Hi,

I'm having a problem exporting from FCP 6. I tried just exporting with quicktime and it only exported the ceremony portion of my video ?!?!? what is that all about? Last night I tried running it through compressor and it froze up. Any ideas? I edited on a 720p 30fps timeline and I'm trying to export in the same format. Any suggestions on how to get this bugger to DVD? Any help would be great.

Thanks!
Ryan

I think I found the problem.....Is there any way to change sequence settings on an existing timeline. The current settings are 1080i and I thought it was 720p am I SOL?

I think I found the problem.....Is there any way to change sequence settings on an existing timeline. The current settings are 1080i and I thought it was 720p am I SOL?

You can change the settings of an existing sequence. with the sequence open or selected in the browser hit Command + 0, or go up to the file menu heading: Sequence and select: Settings. If they were wrong, you would've had to render everything prior to viewing. You can also look in the browser to compare sequence information to that of the clips to make sure everything is set properly.

Thanks Paul!

I checked the clip settings and they are 1440x1080 30p. I changed the sequence setting to that. It now has to be rendered again (timeline render area turned green after the switch). Does that make sense? Also the video got the sides cut off in the preview window when playing the video in FCP. Will that be fixed after it renders again? Sorry for the NOOB questions. This is the first time I've had this problem.

Thanks again!
Ryan

Update:

I changed the sequence settings and re rendered the video. It plays fine in the FCP preview, but I still can't export it .When I try and export a quicktime movie I get an error message "general error". When I try exporting using quicktime conversion it seems to start but it just hangs there and never gives an estimated time. I've also tried using compressor and it doesn't get moving. Is there anything I can do? Please let me know if anyone has any tips or ideas.

Thanks you,
Ryan

Is there anyone out there that can help me?

ok.....I've seen that 74 people have viewed my post an I've only gotten one response. Is this posted in the wrong forum or something. I'm really stuck here and could use a bit of help. Thanks in advance, I may wind up smashing my mac in a few minutes:)

Ok, looking for further info here: you're looking to export a QT of your timeline so that you can open that in Compressor and then compress to MPEG2 for DVD right?

Hi Shaun,

Yes.....exactly! thank you for your response. I'd either like to do that or just be able send it right over to compressor to take care of ti there. I've actually used compressor to output a m2v file for dvd studio pro for a highlight using the same timeline. That's why I can't understand why I'm having this problem all of the sudden. I've tried changing setting and rendering again with no success.

I'm just scared that something changed and I'll have to re edit the entire video. It plays fine in the FCP preview all the way through. I've double checked that everything has rendered. It did wind up exporting a quicktime movie but it only plays for about 3 seconds and then stops and crashes.....eeeerg. I am so stressed about his whole thing. Thanks again for trying to help.

Ok....some how some way the video exported using quicktime conversion. I can't freakin beleive it woooohoooo. What would my next step be to get it to dvd?

.... What would my next step be to get it to dvd?

Ryan,

First let me point out just bit of forum etiquette:

We all get frustrated with problems from time to time, even seasoned pros, but reposting frantic "help me now" posts doesn't do anything to encourage others to help. Just because several people looked at your thread doesn't mean they have the information to help, they might be just as stymied as you are as to the problem, just curious or don't have the time to help.

Regardless, if you need immediate help for a mission-critical or deadline-looming job then and you can't afford getting wrong answers from the forum you should consider hiring a consultant for immediate expert advice or being hand-held through an actual workflow step-by-step; there are several that monitor the forums here and are willing to share their expertise and workflow advice for a nominal fee. Although you may get lucky occasionally with someone who knows the answer and can respond immediately you certainly can't count on it, so please don't treat the forum's user-base as your personal "last-minute savior".

Lastly, the question of how to get your files to DVD are covered in countless threads throughout the forum, both here on the Mac and on other related categories. And don't forget you have the best resource available to you - immediately at any time - the built-in Users Manuals for the Final Cut suite. There's a sticky about how to access those files for FCS2 and another closed thread on FCS-3. Whenever you get stuck or don't understand something those references are always available at your fingertips and far more reliable than hoping someone on the forum can rescue you from your quandary.

I would strongly suggest that you take some time to review the sections that deal with proper export procedures from FCP and, making DVD-compliant files either using Compressor or background encoding in DVDSP4. 30 minutes of study time now will be worth dozens of hours saved in waiting for help or, using the wrong workflow.

Robert,

Thank you for the well thought out response to my post. This really wasn't a "mission critical","deadline looming job" or a hail Mary search for a "last minute savior" as you put it. I was just a bit nervous about getting something moving on my little project. I didn't realize my posts had come through as seeming FRANTIC in any way. If they did I'll apologize the the many obviously offended parties. After reading through all of the posts again I realized I probably should of combined a few responses, but at no time did I think any of them were out of line. I am very thankful to those who took the time to respond. Even the etiquette lesson:)

I became a member of this forum to LEARN and share (obviously I need to learn before I can share) as I'm sure most other people here have. If this were a job were the client needed something NOW and my neck was on the line I surely would of mentioned that and made arrangements to have something done about it. I've seen numerous similar posts here were people are stating that they need immediate help now,now,now and they were not offered they same advice you have so willingly given me. I will surely keep your suggestions in mind when posting in the future.

