're working in DV, that will come to 13GB -- too large for a data DVD. However, once you have the movie file, you no longer have to tie up Final Cut Pro to do the export; you can drop the movie file into Compressor or open it with QuickTime Player and do the export in the background.

As for the export times, I'm afraid you're kind of stuck there because of your processor speed. Like I said, though, if you have a self-contained movie file of your edit, then you can move it easily to another station (eg. a friend's G5) using a FireWire drive, and do the conversion there.


www.derekmok.com

a file that people can just click on and play isnt that simple.
for starters if you want them to play it of a dvd disc, then it cant have a data rate any higher than a dvd.
then there's the question of what platform they're on, windows or mac.

my experience has been its very simple to make a dvdv, and it's a very universal format.
almost everyone can play a dvd.

i guess you don't have DVD Studio Pro,
but you could still make a DVD in iDVD, or even Toast, if you have that

export a Final Cut Pro movie (that;s the terminology of FCP3, they changed the name to QuickTime movie in FCP4)
and make your DVD from that.


nick