Apple Compressor User Manual

Compressor

User Guide

K Apple Inc.

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www.apple.com

Apple, the Apple logo, AppleScript, Apple TV, Bonjour, DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut, Final Cut Pro, Finder, FireWire, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Mac, Mac OS, OS X, QuickTime, Shake, Xsan, and Xserve are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

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Production stills from the lm “A Sus Ordenes” provided

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8 Chapter 1: Compressor basics 8 What is Compressor? 9 Compressor workow overview 10 Compressor window overview 11 Manage Compressor windows 12 Compressor terms

14 Chapter 2: Compressor workows 14 Quick and easy batch template workow 15 Manual batch processing workow 16 Custom transcoding workow

17 Chapter 3: Import source media 17 Importing overview 18 Create a batch 20 Add source media les 20 Add standard source media les to batches 22 Add surround sound source media les to batches 25 Add image sequences to batches 26 Add metadata to source media les 27 Inspector window 29 Batch window

31 Chapter 4: Assign settings and preview media 31 Settings overview 32 Assign settings 32 Assign settings to source media 34 Replace an assigned setting with a dierent setting 35 Modify an assigned setting 35 Create custom settings 35 Create and modify settings 39 Share settings 40 About the Automatic settings 41 Example: Create custom groups and settings for DVD 42 Inspector panes 46 Use markers and poster frames 46 Markers and poster frames overview 47 Manually add and remove markers 49 Add compression or podcast markers 51 Plain text chapter marker lists 51 Set the poster frame

52 Preview media 52 Previewing overview 52 Preview media as source or with settings applied 57 Transcode a portion of a clip 59 Preview window

64 Chapter 5: Custom settings and output formats 64 Custom settings and output formats overview 65 iTunes and Apple device output 65 iTunes and Apple device output overview 66 Create H.264 settings 70 Create Blu-ray discs 72 Dolby Digital Professional les 72 Dolby Digital overview 74 Convert stereo audio to Dolby Digital Professional format 74 Assign les to surround sound channels 78 Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane 83 Spatial mixing options 84 MPEG-2 les 84 MPEG-2 overview 86 Create MPEG-2 les 89 MPEG-2 Encoder pane 97 MPEG-2 bit rates and formats 99 About GOPs (groups of pictures) 100 AIFF les 100 AIFF overview 101 Create AIFF settings 102 Common Audio Formats les 102 Common Audio Formats overview 103 Create Common Audio Formats settings 104 MP3 les 104 MP3 overview 104 MP3 transcoding workow 105 Create MP3 settings 106 MPEG-1 les 106 MPEG-1 overview 107 About system and elementary streams 107 MPEG-1 specications 108 Create MPEG-1 les for the web 109 Create MPEG-1 video for DVD 110 Create MPEG-1 audio for DVD 112 MPEG-1 Encoder pane 114 MPEG-4 les 114 MPEG-4 Part 2 overview 115 MPEG-4 Part 2 default settings 116 Create MPEG-4 Part 2 settings 119 Create settings for an audio podcast

Contents 4

121 QuickTime movie les 121 QuickTime movie overview 122 QuickTime video codecs 123 QuickTime audio codecs 124 Create QuickTime media les 130 QuickTime Export Components les 130 QuickTime Export Components overview 130 Create QuickTime Export Components settings 132 DV Stream les 132 DV overview 133 Create DV Stream settings 134 Create image sequence les

137 Chapter 6: Assign destinations and submit batches 137 Jobs, targets, and batches overview 137 Work with destinations 137 Destinations overview 138 Assign destinations 140 Create and modify destinations 142 If a warning triangle appears 143 Destinations tab and Inspector 145 Set up targets and jobs 145 Set up targets 146 Add and copy jobs 146 Chain jobs 147 Submit batches 147 Submit a batch 151 View batch information in the History window

153 Chapter 7: Advanced functions 153 Add lters 153 Filters overview 154 Add and adjust lters 156 Video lters 163 Audio lters 165 Color output 166 Work with frame controls 166 Frame controls overview 167 Apply frame controls to a setting 168 Frame Controls pane 172 About deinterlacing 173 About reverse telecine 175 About retiming 176 Modify geometry settings 176 Geometry overview 177 Crop, scale, and change frame dimensions 179 Geometry pane

