Apologies if this is rehashing an old topic but I simply cannot find the answer I'm looking for. I'm using Final Cut Express and therefore convert all my 7d footage using the Apple Intermediate Codec. When I finish editing I then convert to mpeg4 (highest resolution) so I can post up on sites like youtube. A four minute video is usually about 250MB. Now, I know the quality isn't great on YouTube etc but I'm noticing a huge amount of degredation in the footage from leaving my camera to the point after I have exported from Final Cut Express. Is there a better way of doing it to minimise loss?

The quick answer is upgrade to FCP Studio. The Apple Intermediate Codec is not very good.

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear. Once you have Compressor though, you can then use the preset compressor for YouTube sharing which makes wonderful files for Vimeo, YouTube, etc.

Daniel Weber

I do have Compressor as a standalone application but is this available as an export option in final cut studio?

Use the QuickTime H264 codec in Compressor.

Is that better than using the H264 codec in Quicktime Conversion (when exporting in FCE) then Liam?

Compressor still uses the quicktime engine to do the encoding. I'm not sure which mpeg4 you used since h.264 is still mpeg4, but it should be better than the normal mpeg4 part 2.

I don't know what else to tell you to edit in other than AIC. That's the best codec in express from what I recall for HD. I had to use AIC a lot back in my JVC HD100 days for 720p before HDV became more prominent in Final Cut.

Tim, I'm facing a similar challenge with my 5D Mk II and FCE. What are you using to convert from H.264 to AIC? I've been experimenting with MPEG Streamclip, exporting as AIC, but bumping up the quality from the default of 50% to 100%.

Sites like Vimeo and YouTube have maximum bit rates, if you exceed them they have to compress more and their compression sucks [to put it politely].

What I have found that produces the best results easily for 720P is to export using the Apple TV setting in Compressor. It is gated to 5mb/s, produces a .m4v file that looks surprisingly good.

A four minute video with a 5Mb bit rate should yield a file about 170MBs.

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Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post. How does the footage look after converting to AIC on your timeline? Also, I have never used FCP Express but I'm assuming there's a sequence setting for AIC?

Although the AIC is not the best, your footage should look good and as long as your sequence settings are set correctly and you export using your sequence settings the output should look as good as the AIC footage that was encoded from your source footage.

If your exported AIC quicktime looks good then my previous post is applicable. I used the AIC for quite a while before ProRes and found that the output from it was quite good.

Is that better than using the H264 codec in Quicktime Conversion (when exporting in FCE) then Liam?

Not necessarily better, but exporting via Compressor gives you more options and is more efficient. Either way, ditch the MP4 and use H264. I'm sure you'll like the results.

Tim, I'm facing a similar challenge with my 5D Mk II and FCE. What are you using to convert from H.264 to AIC? I've been experimenting with MPEG Streamclip, exporting as AIC, but bumping up the quality from the default of 50% to 100%.

Yes, that's exactly what I do at the moment Carl

How's the quality of the AIC that MPEG StreamClip produces?

Chuck, as I have no other standard of reference I can only say that it looks really good to me. I've done exports to AIC for FCE, as well as a conversion to .mp4 so I can view the clips on a Sony PS3, and they all look fine. Is there a test you can recommend that would provide a more scientific analysis?

Tim, I should have assumed you were using MPEG Streamclip. Nonetheless I cannot resist asking one more question. Did you uncheck the Interlaced Scaling checkbox, and leave the frame size at 1920 X 1080 (unscaled)? If so, then that's as good as it gets, and the problem must be elsewhere.

just use prem pro and it can edit it all native. way faster and simpler the FCP....

for encoding a matrox MXO2 with MAX provides hardware accelerated encoding which makes turning out different versions really fast and easy. you can make a couple of passes if you need to tweak settings and it doesn't take all day :)

Wow, wish I'd known that before buying FCE!

Codecs like H264, XDCam EX and HDV were developed as acquisition codecs to capture the best quality given the camera's bandwidth limitations, they were not developed to be used in post production.

There are real benefits to encoding these formats to an intermediate frame based codec like ProRes or AIC. Just because an NLE can edit an acquisition codec natively doesn't mean you should. That leads to one of those religious debates over native vs non-native editing that I'm really bored with. If you want to edit natively have at it.

Although the OP was vague about where he thinks his problem might be, he did not mention editing natively. Tim, since (I'm assuming) you don't have Premiere Pro or Edius and can't edit H264 natively without spending more money, would you like to resolve the problem with the applications you do have?

If so you need to isolated the problem. The quality of your clips should be indistinguishable when converted to AIC with MPEG StreamClip, if there's a noticeable difference then your using MPEG StreamClip incorrectly. If the quality is good, then you need to make sure your sequence setting are correct in FCE and then export, using sequence settings, an AIC clip directly from FCE. Again, the quality will be imperceptible from the original. If that's the case then you know the problem is with the encoding back to H264 (or whatever codec your exporting for online use).

Use a 30 second clip and this entire process will take less than 30 minutes and you will know at what part of your workflow you are making a mistake.

Carl, I'm not sure how you can definitively compare your .mp4 with the original H264 clip. It's very subjective, but if you play the original H264 clip and the mp4 clip on the same monitor and they look the same then I guess everything worked as it should. The AIC is not a bad codec, you don't loose any quality by using it, its just that ProRes is a much better coded. But if you can't use ProRes, AIC works well.

Slight disclaimer, since I now use ProRes I have not used the AIC for some time and there is always the possibility that the developer (Apple) has screwed it up. Unlikely though.