FCP Movies vs Timeline for DVDs & Back to Tape

[Elmer Lang]

Is there any substantive, established reason for preferring either FCP Movies or straight-from-the-timeline when exporting to Compressor for DVDs?

Any different reason for using either when sending back to tape for archiving?

thanks,
elmer

[Victor Kellar]

I've always had success creating a Quicktime reference movies of current settings and dropping that into Compressor

Same with going out to tape

[Elmer Lang]

Do you mean you didn't check the standalone box?

Because I read somewhere ages ago that going from the timeline to Compressor produced slightly better quality than standalone FCP movies.

I wish someone could explain why!! Or say that's not true.

The problem with archiving to tape from the timeline is that it occasionally stops and you have to start over. With a new tape. It's very frustrating.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Yes, print to video can be very problematic in my experience. The same drive which works fine for capturing and editing may not work with the print to video command without dropping frames. This has been discussed in various other threads here. However, making a self-contained Quicktime file and dropping that into a new sequence will usually fix any print to video problems, but of course it takes extra time to export the file and extra disk space to store it.

[Elmer Lang]

Thanks for the info!

However, is it true that in making a self-contained movie all of your footage will be rendered to that file, including titles, filters, transitions, etc. adding a generation before sending it back to tape, i.e. a slightly lower quality final version?

thanks,
elmer

[Victor Kellar]

Originally Posted by Elmer Lang

Thanks for the info!

However, is it true that in making a self-contained movie all of your footage will be rendered to that file, including titles, filters, transitions, etc. adding a generation before sending it back to tape, i.e. a slightly lower quality final version?

thanks,
elmer

No, I don't believe that to be true. (you should render everything before exporting anyway). The QT movie, self contained or not, is the quality of your timeline.. it IS your timeline