Contents 5

184 Add post-transcoding actions 184 Post-transcoding actions overview 184 Add setting actions 186 Add job actions 187 Job Action tab 198 Use Droplets 198 Create Droplets 201 Use Droplets for transcoding media 204 Droplet window 205 Use Final Cut Pro X and Motion 5 with Compressor 207 Use the command line to submit Compressor jobs 207 Shell commands overview 207 Synopsis 207 Command options 208 Example: Compressor commands 211 Compressor preferences 211 Set Compressor preferences 212 Preferences window

214 Chapter 8: Use Apple Qmaster to set up a distributed processing system 214 What is Apple Qmaster? 215 Distributed processing systems 215 Distributed processing overview 217 Distributed processing basics 218 Distributed processing setup guidelines 219 Examples of distributed processing systems 220 Additional components of a distributed processing network 221 How the Apple Qmaster system distributes batches 222 Create service nodes and cluster controllers 222 Creating service nodes and cluster controllers overview 223 Quickly set up a service node using This Computer Plus 224 Set up a cluster controller using QuickClusters 225 Advanced service node and cluster controller information 225 Use nodes without Compressor installed 228 Enable managed and unmanaged services 229 Schedule service availability 230 Use virtual clusters to make the most of multicore computers 231 Turn cluster controller services on or o 231 Set a service password for including a computer in a cluster 232 Use cluster storage 234 Rendering services and shared storage setup 234 Use distributed processing with Shake 235 Recovery and failure notications 236 Process a batch 236 Batch processing overview 237 Submit a batch of les from Compressor 238 Submit a batch of Shake les using Apple Qmaster 240 Submit a batch of Maya les using Apple Qmaster 242 Submit a batch of les using the Generic Render command in Apple Qmaster

Contents 6

244 Advanced rendering information 244 Set environment variables in Apple Qmaster 245 Manage Shake media les on a shared volume 245 Shake plug-in dialog 246 Generic Render dialog 247 Use Mental Ray for Maya 247 Use Apple Qmaster to submit UNIX commands 249 Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding 249 Example: Submit After Eects batches with the Generic Render command 250 Apple Qmaster window 250 Apple Qmaster window 253 Apple Qmaster Sharing window 253 Setup pane of the Apple Qmaster Sharing window 254 Advanced pane of the Apple Qmaster Sharing window 256 Set Apple Qmaster preferences

257 Chapter 9: Use Apple Qadministrator to create and modify clusters 257 What is Apple Qadministrator? 257 Open Apple Qadministrator 258 Create and modify a cluster 262 Monitor cluster activity 262 Set Apple Qadministrator preferences

265 Chapter 10: Keyboard shortcuts 265 Compressor keyboard shortcuts

Contents 7

Compressor basics

What is Compressor?

Compressor is an application for converting audio and video les into professional media formats for disc, device, or web delivery. The process of converting from one le format to another is

called transcoding. You can use Compressor on its own or with Final Cut Pro X and Motion to

transcode audio and video les directly from those applications.

In Compressor, you can:

•

Convert source media to high-denition (HD) or standard-denition (SD) formats (including H.264) for Apple devices such as Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod, or iTunes; for streaming or podcasting on the web; for DVD, CD-ROM, or Blu-ray Disc; or for hando to post-production.

Source media or

Final Cut Pro project

H.264

MP3

AC-3

iPhone

iPad iPod

iTunes

•

Use batch processing to create multiple output les from single-source media les.

•

Create standalone applications called Droplets for drag-and-drop transcoding operations on

MP3 MPEG-1 MPEG-4

QuickTime

To web

QuickTime

movie

(for broadband

and lowband)

AC-3 AIFF

H.264 MPEG-1 MPEG-2

AIFF MP3

QuickTime

CD-ROMDVD videoApple TV

H.264

AC-3

Blu-ray Disc

your desktop. Simply drag a media le onto a Droplet to launch a customized transcoding

session, without opening Compressor.

•

Use Apple-supplied encoding settings or create your own settings to build a library of specialized settings that can be reused.

•

Apply video lters to add fade-in/fade-out eects, timecode overlays, gamma correction, noise

removal, letterbox framing, watermarks, color adjustments, and more.

•

Apply audio lters to control dynamic range, peak levels, equalization, and audio fade-in/ fade-out eects.

•

Use the Preview window to view the results of your lter settings in real time.

•

Create and save output destinations, including your desktop, local disks, remote disks, and FTP

locations. You can even use destination presets to specify lenaming conventions.

•

Control video le image quality during MPEG-2 DVD transcoding by applying single- or dualpass variable bit rate (VBR) to your output les.

