Hi guys

I have sent a 1hr 50min movie to compressor to downconvert to sd and it is now on hour 12 of processing. Is this normal?

Thanks

That was about right for my G5 dual 2ghz. Sometimes longer. The new one cuts that way down

I am running a 24" intel imac with 2gig of ram and fsc2. This is normal then.

It should take about the same time as your video if not alittle more or alittle less

Make sure you convert your audio to ac3

Check out the artricle

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/compressor_3_interface_stone.html


Robert

That sounds about right for your system. If you don't touch the computer (do it while you sleep or something) it might actually go a little faster. But if you use it while its encoding then it will go a little longer. But then again if you can get other work done at the same time It might be worth it taking a little longer.

Thanks guys. I took 17hrs to finish. Didn't expect it to take so long. Much faster to just export to quicktime self contained movie. Why even use compressor?

I have sent a 1hr 50min movie to compressor to downconvert to sd and it is now on hour 12 of processing. Is this normal?

That depends. What kind of sequence are you compressing? Did you export a QT clip and bring that clip into Compressor or did you export your sequence directly to Compressor?

Why even use compressor?

Depends on what format your deliverable will be, where it is going, etc.

Jason,

There's a couple things you need to understand about the compression process regardless if you're using Compressor or something else:

Compression/encoding times are very specific to the final output format you've selected. Downconverting from HD to SD takes much longer than same-format encoding. It's also highly processor/drive intensive, C3 takes full advantage of multi-threading (accessing all the CPU cores as available) especially for MPEG2. If you have an external array that would speed things up substantially but iMacs have no expansion capabilities for such things (no expansion cards slots for SCSI/Fibre/eSATA).

Typically when downconverting to MPEG2, H.264 and others from an HD source you can count on anywhere from a 1/4 to 1/8 ratio - for every minute of source material it takes 4-8 minutes to down-convert and encode it. Those times can be cut down substantially on a MacPro with an external array.

If you want to really take advantage of Compressor's capabilities you need to have a system that is designed to use it fully - a MacPro.

FCS2 can run on various combinations of Macs, both desktop and laptop and I've seen many use FCS2 on really old, slow machines but if you're serious about using the apps right and making money from them you need the right machine for the job.

iMacs were strictly designed for the consumer market which is why they have no capabilities for professional add-ons; you can't expect it to perform up to MacPro speeds.

Hi Guys

I was exporting the sequence to compressor. I am not complaining, just didn't know how long to expect. I fully understand the difference between a Macpro and the imac but for my needs the extra $1500 in my pocket was worth it to me. Also I was taking HD and downconverting to SD so I am new to the time needed to do such. Thanks to everyone who responded it was great feedback and now I know the lengths to expect per product.

Typically when downconverting to MPEG2, H.264 and others from an HD source you can count on anywhere from a 1/4 to 1/8 ratio - for every minute of source material it takes 4-8 minutes to down-convert and encode it. Those times can be cut down substantially on a MacPro with an external array.

If you want to really take advantage of Compressor's capabilities you need to have a system that is designed to use it fully - a MacPro.

An example of performance on a Mac Pro (Octo-2.8GHz, 2GB RAM, OS X 10.5.2, FCS2): my total time to output of a 35 minute DVCProHD (720p24) sequence to a QT ref clip and then Compress it for an SD DVD (which means down-rezing was involved) was just under 20 minutes (note: this was a single pass encode for a preview disc, not a two-pass for a deliverable which would take longer). That is darn fast. To do the same on my PowerMac dual-867MHz G4 would have taken at least the entire afternoon.

Don't feel bad about a 12 hour encode Jason, it's a normal timeframe. I have similar performance from our Avid system using Sorenson Squeeze.

I have found that there is no substitute for horsepower when it comes to down rezing and encoding for SD DVD. We have two systems with the same software but one is a newer hotrod and it cuts the time almost in half.

I refer to rendertime as bedtime, waiting for it to finish is painful.

If you really want to have a renderfest try outputting a HDV sequence to BluRay---go on vacation. 2 hour sequence took 31 hours to encode, and of course I found an error in the edit afterwards that required a re-encode--my badddd.

Another option is to have outboard USB storage where you can move the project to a more powerful machine for rendering.

Anyways today is a nice day for a change-grab the kids and go outside and let the render brew, or shoot another wedding whatever comes first.

Jason,

Highly recommended reading - consider this a quick-and-dirty bible for C3:

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Compressor-Quick-Reference/dp/032151422X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215280429&sr=8-1

Jason,

Sounds like the reason you are having such long compressor times is because you are trying to go straight out of Final Cut. Don't do this!!! Export as a quicktime file then import that quicktime file into compressor. I run on a G5 dual 1.8 and find my times to be 2x-3x as long as the actual file. Hope this helps.

Jon Schwartz

Jason - I personally don't think a 12+ Hour encode is anywhere near normal for an HD to SD encode on your setup, but that truly depends what your output media codec/format is and your input HD media codec/format is.

HD and SD mean nothing on their own, you always need to state what codec, what frame rate, and generally what resolution for people to give you reasonable advice.

Personally I suspect you are doing something unusual to get such long down convert times, even on an Imac, or are converting from/too a very processor intensive format in which case the time could be right but there may be ways to optimise it.

Giving us a little more information could save you a lot of compressing time - so rather than just sighing and baring with long compressor times - throw out the details of the Codec and what your delivery format/need is and maybe we can get you going faster.

Craig - basically I took a HDV sequence and sent it to compressor. The sequence was 1h50m and I selected dvd 120min file and hit submit. That was about all I did. Any suggestions or workflow suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks