Downconverting 720p24 to DV with FCP

[Hayk Paul]

My situation:

I need to compress (using FCP) 720p24 footage into SD/DV but still keep it at 24p, now after I go to EXPORT<USE COMPRESSOR, well basically I don't know how to use it, when I go to 'setting' and it gives me a list of all the different formats, I don't know which to select, I mean the only thing that seemed like the one that would make sense was 'DV NTSC,' is this right? and after I select I don't understand where the 'compressed' file 'goes to' and how I can record back onto my miniDV tape.

I know I'm asking a rash of questions but if anyone else has come across my other posts, well I'm very new to all this, camera and NLE, so I really appreciate all the help you have given me and continue to give me.

[Hayk Paul]

just to elaborate a little, after I select 'DV NTSC' (which I still don't know is the right one to select, logically I think it would be, but I don't know if it'll keep the 24frames...) it opens the Batch Monitor and it does its processing and then it says it has been sucessfully compeleted, but I dont understand where the compressed sequence goes to, I don't know where it is in the FCP interface, literally...

[Tim Dashwood]

Hayk,

Don't bother with compressor. What you want to do is already built into the Media Manager within FCP.

Just simply select all of your 720P24 clips that you would like to downconvert.



Then open Media Manager from the File or contextual menu.




Select "Recompress" and choose DV NTSC - 23.98.

You'll notice that the files sizes will actually get larger because DV uses 25Mbps and HDV1 only uses 19.2Mbps.


The safest thing to do is let media manager create a new project so that your original files are safe.

Select your media destination and click OK.

Choose a name for your downconverted project.



Then wait for the recompression to take place.

You will probably need to set the downconverted DV files to "anamorphic" after the process is complete. Highlight all of your DV clips and CTRL-click or RIGHT-Click the Anamorphic column and select "Yes."

[Hayk Paul]

That's some ridiculously good and thorough help Tim. Thank you.

[Craig Packard]

I'm scrambling to put together a rough-cut of a feature to send off to a certain film festival in DVD format. The running time should be about 90 minutes. Roughly how long can I expect the conversion to DV take? Will the DVD take any longer to create than usual? I'm just watching out for any pitfalls. Are we talking about a matter of hours, days, or weeks to go from my HDV 720/24p timeline to a playable DVD?