Rendered Video File Sizes

C

cptpinoy

Member
Hi All,

As a preface, i'm not too familiar with using FCP. I use Sony Vegas. Although one of my editors uses FCP. I wanted to get some understanding of what fcp editors are getting in terms of rendered video.

I wanted to know if anyone is familiar with the sizes of files they get after rendering an edited clip. We're working on multiple platforms (h.264 720p/30fps, AVCHD 720p/60fps, and others). Currently, my fcp editor edits all these footages (maybe minor color correction and transitions) and he renders out a 20 minute video to about 5GB .mov file (1280x720p, 30 fps).

When I edit a 20 minute video, my files usually come out around less than 1GB (it's probably not even 500MB). I edit at 1280x720p, 30 fps, granted on .mp4 format.

Can anyone tell me their own experiences? Also, maybe state the rendering settings? I would really appreciate it.

TIA
 
When I export, I use the QT Movie option as NOT self contained (quite small 20MB file as an example for a reference file) and then bring that ref. file into Compressor and make an 8bit uncompressed master which can be about 15GB for a 4 min 720p video. That creates basically the best master I can do. I then bring the master into Compressor and use a bunch of presets I created specifically for iPads, iPhones, Vimeo, Youtube, etc. that best match and maximize the quality for those outputs. So that 15GB master will become a 200MB-300MB 4 min 720p web version. Just an example to show how much the file size can vary depending on what's desired.
 
thanks for your info, photo!

What type of format do you output to from Compressor? is it back to .mov or something else?
 
photonashville said:
When I export, I use the QT Movie option as NOT self contained (quite small 20MB file as an example for a reference file) and then bring that ref. file into Compressor and make an 8bit uncompressed master which can be about 15GB for a 4 min 720p video. That creates basically the best master I can do. I then bring the master into Compressor and use a bunch of presets I created specifically for iPads, iPhones, Vimeo, Youtube, etc. that best match and maximize the quality for those outputs. So that 15GB master will become a 200MB-300MB 4 min 720p web version. Just an example to show how much the file size can vary depending on what's desired.
Click to expand...

Why don't you save yourself a step and just export your uncompressed video straight from Final Cut?
 
handsome pete,

You are correct that exporting the full file from FCP will save time with fewer steps, BUT it holds up FCP, can't work on other projects. The reference file method takes seconds and then Compressor itself can do the rest of the work separately.

So really a few extra steps that total take a couple of minutes and but otherwise FCP could be chugging out a large master for half and hour or hour at least for a small project.

Lots of ways to accomplish the same task, and I find for my need, this works the best.
 
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