Ok, here is my issue:

Working with a Sony FX1 footage looks great and all but when is time for the final render in HD I can't seem to find the best config under compressor, keep in mind is not a matter of Fields or GOP or anything like that I am talking about here, is just plain quality.

I have heard people before talking about how great MPEG2-TS looks compared to WMV-HD but to be honest I have not found a solution on the MAC for getting the true HD quality out of FCP5 or Compressor 2, and WMV-HD looks just a little soft but very impressive.

I have done some comparisons between Compressor and BitVice and so far Compressor can't come close to BitVice quality wise (SD Downconversion test) but they just don't support HD.

Now, I know some of you will be saying H264, well, I love it but it is unsusable for many Hardware decoders out there today, I myself own a JVC Pro HD player and the best I have found yet is to play WMV-HD, and no support for H264.

Even the new XBOX 360 will play WMV-HD out of the box with or without DRM.

Can someone help?

My setup is:

FX1
FCP5
I also have DVFilm Maker (Very Nice 24p Conversion "No Kidding")

Here are the questions:

1. Any other MPEG2-HD encoders for the MAC?

2. Anyone has a workflow for editing on FCP5 and transfer the edit to Windows Media Encoder on the PC platform?

3. Any other encoding mechanism I can use? say DiVx? (Quality?)

Sorry if my questions are confusing.

There's a FCP and more Mac specific editing forum listed further down the forum front page.

Having said that... If you're just wanting to transpose the m2t straight from the camera as an MPEG2 transport stream (no re-rendering); just change the file extension from *.m2t to *.mpg

If you're wanting to transcode to MPEG2 Program Stream, I'd be sure there's Mac utilities similar to PC utilities like Womble MPEG editor, that can transcode without re-rendering. Take a look at VLC for Mac as well. It has transcoding abilities in the PC version - not sure about Mac though.

I'll make the point about HD and maintaining high bitrates with re-rendering as MPEG2 or WMV9 HD - or any other compressed distribution format, because it applies equally to Mac as it does to PC.

Always aim at the maximum possible bitrate you can achieve (as close to the originals' as possible) - never go with the default settings, and use quality enhancing modes such as two-pass, and motion compensation. Render times will increase exponentially, but the results are worth it.

You might want to look out for FFmpegX (http://homepage.mac.com/major4/). It doesn't handle interlace source material very well very well but in all other regards is a very good piece of shareware for mpeg work. (the free version it is fully functional apart from one not terribly important DVD ripping utility)

Thread moved to Final Cut for HDV.