Hey Guys, I just need a little bit of clarification on this process of exporting....well here it goes

*I have edited a One and Half hour FCP sequence which needs to be compressed into an MPEG-2 format for DVD*

My normal workflow for the sequence would be as follows:
1. Right click the FCP sequence name
2. Select "Export"->"Export Using Compressor" and then go about from there

However, I have seen some information where the workflow is as follows
1. Right click the FCP sequence name
2. Select "Export"->"Quicktime Movie"
3. Once finished, Bring the Movie into Compressor and then convert it into mpeg-2 for DVD Studio

My question is Why would one first export the movie using Quicktime and then bring that quicktime movie file into compressor. Is there a significant advantage to it as far as quality in the final product is concerned?

Thank You

Assuming all your render and preview settings are maxed, the quality should be the same. The advantage to exporting a QT movie (reference, or self-contained) is that Final Cut is now freed up for that 2, 3+ hours that Compressor is crunching away on your MPEG-2 file.

When you use "Export"->"Export Using Compressor", the safest bet is to always leave FCP running with the project open, and don't touch anything. I often open other apps, but leave FCP and Compressor alone.

If you make a self-contained QT Movie, that movie stands as it's own file, and you can run FCP, open up another project and keep working while Compressor works in the background. You can even open up the same project and continue working on it. Unfortunately, a stand-alone QT movie can take up a lot of HD space, which why some people render out reference movies.

If you make a by-reference movie, you can still work in other projects in FCP. Just don't work on the project you exported from, as you may change render files (because a file that is NOT self-contained is just pointers back to the original media, and for a finished program this means render files, as well). Maybe you just need to avoid working on the specific Sequence you exported the QT Ref from - I'm not sure. I'd play it safe, just in case.

Thank you Scott...I appreciate the clarification...Definitely puts things in perspective