exporting a Master difficulties

FCP 7, quad-core, dual whatever, 16 gigs of RAM, way too much memory, Matrox MXO2 mini.

Okay, so I'm done, I have a movie, but I can't get it off the desktop without losing a ton of video quality. I have to deliver a Master to the Manufacturer that will be authoring/mastering and subsequently manufacturing my DVD's.

The film was shot on HDV and DV-SD(converted to pro-res) and edited in a pro-res timeline, running time is about 122 minutes.

The Authoring agent was spooked at the idea of an HDV master delivered on 2, 62 minute Mini-DV tapes as he had no way to upload Sony propriatary formats. He asked if I could deliver it as a Quicktime either on hard-drive or a DVD version.

However, I haven't had much success outputting via quicktime conversion and burning DVD's via compressor. The conversion times in Compressor are 100's of hours when "frame controls" are all set to Best for a DVD right off the desktop. If I go with a quicker conversion, the quality starts to fall apart. Can I save it as a quicktime file and deliver on a hard-drive and not lose quality? If so please help me on the Export via quicktime conversion settings for best results.

I've got great quality video on my desktop, but exporting a quality Master is and always has been my problem.

I've cut the film in half at a chapter point for worst case scenario HDV Mini-DV Master, what's the best way to export the whole project in a single piece? Do I really have to suffer through a 4-5 day render to burn one DVD?

Any help would be appreciated!

If they are on Macs, you can export a Quicktime from your timeline at full resolution and deliver it on an external hard drive. The way to do this is not to use Quicktime Conversion, but just Export > Quicktime Movie. Make it self contained and the same settings as the timeline.

The reason it becomes problematic if he is on a PC is that you can't move files larger than 4GB from Mac to PC (or visa versa) on an external unless you have a special program to use Mac drives on PCs. I think it's called Paragon, but not sure.

At 122 minutes, your file will be much bigger than 4GB.

Not to be that guy, but if your replicator can't handle a Mac-formatted hard drive in 2010, it's long past time you found a new replicator.

Okay, took about an hour to write the file.

It's about 23 Gig's.

That'd fit on a flashdrive, is that an option????

That seems way too simple.

HA ha!

Unexpected error while copying! Error code 0

I knew it was too easy!

I'd convert to ProRes. Machines without FCP cannot view HDV encoded files.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Carpboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HA ha!
>
> Unexpected error while copying! Error code 0
>
> I knew it was too easy!

Were you copying to a USB flash drive? If so, it may be that your drive is formatted for FAT32, which limits file sizes to 4GB. Formatting it for NTFS removes that restriction. Of course, these are Windoze-oriented formats. Disk Utility has very limited support for these formats. Some third-party tools can provide support.

If you're destination is also a Mac OS X computer, then you could reformat the flash drive like any Mac hard drive (HFS+), using Disk Utility.

FYI, most flash drives are sold performatted with FAT32...


-Dave

I think you just nailed it!

I exported "current settings" which were Apple Pro-Res 442 1440 x 1080 60i 48Khz.

Am I good to go?

Okay, the 32 GB flash-drive is reformatted and is currently copying my 23 GB file.

only 2 hours to go.

Yes, you need Paragon NTFS for Mac to do this properly. Disc Utility will let you format a drive to PC, but you still won't be able to write more than about 4GB to the drive before the transfer crashes/freezes. Paragon allows you to write to PC formatted drives with no limitation. Works great.

Check it out over here, it's on sale for 20 bucks. Well worth it.

[www.paragon-software.com]

Right again Shane!

I thought I had exported in Pro-Res, but I had not. It was HDV and the Authoring Agent couldn't read the file, so now my project's going to lose 4 days.

Now re-exporting in Pro-Res 422(HQ) ...should be done in about 2 1/2 hours.

Would compressor have done the job faster if I simply dropped my 22GB HDV-QT file into it and converted to Pro-Res?

Mistake #7032.

The Pro-res(HQ) file is 176 GB's. LOL!!!

...So much for the 32GB flash drive idea.

Sorry for not replying earlier. Getting a 1 and half hour DVD out of Compressor is not so hairy.

>The conversion times in Compressor are 100's of hours when "frame controls" are all set to Best
>for a DVD right off the desktop.

Down convert and create an SD master before burning the DVD, or you can go straight to Mpeg2, but the Mpeg2 encoding will take longer than encoding from your SD master. Either option, set up Qmaster and let it run overnight.



www.strypesinpost.com

My apologies gentleman, I've only recently come out of the Stone Age, going from FCP 2 to 7 and if that weren't bad enough, I shot on 2 formats and had stock footage in a 3rd. So it's a lot to swallow since my last SD feature.

Currently the computer is exporting a Pro-Res 422 version, has taken about 4 hours should be about 100GB's.

I was considering copying the Pro-Res version to a hard-drive and sending it on to the authoring agent, but he freaked out when I told him the file was 100GB.

I just want the video to look as good on DVD as it does on my desktop, and so far I've had no success, not even close.

