Need help compressing file in Final Cut Pro!!!

[_ray_biddle_]

I'm finishing up a project (YAY ME!!) and when I went to burn it to disk, the file is way to big for the size of the disk.

The film is 70+ minutes and this part of Final Cut is completely new to me.

I should have no trouble getting this burnt to disk.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[KMProductions]

Is it HD? Also what compression type are you using?

[Ladri.]

Is it in HD or SD?

What file type would you like to export it as?

M-PEG4 files usually compress quite nicely and can be burned to dvds.

[nooneimportant77]

I recommend doing a very high quality out, in the form of a TIFF image sequence, then bringing that into Compressor, and compressing using one of the presets built for DVDs.

[_ray_biddle_]

Thanks everyone!

SD and mpeg 2, Quicktime, high quality.

I did use the preset but the trouble is my file is to big to fit on a DVD.

I'm new to the compressor side of the software.

It seems the days of edit and authoring the DVD all on one software are over.

[jburas]

In FCP, select File > Export > Using Compressor...

Your video will open in Compressor. Select Target > New Target with Setting.

There are a bunch of presets that work really well from there.

If you just want a video file on a data disc, I suggest "H.264 for Apple TV"

If you want a disc that you can pop into any DVD player and watch on a TV, I suggest "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes" From there you will need to burn it with something like iDVD or DVD Studio Pro.

[jburas]

I recommend doing a very high quality out, in the form of a TIFF image sequence, then bringing that into Compressor, and compressing using one of the presets built for DVDs.

Making a TIFF sequence is a redundant step (and time-consuming, and makes huge files). You can export directly from Final Cut Pro without any loss of quality.

[nooneimportant77]

Making a TIFF sequence is a redundant step (and time-consuming, and makes huge files). You can export directly from Final Cut Pro without any loss of quality.


It's not really redundant. If you export at a lossless setting like a TIFF sequence, that is your master. Any more compressions you can do from that, without rendering all those layers of sound, or effects, or fades, or graphics, or whatever else you've got in the project. It would take much less time to re-compress from the TIFF sequence, then it would to re-export from Final Cut if you had to export with different compression.

[_ray_biddle_]

In FCP, select File > Export > Using Compressor...

Your video will open in Compressor. Select Target > New Target with Setting.

There are a bunch of presets that work really well from there.

If you just want a video file on a data disc, I suggest "H.264 for Apple TV"

If you want a disc that you can pop into any DVD player and watch on a TV, I suggest "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes" From there you will need to burn it with something like iDVD or DVD Studio Pro.

Thank you, I did this exactly like you've mentioned. The file is to big for the DVD. I can't figure out how to compress the file so it will fit on the DVD.

[jburas]

How big does the file end up being?

I need a little more information to help you. Open the file you just made with Quicktime Player, select Window > Show Movie Inspector. Can you tell everything it says there?

[EnipProductions]

I could be wrong but File Size doesn't make a difference! Its just the lenth of the clip because when it encodes to the DVD it broken up and then rewritten. That is if you are wanting it to be a movie dvd and not a data dvd

[_ray_biddle_]

How big does the file end up being?

I need a little more information to help you. Open the file you just made with Quicktime Player, select Window > Show Movie Inspector. Can you tell everything it says there?

It says 6.9 GB, that's too big for what is there.


It should be around 4GB and that should fit no problem.

[jburas]

I could be wrong but File Size doesn't make a difference! Its just the lenth of the clip because when it encodes to the DVD it broken up and then rewritten. That is if you are wanting it to be a movie dvd and not a data dvd

Yeah, it depends on how you're burning the DVD. With DVD Studio Pro or iMovie, all they need is a Quicktime file of any size and they will do the compression for you automatically.

For just a data file that will fit on a DVD... well, we're still working on that one.

[EnipProductions]

If your making a Dvd you pop into a DVD player the size shouldn't make a diffrence Ray. Thats why on the DVD it was say max lenth like 100 minutes or whatever. It could be 100GB but it wouldn't make a diffrence becuase everything is split up.

[jburas]

It says 6.9 GB, that's too big for what is there.


What else does it say there? Format, Data Size, Data Rate, Duration, and Normal Size?

[jburas]

Also, do you want a standard playable DVD or a data file that will fit on a DVD? If you want a playable DVD, what DVD authoring software do you have?

[_ray_biddle_]

If your making a Dvd you pop into a DVD player the size shouldn't make a diffrence Ray. Thats why on the DVD it was say max lenth like 100 minutes or whatever. It could be 100GB but it wouldn't make a diffrence becuase everything is split up.

The DVD can only hold 4.7 GB.

[_ray_biddle_]

Also, do you want a standard playable DVD or a data file that will fit on a DVD? If you want a playable DVD, what DVD authoring software do you have?

DVD studio Pro. I should be able to render the file down smaller but that's where I am having problems.

[jburas]

DVD studio Pro.

Then don't worry about compressing it with Final Cut Pro or Compressor. DVD Studio Pro will do it for you automatically.

In FCP, select File > Export > Quicktime Movie...
Make sure that "Make Movie Self-contained" is NOT selected (this makes a reference movie, which saves time and disk space).
Click "Save"

Now import your newly-made Quicktime reference movie into DVD Studio Pro as an asset, and it will encode the file for you in the background.

[_ray_biddle_]

Then don't worry about compressing it with Final Cut Pro or Compressor. DVD Studio Pro will do it for you automatically.

In FCP, select File > Export > Quicktime Movie...
Make sure that "Make Movie Self-contained" is NOT selected (this makes a reference movie, which saves time and disk space).
Click "Save"

Now import your newly-made Quicktime reference movie into DVD Studio Pro as an asset, and it will encode the file for you in the background.


When i tried that, I got a message that said I couldn't make it a Quicktime movie as the file was already in use with another program.

[jburas]

When i tried that, I got a message that said I couldn't make it a Quicktime movie as the file was already in use with another program.

Restart your computer.

[_ray_biddle_]

Restart your computer.

Why?

[crossplatform]

The problem is the bit rate, whether you are encoding at a static or vbr you need to reduce the average bit rate until the number of minutes exceeds your minutes of video (just to be on the safe side.) The settings that they give are ideal superbit settings that assume that you don't want to do a menu or anything else. The process that I described is from compressor, if you want I can send you screen caps.

Andrew