•

Customize your frame dimensions using geometry controls. You can resize your image to common

aspect ratios, including 4:3, 16:9, and 2.35:1, or reduce le size by cropping unwanted image areas.

•

Publish your media les to a QuickTime Streaming Server or other locations for DVD authoring.

•

Customize post-transcoding operations by applying AppleScript automation to your output les.

•

Export sequences directly from Final Cut Pro X or Motion into Compressor for transcoding, leveraging the powerful video-processing technology of those applications.

•

Encode media les in the background so that you can perform other tasks at the same time.

•

Automatically send an email notication to any location to notify you or your colleagues when

a transcoding job is complete.

•

Use distributed processing to divide the transcoding work among multiple computers, thereby increasing your processing power. The distributed processing feature is limited to computers that have Compressor installed.

•

Enable and disable distributed processing services and monitor batches using command-line options.

Compressor workow overview

Compressor oers several ways to convert (transcode) media les into any of numerous professional le formats. For basic transcoding jobs to common output formats (Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Apple TV, YouTube, and so on), choose a precongured template to have Compressor

automatically apply all required settings. For more advanced transcoding jobs, apply an output

setting from a list of more than 30 le formats.

Whether basic or advanced, all transcoding workows in Compressor follow the same

essential steps:

•

Import your source media into Compressor.

•

Apply and modify your preferred output settings.

•

Specify a save destination (the location where the output les are saved).

•

Submit your le or batch of les for transcoding.

Chapter 1 Compressor basics 9

Each transcoding session in Compressor is known as a batch. A transcoding batch can contain

Batch window

Preview window

multiple source media les, referred to as jobs. Each job can be transcoded into multiple formats. The following diagram represents a batch containing two jobs:

Batch

Job 1

Source

media file

Job 2

Source

media file

Target 1

DestinationSetting

Target 2

DestinationSetting

Target 1

DestinationSetting

Target 2

Setting Destination

Output media file

(Job 1, Target 1)

Output media file

(Job 1, Target 2)

Output media file

(Job 2, Target 1)

Output media file

(Job 2, Target 2)

In the diagram above, each job is converted to two output les. The settings and save destinations of these les are known as the targets. One output media le is created for each target assigned to a source media le. The total number of output les created by transcoding this batch will be four: Job 1 will create two output media les, as will Job 2.

Compressor window overview

The main Compressor workspace has ve windows, each of which represents a part of the transcoding workow:

Settings and Destinations tabs

Inspector window

History window

Chapter 1 Compressor basics 10

•

Batch window: Import source media les and add transcoding settings and save destinations

in this window.

•

Settings and Destinations window: Choose settings and output destinations from the two tabs in this window. The Settings tab contains more than 30 Apple-provided settings for common media formats (for Apple devices, Blu-ray and DVD discs, web streaming, video-sharing services such as YouTube, and so on). You can add your own custom settings to this list. The Destinations tab contains common save locations (Desktop, User’s Movies Folder, and so on). You can add your own custom save destinations to this list.

•

Inspector window: Adjust common transcoding controls and view a summary table listing the details of each setting. You can also use the Inspector window to gather information about source clips.

•

Preview window: Preview the results of your transcoding settings in this window. A split-screen

feature lets you compare the original media to the modied version, before you output. Here you can see the eects of applied lters and frame resizing, and you can make adjustments to

these attributes while previewing the results in real time. You can also use the Preview window to add and view various kinds of markers.

•

History window: See a complete log of all batches submitted from your computer, including progress bars of batches still being transcoded. You can pause or resubmit any batches listed in the log.

You can display the Compressor workspace in either of two basic default layouts. The standard layout displays all the Compressor windows, with the Settings and Destinations tabs sharing a

window; this layout is optimized for those times when you’re transcoding a single-source media le. The batch layout places the emphasis on the Batch window and is optimized for those times when you’re transcoding multiple source media les. As you work, you can switch between these

layouts. You can also create a custom layout and save it for future use.

Manage Compressor windows

The ve windows of the Compressor workspace can be moved and resized independently of one

another, allowing you to customize your work environment.

View a specic window

m Choose Window > window name.

Bring all Compressor windows to the front

Do one of the following:

m Choose Window > Bring All to Front.

m Click the Compressor application icon in the Dock.

Choose a layout

m Choose Window > Layouts, and choose a layout from the list that appears.

The Compressor interface changes to match the new layout.

Save a layout

1 Arrange the Compressor windows.

2 Choose Window > Save Layout.

3 In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the layout and click Save.

The layout is saved and appears in the layouts list when you choose Window > Layouts.

