Compressor Processing for DVDs

I am using "Export to Compressor" to prepare my projects for DVD Pro. On my G5 dual-core (an older one) it takes about 3 hrs to process 20min from the Pro-Res timeline...original material was AVCHD. My broadcast project, a DVCProHD timeline, is taking over 24 hrs to process 2 hrs, 35 min.

Is this normal? Should I be outputting the timelines as full res Quicktime files first and then dump them into Compressor? The picture quality using compressor is much improved over just dropping files into iDVD, but the processing is taking forever. Obviously, a quad-core would help, but is there a faster way to make DVDs without sacrificing quality?

Thanks!

John

Export to Compressor is notoriously slower than exporting a reference movie and dropping that in Compressor, but I'm not sure if those times are 'normal'.

What did you convert the AVCHD to before cutting?

The AVCHD files were logged and transferred natively, I guess from the new Sony NXCam but they end up ProRes. I cut them with my JVC 100U camera that creates Quicktime files so I edit in a ProRes timeline and there's no rendering. The 2 1/2 hour broadcast show is DVCProHD and it took about 25 hours to process. The DVDs look good, but 25 hours?

If I export the timeline as a self-contained full-res movie and then drop it in, you're saying it will be faster...is there any quality loss? Added aliasing? That was the problem I faced when dropping broadcast video into iDVD.

Thanks for your input.

>If I export the timeline as a self-contained full-res movie and then drop it in, you're saying it will
>be faster...is there any quality loss?

Yes. Yes.

If Compressor works off a self contained quicktime movie, it will be faster than if you use "export to compressor", because, Compressor will skip your render files and re-render everything from your source, bypassing the compression of your sequence codec, and passing off the uncompressed data into Compressor to down convert and encode. However, the operation is more complex and there may be issues resulting from this.

If you export a Quicktime movie and send that to Compressor, you will get a slight quality hit, as Compressor will be encoding off a flattened quicktime movie, which was rendered to your sequence codec. However this way is faster as the operation is simpler, and you have less issues. Also, you are unlikely to notice any quality hits.

If you do notice aliasing issues, that will be from the down conversion (it should look very similar to when you exported directly to Compressor). To fix aliasing issues, you turn on frame controls and set quality from better to best. That usually looks cleanest, however the trade off is between speed and quality.



www.strypesinpost.com

Try some of these tricks:
[www.digitalrebellion.com]

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Jon, do you use the job chaining feature regularly? Does it work consistently on your end? Because in the few times that I have used it, the results have been a little flakey... I'm suspecting it doesn't handle quick clusters very well.



www.strypesinpost.com

It's not something I need very often in my workflow, so I don't use it frequently. When I have used it, I haven't experienced any specific issues.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

I always just compress to quictime movie and burn to dvd, should I be using this method (of using compressor ) after its a quicktime file??
thx
Mitch C

Yes, because Compressor's MPEG-2 encoding is much better than DVD Studio Pro's and you have access to more options.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Or no if you're happy with the results you're already getting.