Placing "Compressor" Markers in FCP...

[Jay Voog]

I am wondering if there is a quicker way to place compression markers in the FCP timeline. I have a 2 hour SD sequence and I would like to place a compression marker every 10 seconds. At this time I am skipping ahead in timeline every 10 seconds and manually placing a marker...very long process. I have FCP 5.04. Any help would be appreciated!
thanks so much!

--by the way, the reason i am doing this is to have compressor output a much better quality file then i have had before...tends to help with the pixilation...any thoughts?

[Jay Voog]

I just looked about "Extending" Markers. I haven't found any info on it regarding Compressor. Does anyone know if this "Extending a marker" would cause compressor to place constant attention to the full area that is marked, therefore making the quality output better?
thanks again!

[Jay Voog]

Anyone have any thoughts on this???

[Jay Voog]

ok??
i guess not :(

[David Knaggs]

Hi Jay.

Placing a marker every 10 seconds in a 2 hour movie will give you 720 compression markers.

Compression markers are supposed to be used sparingly. They tell Compressor to allocate extra bits (bitrate) to the area of the compression marker. If you use 720 of them, I believe they would just cancel each other out and you will probably end up with the same average bitrate as when you didn't add any.

If you only place them in areas of high motion (sparingly) you should get a better result in those areas.

[Jay Voog]

thanks David for your reply...i really appreciate it!

in my experience, i have noticed that compressor does not do too good of compression, even when i change the settings in the inspector to be best quality as i can.
after placing compression markers throughout the sequence (every 15-30 seconds), it improved much more (still not the best), that's why i do it now.

Do you use compressor for your output to DVD (mp2 files)? I'm just curious on your workflow, if you don't mind. I shoot miniDV. Just trying to make the best product i can and compressor doesn't seem to be cutting it for me. If you have time, i would love to hear your opinion.

thanks again!

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Jay Voog

Do you use compressor for your output to DVD (mp2 files)?

Yes. I use Compressor 3.0.1 to encode my SD DVD assets. I'm very happy with Compressor 3.

But my source footage is 720p25 (HD). So it comes up very nicely when compressed into an SD DVD because it is progressive scan and is also over-sampled (compressing 720 lines into 576 lines of SD [PAL]).

I do recall having to shoot one project in SD (i.e. interlaced) because the client insisted on it. The results of compressing the SD DVD assets from that footage were okay, but nowhere near as good as it is with 720p25 footage.

I often wonder if Compressor 2 (which I think is probably the version you are using) does as good a job with interlaced footage (DV) as it does with progressive scan footage. (Possibly not?)

Anyway, if placing compression markers every 15 seconds is working for you, then it's certainly worth a try. I just suspected that placing several hundred of them might make them negate each other.

[Gary Williams]

Originally Posted by Jay Voog

I am wondering if there is a quicker way to place compression markers in the FCP timeline. I have a 2 hour SD sequence and I would like to place a compression marker every 10 seconds. At this time I am skipping ahead in timeline every 10 seconds and manually placing a marker...very long process. I have FCP 5.04. Any help would be appreciated!
thanks so much!

--by the way, the reason i am doing this is to have compressor output a much better quality file then i have had before...tends to help with the pixilation...any thoughts?

If you make a ref or self contained file and you just put one marker say in the beginning of your project maybe some where in the first clip, when you import into compressor it will automaticaly place a compression marker after every clip, thats how I do it and it works just fine. (one compression marker in final cut time line in the first clip compressor will do the rest when its imported as a ref or self contained Quicktime file)

[Paul E. Coleman]

FCP automatically places a compression marker at each cut so that might reduce your amount depending on how many edits there are in your video. If the video has visually slower portions you might not need as many in those parts. But if it is fast moving, adding compression markers before and during those points will significantly help decrease artifacts and banding. Also placing them just before dissolves or complex transition work well.

[Jay Voog]

Originally Posted by Gary Williams

If you make a ref or self contained file and you just put one marker say in the beginning of your project maybe some where in the first clip, when you import into compressor it will automaticaly place a compression marker after every clip, thats how I do it and it works just fine.

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that you place one compressor marker on FCP timeline and compressor places more? I am sorry, i don't understand how this works. could you explain more, if possible? please forgive me, i just want to make this DVD the best it can be and in the past, compressor hasn't done too well for me. too much artifacts/banding on the footage.
thanks for your help.

[Gary Williams]

Originally Posted by Jay Voog

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that you place one compressor marker on FCP timeline and compressor places more? I am sorry, i don't understand how this works. could you explain more, if possible? please forgive me, i just want to make this DVD the best it can be and in the past, compressor hasn't done too well for me. too much artifacts/banding on the footage.
thanks for your help.

Yes thats exactly what I am saying. When I do a project I do all my chapters in final cut then before I export as a qicktime self contained file I place one compression marker in the first clip of my project when I import that quicktime file into compressor it will automaticaly place compression markers throughout the project their placed at the end of each clip, try it out and see for your self it works for me.