Compression time. Settings.

Hi,

I have a FCP project of 2 hours and 15 minutes aprox. It's divided in 8 "sequences". The goal is to make a DVD. I will use DVD Stdio Pro. Here goes my workflow:

1. In the browser of FCP I select a sequence, right clik>sent to Compressor, in which I selected the DVD setting which offer me the 150 minutes of video (MPEG2-3.7 Mpps.... bla bla bla). I did not open the sequence in the timeline, I just highlighted it in the browser to send to Compressor.

2. My current sequence which I am compressing now is twenty minutes. It started 3 hours ago and still showing that the estimated time for this task is 29 hours! and the sequence is just 20 min. Now decreased to 26.

Those 26 hours showed up almost recently, before it just said 29 hours the time for compression was increasing "so bad".

Options:

* Well, I should say that in every sequence (in all project) I applied color correction and NEAT VIDEO software. So, Is this neat video causing the long time compressing? Should I avoid this software or just apply to the necessary segments?

* Should I leave this "Uncertain" task of 29 hours continue compressing? Is it really working, advancing? How do I know that is not freeze or crashed? I know that some compression takes time, but 29 hours for just 20 minutes is too much time. (And I have 120 minutes more remaining to compress, and all of them has neat video applied... ). Is it logical?

* I guess that this 26 hours will be decreasing as time goes by, but I need know a real aproximated time. How long do you think does really take compress 20 minutes to MPEG2 when Neat Video is applied?

* Will I see the notorious function of the NEAT VIDEO software on the end printed standard DVD set for 150 minutes? I hope the DVD will make me say: Oh, Yes! Neat Video is worth! Let's see.

* If I convert all the sequence to MOV and then to MPEG-2. WIll be faster? Will I loose quality? When you compress MOV to MOV again, the quality is kept?

* What do you suggest me to improve the workflow when working with domestic long movies (weddings, quinos, events) which surround the 120 minutes easily?

Thanks for you inavaluable help.

Quote
limakid
I have a FCP project of 2 hours and 15 minutes aprox. It's divided in 8 "sequences". The goal is to make a DVD. I will use DVD Stdio Pro. Here goes my workflow:

1. In the browser of FCP I select a sequence, right clik>sent to Compressor, in which I selected the DVD setting which offer me the 150 minutes of video (MPEG2-3.7 Mpps.... bla bla bla). I did not open the sequence in the timeline, I just highlighted it in the browser to send to Compressor.

2. My current sequence which I am compressing now is twenty minutes. It started 3 hours ago and still showing that the estimated time for this task is 29 hours! and the sequence is just 20 min. Now decreased to 26.

Those 26 hours showed up almost recently, before it just said 29 hours the time for compression was increasing "so bad".

It might be helpful if you gave us more info about the sequence settings, such as codec, frame rate, frame size, and the info on the source video you are using in the sequences. However, that info may not matter, as processing media with lots of image processing can take a very long time.

Quote
limakid
* Well, I should say that in every sequence (in all project) I applied color correction and NEAT VIDEO software. So, Is this neat video causing the long time compressing? Should I avoid this software or just apply to the necessary segments?

Though you may apply primary color correction to many, if not all, clips in a sequence, heavy-duty de-noising (and other) filters can take several minutes per frame to process, depending on the codec and your computer's resources (and other factors). You shouldn't just universally apply Neat Video to all of your clips, in most cases. Also, the settings used in Neat Video can affect processing time.

Quote
limakid
* Should I leave this "Uncertain" task of 29 hours continue compressing? Is it really working, advancing? How do I know that is not freeze or crashed? I know that some compression takes time, but 29 hours for just 20 minutes is too much time. (And I have 120 minutes more remaining to compress, and all of them has neat video applied... ). Is it logical?

* I guess that this 26 hours will be decreasing as time goes by, but I need know a real aproximated time. How long do you think does really take compress 20 minutes to MPEG2 when Neat Video is applied?

Why not just select a representative sample of one or two minutes from a sequence and test processing times, etc., using that?

Quote
limakid
* Will I see the notorious function of the NEAT VIDEO software on the end printed standard DVD set for 150 minutes? I hope the DVD will make me say: Oh, Yes! Neat Video is worth! Let's see.

Not quite sure what you mean by this (but I think I get your point).

Quote
limakid
* If I convert all the sequence to MOV and then to MPEG-2. WIll be faster? Will I loose quality? When you compress MOV to MOV again, the quality is kept?

Sending to Compressor is the slowest way to process media. Each frame gets re-rendered as it is sent to Compressor (whether or not it was already rendered in FCP). Exporting to QT files and then processing in Compressor is faster. You should also check into using Qmaster to have Compressor utilize the full capability of your system. Make sure you render everything fully before exporting QT files.

Quote

* What do you suggest me to improve the workflow when working with domestic long movies (weddings, quinos, events) which surround the 120 minutes easily?

If all of your footage really needs de-noising, then it is likely that it is the result of poor lighting and camerawork. "Fixing it in post" always takes a long time, if it's even possible. Not having seen your footage, it is hard to say anything definitive.

Overall, your process seems fine. All the rendering of the color correction and Neat Video filters is very time-consuming. If these filters are stacked in FCP, where they both are being applied concurrently, this could cause longer processing times.


-Dave

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