Need help w/Compressor issue - jobs not processing

Mac Pro 10.4.11
Compressor 3.0.3

I'm sending a 35 gig file that I ripped from a DVD to compressor to convert it to DV-NTSC.

When I send the job through, all the 'history' window says is "unknown time remaining" and it refuses to budge.

What's going on? How can I get this conversion rolling? Is there some magic set of preferences that I can trash? I need to get this file converted tonight, and I haven't got time to stop down & reinstall the whole FCP suite, and my fear is that this involves that idiotic Q-master thing somehow.

Anyone got any ideas? Or links to possible solutions? I've tried searching for "Compressor not processing" and some variants and I keep coming up with more off-topic results then I can manage.

Thanks -

Jeff

If you're in a hurry, why not just use QuickTime Player or MPEG Streamclip to do the export? You haven't really given us enough information to troubleshoot Compressor. What is the file's original codec? What settings did you choose for the conversion?


www.derekmok.com

>I'm sending a 35 gig file that I ripped from a DVD to compressor to convert it to DV-NTSC.

That's a little cryptic. We definitely need a lot more information. What program are you using to rip the DVD? Did you just copy the VOB files?

The FAQ is a great resource to check out...
[www.lafcpug.org]



www.strypesinpost.com

that's odd.. 35G from a DVD.

you must have already converted it to some form of video:
animation, or uncompressed, perhaps?

a simple down-convert of this to DV would be pretty easy to do in FCP,
(unless there is a frame rate conversion involved)

OR simply rip to DV NTSC.

anyway none of these suggestions really answer your question as to why Compressor isn't working.
that is a bit of a mystery


nick

Sorry about the cryptic-ness... was under the gun & racing to get a piece out.

I did my conversion Derek's way -- I just used Quicktime itself to convert my footage.

The file I started with was ripped from a DVD using DVDxDV, and came in at "uncompressed 8 bit", the default settings. Then, an hour later, I learned an even more valuable lesson - that the default settings can be tweaked to match my FCP timeline settings, and causing imported footage files to appear in much more reasonable file sizes.

So, immediate problem solved!

There still is the larger mystery of Compressor stalling out, and I'll try testing it later today on some smaller jobs to see if it's specific to my files, or if it's a general compressor problem.

What I did was this: Took the 35 gig uncompressed 8-bit quicktime, and applied the DV/DV-NTSC preset to it. Hit 'submit', then watched as nothing happened.

Any theories as to why compressor would gum up like that? Is there a source file size limit?

Here's another thing. When you're extracting files from a DVD, you should avoid doing such a large chunk. At 35GB, Uncompressed 8-bit NTSC, you were extracting around 30 minutes in one go. Not a good way to work. Next time, use MPEG Streamclip and put In-Out points, and extract no more than five to 10 minutes per clip. Smaller clips will also be less likely to cause hangups in Compressor or other applications.

You didn't mention dragging a "Destination" preset into Compressor. I assume you did do that? The job won't go through unless you did that.


www.derekmok.com

Make sure you do not have FCP running when Compressor is running, especially if you are using Qmaster to address all 8 cores.

Otherwise:
go to: var/spool/qmaster

delete everything in that folder. Go to Compressor hit reset background processing.

Try again. If that doesn't work, delete Compressor plist.



www.strypesinpost.com