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Compressor 4 feedback
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From what I have been reading about from various places online is that it is no so different from the version that shipped with FC3. However, it is less buggy and a bit more polished.
If your current compressor is working, if you have it, then there isn't really a need for upgrade unless you need it to work with FCP X.
If your current compressor is working, if you have it, then there isn't really a need for upgrade unless you need it to work with FCP X.
Compressor can utilize any cores you have, as well as other computers on the network.
You may not need Compressor - it is now built in to FCP X, but only if you output to Apple's presets. That's one of the reasons to have Compressor, it allows you to create new export formats (and save and share them as a droplet - so that you might only need one copy of compressor between many FCP X users).
The other reasons for Compressor are to do batch encoding and that distributed encoding mentioned above.
You may not need Compressor - it is now built in to FCP X, but only if you output to Apple's presets. That's one of the reasons to have Compressor, it allows you to create new export formats (and save and share them as a droplet - so that you might only need one copy of compressor between many FCP X users).
The other reasons for Compressor are to do batch encoding and that distributed encoding mentioned above.
Personally, I think the majority of users (me included) would rather have a 64-bit Compressor without distributed computing capabilities than have to deal with QMaster. Don't get me wrong, QMaster is great when it works, but frustrating when it decides not to - and for me, it often happens at the worst possible time (when a deadline is approaching).
The other thing I've always found annoying with Compressor is that its progress meter has absolutely no basis in reality. That may sound like a nitpick to some, but when I'm dealing with a multi-hour encode that I have to schedule my time around, it's frustrating.
To me, virtual clustering on a single machine is a band-aid for true multithreading that may have been acceptable as recently as a couple of years ago, but not today. Apple really needs to stop updating the same old app and write a new one.
+1 I've always had issues with Compressor not playing nice. Even tickets with Apple. I've been very interested to see any forthcoming videos on it and whether or not it works, but reviews are mixed.
Silly....they tout their mac pros as being the workhorse machines, but absolutely ridiculous that their OWN software is a ball buster to work properly.
Others don't have issues, but I sure seem to get knocked down by it
Compressor 4 no longer uses QMaster. Uses the same engine as FCP X and Motion 5. No more need to set up clusters, etc.
Very cool. Can any users share their experiences with it? I'm sold if a) it's fast and b) I don't have to deal with QMaster anymore. But I keep hearing that it's still a 32-bit app. Any thoughts?
The app might be 32-bit, but the rendering processes it spawns (i.e. the shared render engine) I believe are 64-bit, GCD and OpenCL aware.
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Looks like the new one uses all the cores without having to make your Mac Pro a quick cluster.
Looks like the new one uses all the cores without having to make your Mac Pro a quick cluster.
I got to test Compressor 4 out, and it is considerably better optimised. It tends to do better with Apple blessed codecs, but at least now all cores are used without having to go through all the cluster set up fuss. Very nice !
Good to hear. I think mostly I've been pretty confused with Apple's documentation on the new version. It's pretty poorly put together, IMHO. Perhaps I'll give it try, even it doesn't interface directly with FCP 7 (I'm so used to outputting self-contained QT movies before compressing anyway).
We have Compressor 4. It is like 3 but uses all the cores. It does not talk to FCP 7.
Still, I rather use Adobe Media Converter always.
I am not going to use anything related with Apple software anymore. I work at a TV station and we had enough of Apple mediocracy buying and re branding softwares half way done.
By the end of the year we are going to change EVERYTHING, every software to Premiere and Adobe solutions. Enough is enough.
Still, I rather use Adobe Media Converter always.
I am not going to use anything related with Apple software anymore. I work at a TV station and we had enough of Apple mediocracy buying and re branding softwares half way done.
By the end of the year we are going to change EVERYTHING, every software to Premiere and Adobe solutions. Enough is enough.
Don't know about a reference movie, but I couldn't imagine it not working with a self-contained QT movie.
I had to export a reference or self-contained to get Qmaster to work properly with all my cores, before. I'm sure it's the best way now to get Compressor 4 to work with stuff from FCP 7.
I was lucky to not have had any problems with it so far (only used it rarely, when I had something rendered out already - normally, I send my stuff directly from the timeline).
You forget to mention that when you are in the Share Monitor, you can click on the 'i' icon in the render queue to get a time estimate for each render.
I attached a screenshot of my 6x3,33 processor usage... speaks for itself.
It handled fine with a piece of a DV PAL movie I QT REFed into FCPx from FCP7.
That's sorted. Now to get onto more FCPx loveliness and quirkiness.
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Thank you for testing. You imported to the ref to FCP X then sent it to Compressor if I understand that correctly? Not tried to load the clip directly into Compressor
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No, didn't try to load the QT REF directly into Compressor, but I don't see how that would make it work less ?
No, didn't try to load the QT REF directly into Compressor, but I don't see how that would make it work less ?
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By "work less" I meant "work less well".
Correct, a QT REF is just a .mov container with pointers to media and render files. Lose a single one of the sources, and your QT REF is broken.
EDL & XML are different, they are edit lists, a QT REF passes no edits on, only a "mixdown" of sorts.
I'll try to remember to test loading a QT REF directly into compressor for you. But it seems to work fine.
By "work less" I meant "work less well".
Correct, a QT REF is just a .mov container with pointers to media and render files. Lose a single one of the sources, and your QT REF is broken.
EDL & XML are different, they are edit lists, a QT REF passes no edits on, only a "mixdown" of sorts.
I'll try to remember to test loading a QT REF directly into compressor for you. But it seems to work fine.