Chapter 1 Compressor basics 11

Manage layouts

1 Choose Window > Manage Layouts.

A dialog for managing layouts appears.

2 Do any of the following:

•

To rename a layout: Double-click it and type the new name.

•

To remove a layout: Select it and click the Delete (–) button.

•

To save the current interface conguration as a new layout: Click the Add (+) button and enter a name for the layout.

•

To choose a layout and apply it to the current Compressor interface: Choose the layout and click the Apply button.

3 When you’ve nished managing your layouts, click Done.

The dialog closes and the Compressor interface changes to match the chosen layout setting.

Note: The layouts list is actually divided into two sections—the ones supplied by Apple and the ones that you create. You cannot rename or delete the Apple-supplied layouts. The ones that you create are listed in alphabetical order. Use care when naming your layouts so that you can easily locate them in the list.

Compressor terms

This section covers common terms that you’ll encounter as you use Compressor.

•

Codec: Short for COmpression/DECompression. A mathematical model for reducing the data of

a source media le.

•

File format: The output format used to transcode your source media le.

•

Transcoding: The process of converting les from their original format to output les ready for

distribution in another format. Closely related terms include compression, which specically refers to data reduction, and encoding, a term that is essentially synonymous with transcoding, but doesn’t emphasize the conversion aspect.

•

Source media le: The original media le to be converted to a new le format.

•

QuickTime: The cross-platform multimedia technology that allows OS X and Windows

applications to capture and play back video, audio, and still-image les. QuickTime les can contain many dierent kinds of media and codecs. Codecs give instructions to QuickTime on

how to play back the media.

Chapter 1 Compressor basics 12

•

Setting: A group of attributes applied to a source media le during the transcoding process.

Each setting contains the following attributes (which you can modify in the Inspector window):

•

Output (le) format: The encoder you choose to convert your source media le. Choose one

of the following output formats based on the intended playback method: AIFF, Dolby Digital

Professional, DV Stream, H.264 for Apple Devices (which contains settings for use with

iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV), Image Sequence (which supports TIFF and TARGA images), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, QuickTime Movie, or QuickTime Export Components.

•

Filters: Special eects that adjust dierent characteristics of your video (such as color, brightness, and sharpness) to maximize your video quality as the le is converted.

•

Geometry: Controls to crop the image and adjust its frame size.

•

Actions: Controls to create actions that are automatically applied to output les after transcoding. Use this feature to send email notications and execute tasks using Automator.

•

Destination: The location where your transcoded media le is saved. You can either use the default destination (the same folder the source media le is in) or choose a custom destination that you created. The destination also controls how the transcoded media le is named.

•

Target: The area of the Compressor workspace (in the Batch window) where you designate the

setting, destination, and output lename. Think of it as the blueprint for creating an output media le.

•

Job: The source media le and the target (setting and destination) you apply to it, ready to

be transcoded.

•

Batch: One or more jobs that are processed at one time. All jobs contained within the batch are submitted collectively when you begin the transcoding process.

•

Output media les: The transcoded media le (or les) created after the batch is submitted and processed. You can create as many output media les as there are dierent settings applied to the various source media les in the batch.

Chapter 1 Compressor basics 13

Compressor workows

Quick and easy batch template workow

If you want to transcode your source media les immediately and don’t need to create your own settings, you can use the batch template settings that are precongured in Compressor. The following workow shows you a quick and easy way to use Compressor with batch templates.

Stage 1: Choose a template

In the Batch Template Chooser, you’ll select a template to transcode your media. For more information, see Batch window on page 29.

Note: The default set of templates is shown below. If you’ve created other templates, they will also appear in the Batch Template Chooser.

Stage 2: Import source media les

Although there are many ways to import source media into Compressor, the easiest method is to

drag a source le from the Finder or the desktop to the placeholder job in the Batch window. For

more information, see Importing overview on page 17.

Stage 3: Submit your batch for processing

After you’ve chosen a template and provided a le to transcode, you can submit the batch that

contains your job. By default, the batch templates use Source (the same folder that the source

media les originated from) as the destination for the encoded les. For information about

choosing other destinations, see Destinations overview on page 137.

You can view the progress of your transcode in the History window in Compressor. It contains a

progress bar and tells you if a submission was successfully transcoded.

Manual batch processing workow

If none of the precongured batch settings work for your transcode but you want to use the settings

and destinations that come with Compressor, you can manually build and process your batch. The

following workow shows you an easy way to manually build and process a batch in Compressor,

summarizing each stage in the process and providing links to the instructions you’ll need.

