Can anyone give me some advice? I just recently upgraded to FCP4.0 and today I was going to export a finished project as I always have:

1. Export as FCP file (high quality, no compression)
2. Import into Cleaner and compress

But I was shocked to see that there isn't an option anymore to save as FCP?! I tried the QT export at "Best Quality" but it compresses too much to allow a second compression (and not at high enough quality). So, I tried using Compressor...but I was surprised to see that it's trying to do the same thing as Cleaner, but again, not as good as Cleaner.

How can I export an uncompressed file from FCP to compress in Cleaner?

Can't you do a QT Export and use a lossless codec? What version of QT are you using? Did you check to see if it's licensed as the Pro version?

Jeff,

I have the pro version of Quicktime. Since I always worked with raw FCP files, I haven't had any experience with QT codecs. Which are lossless?

I've found two codecs that are labeled as "lossless". One says "10 bit" and the other says "8 bit".

Any limitations on using 10 bit with other programs like Cleaner?

Some programs don't support 10 bit files. I don't know about Cleaner. The 10 bit files will probably take longer to encode, but may be of higher image quality.

Export as QuickTime movie and uncheck "recompress all frames" and "Make Movie Self-Contained".

It will give you a reference movie that doesn't take up a lot of disk space and doesn't do any type of damage to what you have in your timeline. Bring that reference clip into Cleaner.

Stay out of Compressor. Compressor is bad beta bloatware.

Thanks, Martin.

Just curious...what kind of damage can be done to the timeline data?

Martin's method of Export to Quicktime is the same thing as Export > Final Cut Pro Movie was in previous editions. Export Using Quicktime Conversion is the same as Export > Quicktime was in the old versions.

They definitely could have labeled that better. I wonder why they changed it? Maybe Apple is confused?