Final cut pro vs. Compressor

[John Cambell]

Ive heard that using compressor isn't that good and not worth using and that final cut pro can output its movies extremely good. Anybody have any input on this. I also was wondering if I am using final cut pro footage 1080i hdv and have compressor and dvd studio pro, which is the best workflow and way to make the best quality dvd?

[Gary Nattrass]

I tend to just use final cut for all my outputting, I shoot 1080i 50i and then output in pro res 422 at 1080i 25p.

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

I mostly output in FCP in it's original settings of the sequence, and if I need other versions for web and dvd, I all do them in Compressor. It gives me the oppurtunity to put things in a batch, and have more control over the image when needed.

[John Cambell]

if I want to make a dvd whats the best way to do it using dvd studio pro and compressor to get the best quality?

[Liam Hall]

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

I tend to just use final cut for all my outputting, I shoot 1080i 50i and then output in pro res 422 at 1080i 25p.

There's no such format as 1080i 25p!!!

[Liam Hall]

Originally Posted by John Cambell

Ive heard that using compressor isn't that good and not worth using and that final cut pro can output its movies extremely good. Anybody have any input on this. I also was wondering if I am using final cut pro footage 1080i hdv and have compressor and dvd studio pro, which is the best workflow and way to make the best quality dvd?

As Mathieu says, you should use Compressor for all your exports unless you are keeping the original settings and yes Compressor/DVDSP is the way to go for DVD. Do a search there are many threads here on this topic.

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by John Cambell

if I want to make a dvd whats the best way to do it using dvd studio pro and compressor to get the best quality?

Use Compressor for DVD encoding, not DVDSP. Better control = better results.

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by John Cambell

Ive heard that using compressor isn't that good and not worth using

What exactly and where did you hear that? I personally like Compressor and have no issues with it. I know some have complained about stability issues with Compressor (I have not had any), but I have yet to hear a complaint about its quality.

For any transcoding, I love Compressor's usage of clusters on a quad-core for fast rendering times.

[Steve Lewis]

I have just been doing a QT Ref file straight outta FCP and then dropping that into iDVD for most of my dvd's. Is compressor a better method (timewise or quality-wise?)
-Steve

[Liam Hall]

Originally Posted by Steve Lewis

I have just been doing a QT Ref file straight outta FCP and then dropping that into iDVD for most of my dvd's. Is compressor a better method (timewise or quality-wise?)
-Steve

Yes and yes:)

[Chris Hocking]

Ive heard that using compressor isn't that good and not worth using

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Compressor is fantastic, and you can achieve some amazing results with it. There are heaps of posts around this forum on the best DVD workflows, but generally speaking you use Final Cut Pro for the editing process, Compressor for transcoding and/or compressing your media, and DVD Studio Pro for putting together a DVD. Each piece of software is designed for a different stage in the post production workflow. They are all powerful and extremely effective tools if used appropriately.

[Luke Oliver]

what is the best workflow or does it not matter

1 .... drop your Hd edited sequence into an sd timelime before exporting to compressor dvd best quality 90mins.

or

2 finalcut HD timeline straight to compressor dvd 90 mins best quality


3 HD time line, export to HD DVD 90 mins, then to dvd studio SD DVD

[Chris Hocking]

There are lots of more detailed threads on this topic in the DVD Authoring section of this forum, however generally speaking, if you export out a "Quicktime Movie" and then bring that into Compressor you will achieve fantastic results. Compressor's "90 Minutes Best Quality" preset will achieve nice results, however you can play around with those settings (deinterlace, add sharpness, etc.) to really fine tune the result.

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Luke Oliver

what is the best workflow or does it not matter

1 .... drop your Hd edited sequence into an sd timelime before exporting to compressor dvd best quality 90mins.

or

2 finalcut HD timeline straight to compressor dvd 90 mins best quality

I haven't personally played around too much with option 1 to know which, if any, is better. But option 2 gives you more control over the conversion, which is why I opt for that one.

Originally Posted by Luke Oliver

3 HD time line, export to HD DVD 90 mins, then to dvd studio SD DVD

I would never consider this an option as it is a very lossy workflow. Making a conversion of an already compressed conversion is something I would avoid whenever possible.

[Steve Rotter]

hi, everyone says compressor is great and maybe it is...what's going on?! i shoot in HD, edit in HD timeline in final cut pro 7, then export to CBR 6.8 or 7 QT movie. i will import that into compressor at the 90 minute best quality setting, tweak it for best results! then import that into DVD studio pro! the DVD looks like garbage on tv!!! does DVD studio pro encode the already-encoded compressor footage?!?! can i turn off encoding in DVD studio pro!?

i got best results by exporting hi rez QT file as H.264 from final cut pro 7 and importing that massive file into iDVD....yes, iDVD. iDVD encodes it great and it looks outstanding! a cheaper program to do a better job?

this is why i don't want to use compressor. either compressor is garbage or DVD studio pro is going to do what it wants...encode / compress again! too bad DVD studio pro doesn't see H.264 files like iDVD does. maybe i should just use iDVD?

so, am i right? is DVD studio pro encoding an already-encoded file brought in from compressor? i have wasted hours, as you all have, in experiments.

thanks so much,
Steve