Compressor vs Quicktime Codecs

Which codec really has the best quality? Compressor or DVDSP2 Quicktime codec? They both seem to have the same features.

Marten

QuickTime is a wrapper, not a codec.

The MPEG-2 codec in QuickTime and Compressor are one in the same.

I don't follow you there - the Compressor MPEG 2 codec allows VBR options etc - something that the standard Quicktime MPEG2 codec doesn't. I think that the Compressor codec is both different and new, and that the Compressor one promises to give better results, if taking a lot more time over it....

Graeme

There is no standard MPEG-2 Codec.

If you install DVD Studio Pro 1.5, you get an MPEG-2 codec.

If you install DVD Studio Pro 2 or Final Cut Pro 4, you get a newer MPEG-2 codec.

Once you have installed either Final Cut Pro 4, with Compressor or DVD Studio Pro 2 with Compressor, you will notice that right from QuickTime, if you do an export to MPEG-2, you will now have VBR functionality where as before you did not.

I Hadn't notice that.... After I'd installed FCP4 and Compressor I thought I still had what looked like the old DVDSP1.5 quicktime mpeg codec - I didn't seen any VBR options in it - I'll check again when I get home from work and report back.

Graeme

Actually, you have me wondering if I am remembering this out of sequence now. If you don't have DVDSP2 at home, please check and let me know if I am incorrect on this.

Compressor with FCP4 does have VBR. I cannot test this now since I have both FCP4 and DVDSP2 on the machine...

Feel free to kick me if I am wrong on that...

I don't have DVDSP2 at home - yet. I'm buying a camera and gear, so money's tight on the software upgrades. I've got a couple of DVD's nearly ready to go off to be mastered, so I'll upgrade when I've got them safe off the system.

Graeme

Yep,
They both have Compressor with VBR.

Handy because I let my laptop do a lot of encoding while I work on the tower machine.

So Marty, just to confirm, you had installed and updated FCP4 / Compressor, did an export to QuickTime, chose MPEG-2 and noted that it did have VBR before you ever installed DVDSP2.0? Is that correct?

Sorry, let me be more clear. His question relates to using QuickTime Pro, not compressor. So for example, if you export to QuickTime and choose reference movie, then drop that on QuickTime, and from within QuickTime Pro, do an export to MPEG-2, does it show the VBR as an option. I believe we got that as soon as we installed FCP4/compressor.

I know it shows VBR directly in QuickTime now, but I am unsure if it did that before I installed DVDSP2.0.

According to Apple, the Compressor in DVDSP2 is exactly the same as that which came with FCP4 except it is already 1.0.1.

No,
I have FCP 4.01 on a 733 G4, DVDSP2 on a 17" laptop. I export a sef contained movie and then encode it on whichever machine is free using Compressor 1.01, it comes with both apps. I haven't used the quicktime encoder since DVD SP 1 because I didn't like the quality and it took too long. Now with two machines and the awesome quality of Compressor at low bitrates, I'm willing to take the time. Even to the point I've quit encoding in OS9 with my DMP.

But Compressor that came with FCP4 had VBR before I installed DVDSP2. I did have DVD SP1.2 on that machine however.

I've just checked.

On My system I only have DVDSP1.5 and FCP 4.02 and the Compressor that came with FCP.

In Quicktime Pro, there is only one MPEG2 export option - and it is the one that comes with DVDSP1.5 - with no VBR option.

I'll check this again as soon as I get DVDSP2

Graeme

Graeme,

Thank you! And sorry about the earlier mistake.

Graeme & Alex
When you upgrade to DVDSP2 you get the upgraded mpeg2 encoder with the options that are exactly as Compressor. 2 Pass VBR or 1 which ever suits your fancy. Which of these encoders do guys think will have the best quality, or are they the same?

Marten

Its really a question of how easily you can work with the codec to yield the best results. Compressor easily allows you to set it up well. Once you have DVDSP2 installed, it should be the same results, if you use the same settings. As I am very fond of saying, make small clips and test the codecs yourself. running a long project through these processes can take a very long time, so I am a big fan of pre-testing tiny clips and then once I have perfection, I go with that on the project. Some footage is harder to work with than others. If you have a lot of camera movement for example, test it and see what gets good results.

Alex,
I agree totally with testing on short clips. I haven't A-B'd these two codecs, but I'll be into full scale research tomorrow. Thanks for all of your great input!! I'll be using a DVX100 in 60i for the time being. I'll post my findings if I find something that I think might be of interest to the list.

Cheers,
Marten