Compressor keeps crashing!

Hello everyone,

Regarding inexplicable crashing in Compressor, I know this is a common problem (as I have seen it posted much online with no resolution, or even proper attention by Apple), so, I thought I would try my luck here.

I am on deadline and have to get a DVD film out by Friday. It is a 20 minute short. FCP allows me to export as a Quicktime movie, but, that's all; meanwhile, Compressor simply repeatedly crashes when I attempt to export it. And in order to save time let me make the following clear:

1. I have already trashed the preferences; and ...

2. I have already reinstalled; and ...

3. I have used the Disk Utility; and ...

4. I have encountered the problem on 3 different computers and 2 different operating systems.

As well, I should say ...

5. It keeps crashing at the same point in the timeline (70%); and ...

6. I am exporting it as "DVD Best Quality 90 minutes"; and ...

7. The project has both QuickTime mov. files as well as Motion mtn. files in the Timeline; and ...

8. The project plays fine in the Timeline.

So, my main concern is (baring any miracle fix in Compressor) does anyone have any suggestions of how I might put the QuickTime mov. on a DVD without losing any quality -- or any solution whereby I can get my finished film on a DVD by my Friday deadline?

Thanks,

Julie

Try Compressor repair

[www.digitalrebellion.com]

Michael Horton
-------------------

Same point in the timeline usually indicates some problem with the media. Export a Self-Contained QuickTime and see if it works. If it does, you can make your DVD m2v from that file.

Also, what's worked for me in the past is to export the first half, and then the second half and splice them together in QT Player.

But yes, Compressor Repair is a great first step,

First, did you export a self-contained or reference movie out of Final Cut Pro? Self-contained movies work much better.

Did you render your timeline before the export?

A 20-minute clip shouldn't be too taxing for Compressor. What is the format? Codec, frame rate, frame size?

Finally, Final Cut Pro movies can be used directly in DVD Studio Pro and iDVD. If you can't figure out Compressor, you can always just bypass it, get the DVD out to meet the deadline, troubleshoot later.

I think you jumped waaaay ahead with the troubleshooting steps you'd outlined. Reinstalling is one of the last things you should try, not one of the first. You have many more options you haven't explored yet. Given that three separate computer systems had trouble with this operation, it's more likely that there's something in your media (corruption, misformatted file, etc.) that's causing the hangups, rather than software glitches. Especially since you said it quits at the same spot every time. What exactly is that spot? Have you checked the media at that point in the edit, within your FCP timeline?


www.derekmok.com

Like they said, check the media file first.

But if that doesn't work, I was having the same issues. Going through this routine fixed it for me:

support.apple.com/kb/TS1888?viewlocale=en_US


hth,
Clay

Quote
jw
2. I have already reinstalled; and ...

was this a full install of fcs2 or a component instal with pacifist?

Quote
jw
I have encountered the problem on 3 different computers and 2 different operating systems.
As well, I should say ...

compressor is only native to os x unix. thry to repair it in that os first.

Quote
jw
The project has both QuickTime mov. files as well as Motion mtn. files in the Timeline; and ...

Bake your motn files on the TL. (export qt and bring them back in)

also open a new project and copy/paste the TL and try it. You can also try exporting as a slightly higher TL codec. (dvcpro 50 or something even higher)

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

>FCP allows me to export as a Quicktime movie, but, that's all; meanwhile, Compressor simply
>repeatedly crashes when I attempt to export it.

1. If you're exporting off the timeline, export a self contained quicktime movie and encode from that.

2. If it's crashing at the same spot, it's likely an issue with either the source media (video OR audio) as Derek mentioned, or an issue with the render file (if you're encoding from a self contained quicktime movie). Also, make sure you're not using any flakey formats that FCP doesn't like (eg. mp3s, mpeg, mp4, h.264, jpeg, etc..).

>compressor is only native to os x unix. thry to repair it in that os first.

I'm not an IT expert, but that doesn't sound right at all.


>I am on deadline and have to get a DVD film out by Friday.

it's 20 mins, easy peasy, don't worry about it. But that film print is something else...

To sum it up, it's

1. Go to around 70% into your timeline, check all material at that point in your timeline, swap out any funky formats, ditch those render files, re-render.

2. Export a self-contained QT and encode with that in compressor, if you're not already.

3. If it doesn't work, use DVDSP to encode. You may need to render out your movie as an Uncompressed SD file, which may work better, faster and DVDSP may recognize it.



www.strypesinpost.com

Check your timeline for gaps. Make sure you don't have "nothing" there. If you have any places where there is no media, it will crash compressor. Keep in mind that if you are working with a mulit clip, a gap can still be present without actually being visible in your timeline.

Mike

strypes
i am relatively sure that compressor was create for a macintosh os. It was create for logic and fcp. at one time you could buy it as a standalone but those days are gone. now its bundled in fcs.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

>i am relatively sure that compressor was create for a macintosh os.

Sheesh. I don't think the OP meant she ran Compressor in Windows! I don't think you can without a mad software hack. The OP probably tried exporting it in Tiger and Leopard or Tiger and Panther.



www.strypesinpost.com

i never use windows anything so i didn't know if vista for mac would allow compressor to work. the post did say :

Quote
jw
I have encountered the problem on 3 different computers and 2 different operating systems.

didn't say tiger and leopard. and i have seen fcp on a pc. very ugly thought but i have seen it.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Thanks for the considered responses ...

I was not yet able to fix the problem with Compressor; however, the suggestion(s) for alternative(s) for getting my project out by deadline were a LIFESAVER. Thanks so much for that!

Julie