Stage 1: Manually import source media les

You’ll need to manually import each source media le into Compressor, either by dragging les into the batch or by clicking the Add File button. After you import les, you’ll see that new jobs are created for each source le you added to the batch.

Each source file creates a job in the batch.

Target area (empty in this case) of a job

For more information, see Importing overview on page 17.

Stage 2: Assign settings and destinations

You’ll need to assign at least one setting and destination to each source media le job before

you can submit the batch for processing. You can also add multiple settings to the same job

to transcode multiple versions of the media le. Each setting-destination pair is known in

Compressor as a target.

For instructions on how to assign settings and destinations, see Assign settings to source

media on page 32 and Destinations overview on page 13 7.

Stage 3: Submit your batch for processing

When each media le has at least one setting and destination associated with it, you can submit

your batch for processing. For more information, see Submit a batch on page 147.

You can view the progress of your transcode in Share Monitor. This is a good way to monitor

when your batch has nished transcoding and if any problems occurred during the transcoding process. For more information about Share Monitor, see Share Monitor Help.

Chapter 2 Compressor workows 15

Alternatively, you can view the progress of your transcode in the History window in

Compressor. It contains a progress bar and, like Share Monitor, it can tell you if a submission was successfully transcoded.

Custom transcoding workow

You can create your own settings and destinations, and customize other attributes such as

lters, cropping, frame resizing, and actions settings to create your own custom transcoding process. The workow below summarizes each stage in the process and provides links to the

instructions you’ll need.

Stage 1: Import source media les

You can import source media les into a batch, either by dragging the les from the Finder to the Compressor Batch window or by clicking the Add File button. You can import source media les

from any folder that you have access to. For more information, see Importing overview on page 17.

Stage 2: Create and assign one or more settings

Compressor has many output formats you can use to create a setting. For more information about the various output formats available in Compressor, see Custom settings and output

formats overview on page 64. For instructions for creating your own customized settings, see Settings overview on page 31.

You can also add lters, geometry settings, and post-transcoding actions to your settings. For

more information, see Filters overview on page 153, About deinterlacing on page 172, Geometry

overview on page 176, and Post-transcoding actions overview on page 18 4.

You can streamline your workow by putting your settings into groups. For more information,

see Create and modify settings on page 35.

After creating a setting, you can preview it to check your work. For more information, see

Previewing overview on page 52.

Note: Frame Controls settings cannot be previewed in the Preview window. To preview Frame

Controls settings, you can do a test transcode using a small section of your source media le. For

more information, see Transcode a portion of a clip on page 57.

Stage 3: Create one or more destinations

By default, your transcoded le is saved in the same folder that the source media le originated from. If you want to store your transcoded les in a dierent location, you can create a new

destination. For more information, see Destinations overview on page 13 7.

Stage 4: Submit your batch for transcoding

After you’ve created and previewed all the jobs you want in the batch, you submit the batch. For more information, see Jobs, targets, and batches overview on page 137.

You can view the progress of your transcode in Share Monitor. This is a good way to monitor

when your batch has nished transcoding and if any problems occurred during the transcoding process. For more information about Share Monitor, see Share Monitor Help.

Alternatively, you can view the progress of your transcode in the History window in

Compressor. It contains a progress bar and, like Share Monitor, it can tell you if a submission was successfully transcoded.

Chapter 2 Compressor workows 16

Import source media

Importing overview

The rst step in the traditional Compressor transcoding process is to import at least one source media le into the Batch window, thus creating a batch.

If you’re using the batch template workow, the rst step is to choose a batch template. For more

information, see Quick and easy batch template workow on page 14.

Here are some tips for importing source media:

•

About highly compressed source les: It’s strongly recommended that you do not use highly

compressed les, such as MPEG les, as your source les, because they can cause artifacts in

the encoded video.

•

When importing QuickTime reference movies: If you submit a reference movie for distributed processing, the Apple Qmaster distributed processing system automatically copies the

appropriate media les to the processing cluster. For the best performance, you can avoid this le transfer step by making sure that the media les specied in the reference movie are

available to each node of the Apple Qmaster cluster. For more information, see How the Apple

Qmaster system distributes batches on page 221.

•

When importing MPEG-2 les: When you import an MPEG-2 le, Compressor must parse the le before you can play it in the Preview window. Parsing the le involves determining its frame structure and other necessary information about the le. Because the frame structure can change throughout the le, Compressor must scan the entire le, which can take several minutes for longer les.

This doesn’t happen with MPEG-2 elementary les encoded using Compressor that had the

“Add DVD Studio Pro metadata” checkbox selected. For more information, see MPEG-2 Encoder

pane on page 89.

•

When importing Dolby Digital Professional source media: You can use Dolby Digital Professional

AC-3 audio les as source media les for your jobs. There are two common reasons to do this:

•

To test a le you just encoded: Because you cannot preview the Dolby Digital Professional output

settings, importing an encoded le into a job allows you to play it and verify the settings.

•

To convert a Dolby Digital audio le to another format: Because not all media players include

Dolby Digital decoders, you may nd that you need to transcode the le to another format.

Compressor includes a Dolby Digital decoder that it uses to play or transcode Dolby Digital

The new batch’s tab

audio les. This means you can verify the Dolby Digital Professional output settings of a previously encoded le on your system without using an external Dolby Digital decoder. To

hear surround sound you must have an external surround sound device connected to your computer’s USB or FireWire output. The audio is mixed down to two channels if you play the audio using your system’s stereo speakers.

Important: Because the audio output is already decoded and not in the Dolby Digital format,

the optical output cannot be used when playing Dolby Digital les from Compressor.

Tip: If Compressor doesn’t allow you to add a Dolby Digital le to a job, add the extension .ac3 to the lename.

•

About automatic values and nonstandard QuickTime: Compressor uses a variety of tactics to determine the proper values for any settings that are set to Automatic. In most cases,

QuickTime les contain metadata specifying the various attributes of the le, such as frame

rate and frame size. In some cases, this metadata is not present, forcing Compressor to try to determine this information, or it’s incorrect, causing Compressor to generate incorrect values

for the Automatic settings. Additionally, some QuickTime les use nonstandard settings that

require Compressor to choose an automatic value that may not be suitable. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to verify that the Inspector values are set to Automatic. For more information, see About the Automatic settings on page 40.

Create a batch

Batches—groups of one or more jobs—are the heart of your Compressor workow, and the

Batch window is where you work with the batches. The Batch window provides a central location for organizing your transcoding tasks and quickly assigning settings.

When you rst open Compressor, the Batch window appears, and as you open more baches,

each appears as a tab at the top of the window. Batches can be saved, closed, and opened again. For more information, see Batch window on page 29.

Create a batch using default settings

m Choose File > New Batch.

A new, untitled batch is added to the Batch window.

Each tab is for a different batch.

The Batch window has a Submit button, located in the lower-right corner, that you can use to begin transcoding the currently selected batch. The lower-left corner shows the status of the current batch (how many jobs it contains and whether it has been submitted).

Chapter 3 Import source media 18

Create a new batch using a batch template

The new batch’s tab

1 Choose File > New Batch from Template.

The Batch Template Chooser appears, containing precongured templates and any templates

you’ve created.

For information about the templates in the Batch Template Chooser, see Batch window on page 29.

2 Select a batch template and click Choose.

A new, untitled batch is added to the Batch window.

Each tab is for a different batch.

Create a custom batch template

You can save any batch as a custom batch template. Custom batch templates appear as options in the Batch Template Chooser, alongside the default Apple batch templates. Custom batch

templates can save you time, particularly with workows that you repeat often.

1 In the Batch window, create a new batch.

Tip: Alternatively, open a saved batch with the characteristics that you want in the batch template.

2 Adjust the batch settings as appropriate. For more information, see Assign settings to source

media on page 32 and Destinations overview on page 13 7.

3 Choose File > Save as Template.

4 In the dialog that appears, enter a name and description, and click OK.

The custom batch template is saved and appears in the Batch Template Chooser.

Chapter 3 Import source media 19

Add source media les

Untitled batch tab

Add standard source media les to batches

Before you add any transcoding settings to a batch, you need to import the source media les into the batch. Importing the source media les into the batch automatically creates a job.

Following are the details for adding standard (not surround sound or image sequence) source

media les to a batch.

Add source media les to a batch

1 Open Compressor.

The Batch window opens with an empty batch tab named Untitled.

Note: If the Batch Template Chooser opens automatically, click Cancel to close it. To prevent the Batch Template Chooser from opening when you open Compressor, select the “Don’t show this dialog again” checkbox, or, in Set Compressor preferences, select For New Batches: Use Blank Template.

