Help with export for dvxuser Si-Fi fest.

K

Kip_Kubin

Well-known member
Hi All FCP users,

I need some help exporting my film to meet the requirements for delivery. Their are a few requirements that I've never done in FCP.

Can anyone help with ant of my questions.

The requirements are an mpeg2 file that's 24p/anamorphic.

My questions:

They want the mpeg2 file to contain the audio as well. How do you do that within FCP? Can you do it within FCP?

They want the suffix of the file to read .mpg When I usually make an mpeg2 my suffix is .m2v How do I do that correctly?

Finally, you were aloweed to shoot in letterbox or squeeze. I shot in letterbox. They want the mpeg to be 24p/anamorphic. How do I set up the export so that my footage is'nt streched out?

I think that's all my questions for now. I figured someone could help that was'nt going to be entering that used FCP.

Thanks

Kip
 
First, I don't have FCP (I use Express), but was looking for similar help the other day.

FCP comes with compressor, so you should be able to make the mpeg-2s with that (as I understand it).

But you have to mux/multiplex the two resulting files together into one mpg file. There is software to do that. Not sure if Compressor offers the option or not.

I bought BitVice -- www.innobits.se -- supposedly does a better job than compressor, and they offer a free helper app (which you could probably use stand-alone, it's right on their homepage) to mux the video and audio. You'll use the helper app to convert the audio first (to mp2 if it's not already in that format) and then mux the mp2 (audio) and m2v (video) files together.

I also shot in letterbox. When I exported out of Final Cut to Quicktime I chose in the video settings Progressive and 16:9. I have NO idea if, when it's converted for the internet by Jarred, it will look all stretched out or not... I know when I viewed the Quicktime file itself (before encoding to mpeg-2) it looked fine.

It WILL stretch out on wide-screen TVs unfortunately. I've been looking into some uprezzing solution (because AE did an AWFUL job) and the only one I found will take like 12 hours of processing to get through it, and that doesn't seem like a very efficient solution to me.... but I digress.

Be warned... this is my first time submitting to one of these fests and submitted mpeg-2's to anyone, so I've learned as I went. I read more about encoding in the last three days than I wanted to... but I'm certainly no expert. Hope it was at least helpful! :)
 
I can't speak to the muxing but for the 16:9 with Compressor you'll choose a 16:9 OR Widescreen option depending on which setting you use. Then in the preview window you crop the black bars out (on the right side of the window). Then when it's compressed it will be the 16:9 aspect ratio and not look stretched.
 
Blaine,

Could you provide more details on this? I didn't think you could simply crop out the black bars... If you do so, don't you need to uprez to be at the correct size for true anamorphic 16:9? What about quality loss?
 
Kip, from what I read in the last hour, looks like Compressor CAN mux the stuff for you... look over on the Apple.com support forums...
 
EditPhish said:
Blaine,

Could you provide more details on this? I didn't think you could simply crop out the black bars... If you do so, don't you need to uprez to be at the correct size for true anamorphic 16:9? What about quality loss?
Click to expand...

What I would suggest you do is take a short clip and run it through Compressor with a 4:3 output (black bars), then export it through Compressor again but this time choose the same options EXCEPT 16:9. Before you start compressing go to the preview window (in Compressor) and on the right hand side use the cropping "handles" to crop out the black bars. There's a split in the middle so you'll see the bars on the left side but not on the right side. Run the compression and check the results. Then compare the results against each other. It looked okay to me. Be sure you use just a small clip so you don't spend a lot of time compressing.

When I originally tested this I was looking for unstretched 16:9 and this method gave it to me. I didn't go so far as to output it to DVD to check it on my TV but on the computer it looked good.
 
Thanks Blaine, but I don't have Compressor.

From what I've read (and I can't tell you if it was right or not), you do lose quite a bit of resolution that way. I tried something very similar using After Effects and the results were not good. I could clearly see the difference on my TV monitor... it was NOT apparent on the computer monitor. Maybe compressor does a better job at the uprezzing... I dunno... but it's not an option for me anyway since I don't have it :( (it doesn't come with Final Cut Express)
 
this is mangler, spidey's name wont sign off on my computer, but anyway..

i'm trying to figure out this widescreen letterbox deal. i've got the image dialed, but the deal with including the audio is kinda confusing me, i'm trying to figure out how to mux it. any help? thanks
 
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