FCP7 conversions

Hi All,
OK, I’ve been shooting HD and HDV for a long time – editing non-linear since the late 90’s, and I’ve always worked on Macs. I don’t know why, but export formats still mystify me – especially when (trying to) plan(ning) for use in PCs. Everything seems to continue to change from month to month, etc. I have a project shot on HDV, edited in FCP7 ( HDV native). My client wants me to output a version onto 16gb flash drives for playback on PC laptops. My initial output was to QT – giving me a .mov file. The first test on a PC the .mov would not play. Downloaded QT for Windows, tried again – no luck. Then I tried converting to Mp4. This test was interesting, because the vid played back, audio was good, but the aspect was wrong. The picture had been squeezed. Then I tried converting to .avi – still no luck.
What the hell am I doing wrong? Is Jobs haunting me from the grave? What do I have to do to complete my task successfully?
Please help!!!

Mahalo,
crusty50@gmail.com

It sounds to me like you never learned to control your codec, frame size, frame rate, and other export options. Things do not "change from month to month". In fact, consumer computers -- the target for playback -- rarely change at all. For example, the common codec for QuickTime compression is still H.264, a 10-year-plus algorithm that took a few years to transition from the professional world to widespread use.

You need to start using tools that give you control over those aspects and then learning to use those options, rather than using presets offered by the software.


www.derekmok.com

As Derek said you have a knowledge gap and you're not the only one.

Every week I have to explain to someone that QuickTime isn't a format and a .mov extension means nothing when it comes to solving compatibility issues.

Check this out for a small list of what can be called a "quicktime file"

The wide acceptance of H264 was a gift from the Flying Spaghetti Monster for eliminating cross-platform playback issues.

If you have FCP7, you have Compressor. if you have Compressor you have a wide selection of presets that you can try out on samples of your footage to move between MAC and PC.

Using a short 10sec sample of your output, throw a bunch of presets (search for "264" in the presets window on Compressor) onto your sample, hit submit and take the results to a PC.
Tweak based on file size/quality/ease of playback on the widest variety of computers. If you're having aspect ratio issues investigate the tabs of the preset to find geometry and look in the preview window to find buttons that toggle between what you're inputting and what you're going to get on the other side. Once you get something that you like, save it as a custom preset. Create a droplet even. Write down the values on the back of a lunch receipt so you can use them again on a totally different system.

While we're on that subject, let's hear it for the people (not meaning you Crusty50, other people like, say, my clients) who put their highly important presentations on 5 year old windows laptops that have never seen a piece of malware they didn't like. Huzzah!

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Crusty, are you sure you did not export it as Pro Res or Apple Intermediate Codec? Unfortunately, those are codecs that Windows can't play.

As others have mentioned export as H264 and that should play on Windows.

Hi All, Thanks so much for responding to my question and your attempt to educate me. I am self taught on FCP and am sure I missed a few things. I have tried all of your suggestions. First, the h264 route: creates a file that is something on the order of 3X the size of the .mov (which was too big to begin with). Took forever -- became such a size that I couldn't get it onto a flash drive (11gb became 30+gb). Most of the replies said to go the H264 route which I tried. As far as I can find there is only one setting for h264 that I believe will work for my purposes -- under QT settings. There are several others that refer to streaming, video podcasting, webcasting and Youtube sharing -- I have no f-ing clue. I do know that some of those on the small devices look good, but once you fill the screen on a 15" laptop with the same video and it looks like it has been through a shredder...
Now, if necessary, I'll take my machine to theirs and make a transfer via ethernet -- but that doesn't account for backup copies....
Second, I made an MPEG2 version and stored it on DVDs. They would not play on the PC either. This is the way I have delivered to non-broadcast clients for years and has always worked. I use the DVD MPEG2 Best Quality 90 minutes and AAC audio settings.
I looked at the flip4mac site and of course, the version I need is the most expensive. There must be some alternative to spending $180 to convert these files.
I really hope to find a solution soon -- I'm looking like an idiot to the client.
Again I thank you for your suggestions and taking the time to respond to my query.

> First, the h264 route: creates a file that is something on the order of 3X the size of the .mov (which was too big to begin with).

That sounds nearly impossible. How high a bit rate did you enter? Frame rate and frame size? And what are the original video's frame rate and frame size?
How long is your show in terms of running time? What is your target file size?

You keep complaining about image quality. Perhaps you are placing too much demand on the compressed file. A super-high bit rate does you no good if it results in a file that's even larger than the original, or if you've set the bit rate so high that no computer can keep up with the playback. Compression is about a compromise between image quality and efficiency. If the user can't play the video without it stopping every two seconds, no amount of image quality will matter.

> Second, I made an MPEG2 version and stored it on DVDs. They would not play on the PC either. This is the way I have delivered to non-broadcast clients for
> years and has always worked. I use the DVD MPEG2 Best Quality 90 minutes and AAC audio settings.

Not surprising, because the preset you used was for burning video DVDs. An editing system could play these, no problem, but I remember a time when even an FCP- and DVD Studio Pro-equipped PowerPC G5 Mac couldn't just play these in QuickTime Player. These are not presets you use for computer-based delivery.

Since you're not yet versed in the options in compression, use MPEG Streamclip for the conversion. It's free, gives plenty of options, and is much faster than Compressor so you can see the results faster. Turn on the "B-Frames" and "Multipass" options for better results with no additional increase in file size (they do increase amount of time necessary to perform the compression, but I leave them on, always).


www.derekmok.com