2 Do one of the following:

•

Choose Job > New Job With File (or press Command-I), navigate to the folder that contains

your source media, select one or more source media les, and click Open.

•

Click the Add File button (in the Batch window toolbar, if visible), navigate to the folder that

contains your source media, select one or more source media les, and click Open.

•

Control-click a job and choose Source > File from the shortcut menu.

Empty batch area with a placeholder job

Chapter 3 Import source media 20

•

The targets for this job

Control-click an empty area of the batch and choose New Job With File from the shortcut menu. You can then navigate to the folder that contains your source media, select one or more

source media les, and click Open.

•

Open your source media le folder and drag one or more source media les into the batch.

Note: You can combine the above steps by selecting all the source media les you want to

transcode before opening Compressor and then dragging them to the Compressor application icon.

This opens Compressor and adds the media les to the default untitled batch at the same time.

3 To save the batch, choose File > Save As (or press Command-Shift-S).

4 In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the batch and choose the location where you want

to save it.

5 Click Save.

The tab in the Batch window changes to match the name of the le.

Note: If your Finder preferences are set to show le extensions, the extension .compressor

appears in the tab along with the name.

You’re not required to name and save your batches, and for quick jobs you might decide not to.

However, naming and saving a batch makes it easy to go back and resubmit it later if you nd that the output les were not as expected or if your needs change. It also makes it easier to gure out what’s in the History window and in Share Monitor if you submit multiple batches in a

short period of time.

The batch now contains your selected media les, each in its own job. Source media les with video

content also include a thumbnail image and a scroller that you can use to scroll through the video.

will appear in this area.

Each source

media file creates a job.

Drag the slider to scroll

through video files.

Chapter 3 Import source media 21

Click anywhere in the job

to see this file’s attributes

in the Inspector window.

Change the source media le assigned to a job

1 In the Batch window, select the job whose source media le you want to change.

2 Do one of the following:

•

Choose Job > Source > File, navigate to the folder that contains your source media, select one

or more source media les, and click Open.

•

Control-click the job and choose Source > File from the shortcut menu. You can then navigate

to your source media, select one or more source media les, and click Open.

•

Drag a new source media le to the job.

Any targets you had already congured remain and are now applied to the new source media le.

Remove a source media le from a job

m Control-click the job and choose Clear Source from the shortcut menu.

Remove jobs from a batch

Do one of the following:

m To remove a single job: Select the job and press Delete.

m To remove all jobs: Control-click in an empty part of the batch and choose Remove All Jobs from

the shortcut menu.

You can now add targets to your jobs.

Add surround sound source media les to batches

There are two methods you can use to add audio les to a batch to create a surround sound job: an automatic method that relies on lenaming to map the audio les to the proper channels and a manual method that allows you to manually assign the audio les to the channels.

Each method results in a job to which you can add a setting that supports surround sound audio outputs, such as Dolby Digital Professional, AIFF, and several audio codecs in the QuickTime Movie output format.

Important: Some of the output formats have multiple congurations for the surround sound

audio channels. Be sure you know which conguration your intended playback device requires. For example, the AIFF output format provides four dierent congurations for 5.1 (six-channel) audio outputs, with the dierence being the order of the channels.

Assign les to surround channels with channel identier codes

1 In the Finder, append the channel identier code of the target surround channel to the lename

of each source audio le using these codes:

•

-L: Left front channel

•

-R: Right front channel

•

-C: Center front channel

•

-Ls: Left surround channel

•

-Rs: Right surround channel

•

-S: Center surround channel

•

-LFE: Low-frequency eects channel (Subwoofer, LFE)

Chapter 3 Import source media 22

For example, to assign an AIFF le to the left surround channel, rename the le lename-Ls.ai (where lename is the name of your le). The channel identier codes must include the hyphen, as shown.

Note: OS X may add a le extension like .ai. This will not interfere with this channel

assignment method.

This procedure works only when you drag les into the Batch window. If you drag the les onto the Compressor application icon, they’ll appear as separate source les, each in its own job.

Note: If you’re creating Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) surround sound streams, you won’t use all the channels listed in the table at once. For a diagram of the Dolby audio coding modes, see

Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane on page 78.

2 Drag the renamed source audio les to the Batch window.

If the les in the group are named correctly (see step 1) and the group has fewer than seven les, Compressor collapses the entire group of les into what appears as a single surround source media le in the Batch window

Manually assign source audio les to channels of a surround sound stream

1 To import the source audio les, do one of the following:

•

Choose Job > New Job With Surround Sound Group (or press Command-Control-I).

