best option for exporting HD 1440 x 1080 video

[daniellebleach]

Hi all! This is my first time editing HD footage. I have a timeline that I want to export from Final Cut - its HD 1440 x 1080. I would like to export at the highest possible quality but am a bit stumped as to which compression to use.
Have quite a few options is the same size (eg Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), HDV 1080i..., HDV 720p.... etc.
Any advice would be great for this newbie to HD!

 

[bigbossbmb]

what is the export for?

web? DVD? another editor?

 

[daniellebleach]

hey bigboss, its for a big screen... not quite sure on dimensions but pretty huge so the higher the quality the better

 

[NickFalk]

Well if it's going to be played from a mac (or PC) capable of doing so it makes sense to export it in the same format as you've made the edit.

 

[tcgjeukens]

To maintain maximum quality, do store your end result in the same format as your source material.

When you say your source material is 1440 x 1080 it is probably HDV 1080i.
You can check by looking at the Sequence settings by pressing Apple-0 (oups I mean Command ). Look at Quicktime video setting.
When your are done editing, export your result by File > Export > Quicktime Movie. This option will use the settings as shown in your Sequence settings.

Do note:
- Each time you change the Compressor (CoDec) settings, you will loose quality.
- Even chosing a higher quality CoDec will result in a loss. You can never increase the quality of your source material by selecting another codec.

Good luck.

 

[NickFalk]

While what tcgjeukens is saying is correct it does occasionally make sense to change the material to something else than HDV before you start editing.

The reason for this is that if you ad titles, filters or correct colors the quality loss with each decoration is larger with HDV than with a lot of other formats.

So if you plan to do a lot with the footage besides simple cutting it makes sense converting it to something like Apple's 422 or DVCPRO HD first...

 

[AviationFan]

it does occasionally make sense to change the material to something else than HDV before you start editing.

True - either change the material, or use FCP 6's feature to render to ProRes while leaving the original material alone. That way, the time- and space-consuming encoding is limited to those frames where the source material was actually modified.

- Martin