Hey - well I completed a 10 minute show in FCP HD on the mini mac setup which worked flawlessly but now I'm trying to export to a QT file to transfer back to my PC where it'll be compressed in Sorenson Squeeze and posted. I don't care about file size (well, not uncompressed) at this point as it's going to be compressed on my pc programs. The ones I've been exporting are 1.7 gigs but look squeezed, colors are awful and have some pixelated feel. I've been doing file > export using QT compression then choosing the NTSC DV template at best quality and no audio compression. Prepare for internet streaming is also turned off. Is this a job for compressor?

Anyone have an idea? I don't have any. If you export to QT DV
it should look as the original footage did.

The menu option changed from FCP 3 to 4 and HD, but I am guessing that Bryan is re-encoding by doing QT compression again. In version 3, the option you want is Export FCP Movie and a separate option for QT to get .mov files that use another codec. I would assume there is a more direct export option where Bryan does not not need to choose the codec, and thereby is not recompressing his footage. When using the export, if you do use the QT option, make sure there are no other settings for size, color, alpha channel, etc...

Using FCP HD you would just choose Export > Quicktime Movie and don't change anything else, assuming you've edited in native DV. The dialog will say that it's using the current settings with the self-contained box checked, and that's what you want. Don't check the recompress box. You may need to add the .mov extension to the saved file.

If that doesn't help then I'm not quite sure what's going on. These are the standard format used by FCP so the quality should be the same as what you were editing.

If you're playing back using Quicktime Pro also make sure you've enabled high quality playback mode in the movie properties (although this only affects playback and not what's actually saved in the file).

Now if your issue is that these files look bad on your PC then I'm afraid I can't help...

Boyd is correct but one more point; if you bring it over to your PC (for what reason I haven't a clue), you will need to add the .mov extension to it or windows will freak.

Just a reminder, since you are using FCP HD, you have all of the compression tools you need at hand.

BTW, isn't the Mini awesome?

Thanks everyone, sorry i was a little late responding, I just returned from a long weekend trip (not a voluntary one, see significant others' family :) ). Boyd, you're a genius - I had been exporting correctly but wasn't adding .mov to the file and was utterly confused as to why nothing would open the file. I figured it was some awful safeguard mac tried to put on their native QT files to prevent cross platform trading like I was engaging in - when Vegas wouldn't even open the file, I thought for sure I was screwed but adding the mov extension fixed all my woes. The recompressing process in FCP was making the quality lack but then the second encoding on my PC was just killing the quality. Now it's back to normal online encoding look - thank you everyone!

Dave - ah yes, the mac mini has been serving me VERY well - this past project, it handled a lot that I threw at it including effects like screen wipes with layers from photoshop pulled out for effects and some magic bullet editors rendering. I never had a single hiccup. Now my workflow is nice from mac to pc for DVD writing and also on this past project I created a little After Effects intro for the show on PC AE and then sent over to FCP HD for insertion - it's all good in the cross platform world.