help with exporting for uncompressed QT file

[giacomino]

Can someone please tell me that has gone through this already?
1) i need to give someone an uncompressed quicktime movie file on a dvd that i edited on fcp 6.05.
segment is shot in 720 30pn from an hvx200
compression is dvcpro hd 720p60
frame is 960x720

in the past i would just export using quicktime conversion; under options dvcpro hd 720p60 or i would export to h264.

after reading more on this forum re compression(s) i hear everyone saying not to use quicktime conversion....

so i am now confused. also, i noticed when i export useing dvcpro hd 720p60 compression the quality is listed as medium???

also, when exporting and your frame is 960x720 do you keep it the same or do use 1280 x720?

and when i export using quicktime/make movie self contained, after exporting, do i open with quicktime and then export? isn't that just doubling your work if it ends up still being a quicktime movie

getting more confused...can someone give me some insight?
any advice would be great.

thanks, jimmy

[Andy Olson]

Hello giacomino,

To export an uncompressed QT through FCP, you need to make a self-contained Quicktime and set the codec/compression to NONE.

From what I understand, exporting a project to any compression other than uncompressed will recompress if it has had effects done to it like fades and speed motion etc. Normal cuts shouldn't force a recompression.

Hope this helps,
Andy

[David Saraceno]

Why uncompressed?

It adds no quality to the image, and creates a huge file.

The "medium" means nothing when exporting. In fact it cannot be changed; it just defaults to that because unlike photojpeg, etc. DVCProHD doesn't have a quality setting. It's always at full quality

If you export QuickTime/Current settings/Audio and video/no recompression/self contained, you get a perfect pixel by pixel copy of your sequence.

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Why uncompressed?

It adds no quality to the image, and creates a huge file.

The "medium" means nothing when exporting. In fact it cannot be changed; it just defaults to that because unlike photojpeg, etc. DVCProHD doesn't have a quality setting. It's always at full quality

If you export QuickTime/Current settings/Audio and video/no recompression/self contained, you get a perfect pixel by pixel copy of your sequence.


Most compression techniques are 'lossy' so if you are creating an intermediate clip, which is to be processed further, then the need for the 'lossless' at the very least for output.

It's on the order of differences between TIFF using LZW lossless compression, and JPEG, which is a lossy technique... the TIFF file will be bigger than the JPEG, often by orders of magnatude...

[David Saraceno]

What you stated is true, but has what application to exporting using current settings?

Current settings provides a copy of the DVCProHD timeline. You can't add quality by using a conversion to uncompressed.

[grinner]

ditto. No need to add file size.

[giacomino]

Thanks everyone for your imput....The reason for this is I need to send someone a an export of my timeline so they can do whatever (make dvd's, etc)....I will put the file on a dvd (uncompressed).

So if they have FCP v 6.05 then I can just send them a FCP file...if not, then I will just export a QT movie which is the way I have always done...

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

What you stated is true, but has what application to exporting using current settings?

Current settings provides a copy of the DVCProHD timeline. You can't add quality by using a conversion to uncompressed.

I would not claim 'adding quality', but rather preventing further loss. In the case of two people who have applications which effectively utilize DVCPROHD... sure, sending the original
file makes sense, and also would not need a 'quicktime' encapsulation pass...

On the other hand, encapsulating and transcoding in Quicktime... will entail loss, if a lossy codec is chosen. Hence, the recommendation for creating an 'intermediate' file using a codec that is lossless...

Most pro apps that I can think of would accept DVCPROHD, but say someone is sending stuff to someone working on a Linux box... don't know why... I use Linux all the time, but most of the current Open Source video apps suck big time (even Gimp limps...), to the point where I've pretty much given up even considering 'trying' them out... so I do use the industry standards and even try to keep current... but others may not be able to do that...