Currently I'm exporting via QT Conversion,

VIDEO:
DV/DVCPRO-NTSC
Quality:Best
Scan mode: Interlaced
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Dimensions: 720x480 (853x480)

Sound
Format: Integer(Little Endian)
Sample Rate: 48 Khz
Sample Size: 16-bit
Channels: Stereo (L-R)

Am I on the right track?

The Authoring agent was asking for a DV master or MPEG-2, but I have had no success converting to MPEG-2 via compressor and maintaining video quality, not to mention the hellacious render times.

Thanks for your help.

DV master? There is no such thing as a DV master. Export a self contained ProRes file at current settings, then down convert to ProRes SD for your SD master in Compressor. Then use that to encode to Mpeg2. You do not want to use QT conversion for anything except offlines, and heck, I don't even use it for offline submissions.



www.strypesinpost.com

Yeah that QT conversion to DV NTSC was total garbage, pixellated, corrupted garbage. Mistake #7033.

Pro-Res SD???? I don't see that as an option in Compressor.

I have a HDV-QT version on the desktop at 23GB's, a Pro-Res (HQ) version at 175GB's and a Pro-Res version at 100GB's.

They all look great. But I have so many options in Compressor and they all end up looking like crap. And I don't have 200 hours to down-res, I have to deliver in 50.

I'll post a note on the compressor board as well.

> Pro-Res SD???? I don't see that as an option in Compressor

ProRes is not just intended for High Definition. "ProRes SD" simply means you choose ProRes 422 as the codec, and customize a Standard Def frame size, like 720x480 (DV) or 720x486 (DigiBeta).

To be honest, I'm going to echo Jeff Harrell: I think you should switch authoring services. They're making you jump through hoops, and ProRes is not an exotic codec anymore. Personally, I'd say it's their job to get from your online-quality movie file to DVD.


www.derekmok.com

ProRes is a resolution-agnostic codec. You can use it at any resolution.

Lemme walk you through this, 'cause it seems like the pipeline has gotten a bit muddied. (Nobody's fault; there are several steps.)

First: Export a ProRes-format master Quicktime. Since you already exported an HDV-format master, we have to adapt a bit. For future reference, exporting a GOP-format Quicktime subjects your footage to a second compression pass; it's strongly not recommended. This master Quicktime is your production master. It's a pristine, perceptually lossless copy of your finished show. Keep it forever; it's precious.

Second: Pass your ProRes-format master to Compressor, choosing ProRes as your output format again, but scaling it down to SD resolution. Do some short-segment tests to find the right balance of "turn all the settings up to maximum" and "I want this finished before I die." Odds are, "better" will suffice for you. Note that this is only necessary if you actually want an SD-resolution copy of your master. In this case you do, 'cause you're delivering an SD downconvert, but in many cases you may never need or want a low-resolution copy, in which case there's no need to waste time making one. (Unless you're an obsessive-compulsive completist who wants one just in case you someday want one. That's me, but I make no excuses for my idiosyncrasies.)

Third: Pass the resulting SD-res ProRes Quicktime to Compressor again, this time encoding to your final compressed delivery format. In your case, that's going to be an MPEG-2 elementary stream and an AC-3 audio file. Note, however, that you can probably skip this last step. Confirm with your replicator that they can take a ProRes Quicktime from you ? hint: if they can't, you're using the wrong replicator ? and then just Fedex it to them on a Firewire. This file you don't need to keep. It's compressed, which means it's of basically no value to you over the long term. If you ever should need this file again, you can just re-render it from your uncompressed ? well, virtually uncompressed ? ProRes master.

Couple more general tips: Never use "Export using Quicktime conversion." It's slow as hell. Also never use "Send to Compressor." It's unreliable as hell.

Derek, I agree, but sometimes there's no going back, I'm on a deadline and pretty well screwed.

Jeff, Thank you, it's getting clearer.

So I'm dropping a Pro-Res master into compressor and using Apple Pro-Res 422 and under "geometry" I am resizing to 720x480 and as for pixel aspect, I am confused.

Should I be going with NTSC CCIR 601/DV (16:9), like Compressor "Help" says I should??

I've dropped it in and it's suggesting a 3 hour render.

Slow disks, no Qmaster cluster? Roughly half real-time sounds about right to me.

LOL!!!

Qmaster Cluster? I have no idea what that is.

I mean absolutely no offense, but talking a first-timer on a deadline through setting up a Qmaster cluster over an Internet forum is beyond my abilities. After you deliver, read the "Distributed Processing Setup Guide" manual that came with Final Cut Studio.

Dude, don't sweat it, I'm the Noob!!!

I don't see your suggested reading in the enclosed FCS literature. Is it online?

Hey C.

Lauch Compressor (ir its not already launched) then go up to the menubar and choose Help menu > Compressor Help ... when the Help Viewer loads you should see 3 options in the right hand pane:
Compressor 3: User Manual
Distributed Processing Setup Guide
Batch Monitor: User Manual

Cheers
Andy

Thanks Andy!

I only have one computer. Am I missing something????