Exporting Anamorphic for DVD and also Web

Hi:

What's the best way to do this, for both creating a raw uncompressed mov file to burn to a DVD AND to use compressor to upload a MPEG 4 (or the like) to the web?

The other day I tried exporting via compressor to create an mpeg 4 with a rough cut and I got the stretchy spaghetti western look. Not what I'm looking for!

My sequence is set to anamorphic (box checked). Do I need to change/update any settings to export properly?

Also, in my show one of my sequences contains clips that aren't anamorphic. I captured this clip at "regular" NTSC DV. In timeline playback it looks fine.

Thanks!

Nicolle

First don't export from FCP using compressor. I know that's an option but all the experience gathered here around this FCP campfire will tell you that the best way to get what you're after is to export a native codec version of your sequence. That means using the "Export quicktime movie" option. You'll get a self contained movie that you can drop into compressor to generate your MPEG4 and the files you need to use in DVD Studio Pro. It's faster this way, more flexible and less prone to errors. Plus it frees up FCP quicker and you can leave Compressor running in the BG while you work on your next project and tidy up the one you just finished.

Once you have your self contained file, drag it to the main window in Compressor and drop one of the DVD presets on it. You should get 2 files out of this, an mpg2 and an ac3, video and audio respectively. Even if your source file is 16x9, don't worry, DVDSP can handle it, just make the timeline/track in DVDSP set to 16x9 Letterbox and it will do everything itself.

Before you submit the job in Compressor add another setting to the same source file for your MPEG4. In the top right of the preview window of Compressor there are two small buttons that toggle between seeing the source geometry and the destination geometry of the task selected in the top left of the preview window. Make sure that the MPEG4 preset is not adjusting your aspect ratio and make adjustments in the inspector.

I have made some assumptions that you know how to make some changes in Compressor and DVDSP. If you don't at least you know what to look up in the manual.

Now go, compress, author, build, format, upload and deliver.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Andrew's advice is good, and you would do well if you followed it. But it's not the only way.

First of all, remember that MPEG-4 is unfortunately both a file format and a codec. When people talk about the MPEG-4 file format, they mean MPEG-4 Part 14, which is for all intents and purposes Quicktime. When they talk about the MPEG-4 codec, they mean MPEG-4 Part 2, which is a now-obsolete delivery format.

What you want is MPEG-4 Part 10, which is also called H.264, which is also called AVC, which is also why this business is so damn confusing because we have three or four names for every little thing.

Anyway, what you want to do is render out an H.264 Quicktime movie at 100% of source size. This will give you 720x480, anamorphic. You can then open the Quicktime movie in Quicktime Player and go into the "Movie Properties" window (by hitting ⌘-j). Select your video track (which will be called "Video Track" in the track list), then click the "Visual Settings" tab. Un-check "Preserve Aspect Ratio," then change the "Scaled Size" value from 720x480 to 853x480.

Save your file, and you're done. If you're absolutely required to deliver an MPEG-4 Part 14 file, all you have to do is change the name of the file from "My Awesome Show.mov" to "My Awesome Show.mp4," because the file formats are literally that compatible.

Keeping your show anamorphic and having Quicktime handle the transformation on playback keeps the size of your deliverable down (because you're only encoding pixels that are actually there, instead of making up new pixels), and maintains the absolute best possible image quality given your source material. It's a little annoying to have to dive deep into the properties to make the change, but once you find your way there and back, it's really fast and easy.

(Note that you should only do this to your final deliverable. Don't do this to anamorphic source material; Final Cut handles the anamorphic correction for you in the viewer and canvas. And don't do it to intermediates like MPEG-2 elementary streams for DVD, because those are supposed to be uncorrected.)

There is a third way too - on some QT Files you can flag the correct aspect ratio by going into:

In Quicktime 7 (Not QT X which sucks for Pro work)

? Movie properties: Command J

? Click on the name (not the Video or Audio tracks)

? Select 'Presentation'

? Tick 'Conform aperture to:'

? Select 'Clean' if you want to lose the left and right Nominal Analogue Blanking or 'Production' if you want the full raster



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Thank you so much fellas for helping me to solve this problem! A big virtual kiss! I was pressed for time and chose Jeff's solution. Thank you--it worked perfectly. But it will be nice to have a few other options tucked into my pocket for the future. I appreciate your help! Thanks again for your timely responses!