Thanks again everyone! I'll go read for a while now;)

Ryan

Ok....some how some way the video exported using quicktime conversion. I can't freakin beleive it woooohoooo. What would my next step be to get it to dvd?

Open the output file in Compressor and use a DVD friendly MPEG2 setting and VOILA, go to DVDSP.

Hi shaun!

I'm actually having trouble with compressor doing just that. I imported the qt movie to compressor, used my usual setting for dvd output,clicked submit and nothing happens. It just sits there and says there iis an unknown processing time. I'm trying to convert it to mpeg-4 with another program right now. Maybe that will help. I thought dvdsp would do the conversion for me but I guess not. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the response!

Ryan

Hi shaun!

I'm actually having trouble with compressor doing just that. I imported the qt movie to compressor, used my usual setting for dvd output,clicked submit and nothing happens. It just sits there and says there iis an unknown processing time. I'm trying to convert it to mpeg-4 with another program right now. Maybe that will help. I thought dvdsp would do the conversion for me but I guess not. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the response!

Ryan

?
That workflow is a bit wonky to me. Why on earth would you go to an mp4 and degrade quality on yet another transcode?
Try this basic workflow:
1. Make sure if you use in and out points on your sequence that they are placed correctly.
2. Export a QuickTime movie - Do Not Use Quicktime Conversion! For simplicitys sake make sure the "make self contained movie" is checked.
3. Close Final Cut Pro.
4. Bring the Quicktime file into compressor.
5. Apply one of the Apple supplied presets for DVD.
6. Bring in the resulting files into DVDSP and burn a simple disc.

If this fails, repair you permissions, trash All your preferences for fcs and double check your sequence settings etc.


p

Phillip's workflow is spot on.

Thanks guys,


I still can't get anything to cooperate. I exported a quicktime file last night and then tried importing it into compressor.....no dice. It just hangs there and never makes any progress. I trashed my preference files and tried to export using quicktime again and it still isn't working. I'm at a loss here. Are there any other processes I can try? I gues I am really SOL here. Do I reinstall FCP? I really just want to get this thing done and over with. Any additional help would be great! Thanks again guys!

Ryan

It sounds like the problem may with Compressor. Can you check this by importing & using your 'usual preset' for a file that you know successfully worked in the past. If that doesn't work then try one of the standard Apple supplied DVD presets.

You do open Batch Monitor if you render in Compressor right?

Because it's the Batch Monitor that tells you the progress of your batch...

As told here, I always export in FCP as a Quicktime Movie in the current and original settings, thus having a 'Master', self contained of course. I'm still on FCS 2, but if I exported via Compressor, straight from FCP, I always got lockups.
So if I have that self contained Quicktime, I never get problems rendering that.

Ryan,

When you say Compressor "just sits there" are you meaning that it looks as if nothing is happening at all and you don't get a "time to finish" estimate window, or just that things are in-progress but just taking longer than you think it should?

If things aren't working or responding at all that tells me you've got a system that needs maintenance. Download and Onyx (free app) and run ALL it's cleaning and maintenance routines and reboot. If things still aren't working properly after that then you've got more serious problems.

It sounds like the problem may with Compressor. Can you check this by importing & using your 'usual preset' for a file that you know successfully worked in the past. If that doesn't work then try one of the standard Apple supplied DVD presets.

Nigel, Thanks for the responce. I haven't tried that yet. I'll give it a whirl and let you know what happens. Thanks!

You do open Batch Monitor if you render in Compressor right?

Because it's the Batch Monitor that tells you the progress of your batch...

As told here, I always export in FCP as a Quicktime Movie in the current and original settings, thus having a 'Master', self contained of course. I'm still on FCS 2, but if I exported via Compressor, straight from FCP, I always got lockups.
So if I have that self contained Quicktime, I never get problems rendering that.

Mathieu, I did export a quicktime movie and it is not a reference. Is the batch monitor the small window below the preview window? that's the only place I knew of to check progress. If there is another option I'd love to know. I look around compressor and see if there is anything else. I did wind up just dropping the quicktime movie into idvd and it seems to be going fine. We'll see what the final product looks like on the tv. I still want to use dvdsp so I can do my own menus and chapters though. Thanks!

Ryan

Ryan,

When you say Compressor "just sits there" are you meaning that it looks as if nothing is happening at all and you don't get a "time to finish" estimate window, or just that things are in-progress but just taking longer than you think it should?

If things aren't working or responding at all that tells me you've got a system that needs maintenance. Download and Onyx (free app) and run ALL it's cleaning and maintenance routines and reboot. If things still aren't working properly after that then you've got more serious problems.

Robert, Compressor just continues to say "unknown finish time" in the estimate window. Maybe I'll try onyx. My hard drive on my mac is pretty much full. Would that have something to do with this? Thanks!

Ok.....I have a little update. I'm still having trouble with compressor and the video in question, BUT I opened another project that I finished a while back and exported it using both quicktime and quicktime conversion. Both came out just fine.

If somebody could help me out here I'd be willing to pay for your services. I really would like to get this figured out. Thanks!

Ryan