Nicolle

O.k....so I have another question regarding this. As I said, I followed Jeff's instructions to render this out as a large file, changed settings and then screened of my laptop at a presentation. Now I want to upload this piece to my vimeo account which only allows for 500 MB per week.

How do I most easily and efficiently create a small file--that has the correct dimensions--for web use? Do I have to render out of FCP again and using Jeff's directions, change settings as detailed? Or can I convert/compress the current 7+ GB file to something smaller?

Thanks again for you help!

Nicolle

Try just passing it through Compressor to make an H.264 at a megabit and a half or thereabouts, and uploading the result directly. It'd be an experiment, 'cause I don't remember how Vimeo handles non-square-pixel formats, but it's what I'd try.

are you saying send the original file through compressor? if so, that is what I did in the first place and had all of the dimension issues that inspired my first post in this thread. what I need to do is create a file out of my FCP sequence that preserves the anamorphic dimensions of the project and is no bigger than 500 MB. more guidance please?

I'm so lost. I thought we'd solved your non-square pixel problem. Didn't you say one of the suggestions here worked?

What, exactly, is the problem? Because I'm afraid I've lost track.

Jeff:

I followed your directions to export my project out of FCP to create an mov file to screen right off my laptop--I also burned that file to a DVD. Now what I want to do is the same thing but with a smaller file--no more than 500 MB--to upload to my vimeo account.

Can I export out of quicktime conversion "for web" out of FCP to get a smaller file and then return to your original instructions to change the dimensions? Or is there some way to convert the file I already have to be smaller?

Nicolle

What "for web" setting?



www.strypesinpost.com

in quick-time conversion "web" or "streaming", I can't remember which.

What I meant was "MPEG 4"--isn't that the best/most common file format (before they convert it to flash) for online platforms like vimeo?

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isn't that the best/most common file format (before they convert it to flash) for online platforms like vimeo?

Good heavens no. MPEG-4 is totally obsolete. Each online delivery site has its own guidelines, and you should probably refer to them, but the general rule of thumb is that you want to use high-bit-rate H.264 for this. Where "high" means ? eh. Somewhere in the 15-20 megabit range. The hosting company will use that as your clean source from which they make whatever highly compressed version they display.

> Good heavens no. MPEG-4 is totally obsolete.

Actually, MPEG-4 is alive and well...as a wrapper. Using MPEG-4 as the codec is obsolete, since H.264 looks better and results in smaller files. But we use H.264-codec MPEG-4s all the time.


www.derekmok.com

ARG. Of course you're right, Derek. I failed to make that distinction. Bad me!

Update: I exported my original project through compressor as a "high bandwidth" H.264 file. Then, following Jeff's earlier instructions, I opened the file in Quick-time and adjusted the settings to reset the project to wide-screen and saved the project. Then I uploaded the file to vimeo and it's back to the spaghetti western look. Here's a link to it:




How the hell can I get a file on vimeo that maintains the wide-screen dimensions? For the time being, I use vimeo as a platform to screen my work (birth videos) and promote it. I will be creating a website/blog to do so this summer, but until then....? Is it vimeo that is the problem here?

Nicolle

[www.vimeo.com]


www.derekmok.com

>I exported my original project through compressor as a "high bandwidth" H.264 file.

What I'll do is to export as 640x360 (go to the geometry tab in Compressor and change the frame dimensions, check square pixels), and in frame control, turn on resizing to better.



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote

How the hell can I get a file on vimeo that maintains the wide-screen dimensions?

Hey, relax. I get that this is frustrating, but trust me, this is not a problem. You did exactly the right thing: You did a test. The results of that test told you that Vimeo doesn't respect pixel aspect ratio settings in Quicktime files. No big deal. You're just going to need to convert to square pixel before uploading your high-data-rate compressed file. Just make the change to your Compressor setting.

Should move this convo to the Compression forum - if nothing else it will help other people searching for this info in the future.

Done and done.

Vimeo does need square pixels to resolve the dimensions; they also say you have to compress at widescreen dimensions. In terms of Compressor...it looks like "high-bandwidth" and "web-streaming" are set at square pixels.

>it looks like "high-bandwidth" and "web-streaming" are set at square pixels.

To be honest, I never used any of the presets. Square pixels would mean a 16:9 frame size, so what exactly is the frame size you are encoding to?



www.strypesinpost.com