•

Click the Add Surround Sound button in the Batch window.

•

Control-click in the batch and choose New Job With Surround Sound Group from the shortcut menu.

The channel assignment interface opens.

2 To assign a source audio le to a channel, do one of the following:

•

Drag the source audio le from the Finder to the icon for a specic channel (for example, L).

•

Click the icon for a specic channel (for example, L) and use the Open dialog to locate the source audio le intended for that channel.

The le is now assigned to the L (left front) channel.

3 Repeat step 2 for each of the source audio les that you intend to include in the surround stream.

Note: If you’re creating Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) surround sound streams, you won’t use all the channels listed in the table at once. For a diagram of the Dolby audio coding modes, see

Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane on page 78.

Chapter 3 Import source media 23

4 To include a video le, click the Add Video button and select a video le.

5 When you’ve nished adding source audio and video les to the channel assignment

interface, click OK.

The group of surround les appears as a single surround source media le job in the Batch window.

Change a surround sound le assignment

After you create a surround sound job, the Batch window shows the surround sound icon in the

source media le thumbnail (unless a video le was added to the job), and the Inspector window shows the channels and their assigned les.

Click a channel’s icon to change the file assigned to that channel.

You can change any of the le assignments in the Inspector window.

1 Click the speaker icon of the channel you want to change.

2 In the dialog that appears, locate the le to assign to that channel and click Open.

3 To add a video le, click Add Video and select a video le.

You can replace a video le that is already assigned by deleting it and clicking Add Video to choose a dierent video le.

For information about creating Dolby Digital Professional output les, see Dolby Digital

overview on page 72.

Chapter 3 Import source media 24

Add image sequences to batches

You can import a sequence of still images into Compressor as a single image sequence job and

then apply an output frame rate and an audio le to the job. From that point, you treat the job as you do any other Compressor source media le, adding settings, destinations, lters, and post-transcoding actions to create an output media le with the video and audio formats and

characteristics you want.

Add a still image sequence job to a batch

1 Do one of the following:

•

Click the Add Image Sequence button and navigate to the folder containing the image

sequence les you want to import.

•

Choose Job > New Job With Image Sequence (or press Command-Option-I) and navigate to

the folder containing the image sequence les you want to import.

2 Click Open.

The new job appears in the Batch window.

3 Select the job in the Batch window.

The Inspector window displays the A/V Attributes tab containing information and controls for the new image sequence job.

Chapter 3 Import source media 25

4 Do any of the following:

•

Conrm the selected image sequence les.

To view the complete list of les, click the Info (i) button.

•

Conrm the video format information in the Video section.

•

Adjust the eld dominance for the source les by choosing an option from the Native Field

Dominance pop-up menu.

•

Adjust the frame rate for the source les by choosing a standard frame rate from the Frame

Rate pop-up menu.

•

If you want to add an audio le to the image sequence job, click Choose Audio and select an audio le.

Note: Compressor supports the following audio le types for image sequences: AIFF, MP3,

MPEG-4 audio-only (.m4a), and QuickTime movie (.mov).

You can also use Compressor to output an image sequence. For more information, see Create

image sequence les on page 134.

Add metadata to source media les

You can annotate a source media le with information that is important for your workow. Additionally, some types of source media need to be identied before a job can be processed.

Note: The Add Annotation feature is supported by the H.264 for Apple Devices, MP3, and

QuickTime Movie output formats.

Add an annotation to a source media le

1 Click the job to show the source media le’s attributes in the Inspector window.

2 Click the Additional Information tab.

3 Choose the type of annotation from the Add Annotation pop-up menu.

4 Double-click the corresponding Value eld and enter the annotation text.

5 To save the annotation, press Return or click in the next eld.

Chapter 3 Import source media 26

Associate a closed caption le with a job’s source media le

1 Click the job to show the source media le’s attributes in the Inspector window.

2 Click the Additional Information tab.

3 Click Choose, locate the closed caption le (must be a Scenarist closed caption format le, usually

with the le extension .scc), and click Open.

Note: Closed caption data is supported by the H.264 for Apple Devices, MPEG-2, and QuickTime

Movie output formats.

Depending on the output format of the job’s target, Compressor applies the closed caption le to the output media les.

•

For QuickTime outputs: Compressor adds the closed caption le as a closed caption track to the QuickTime output le. You can view the closed captions using QuickTime Player (version

7.2 or later).

•

For MPEG-2 elementary stream outputs: Compressor embeds the closed caption data in an elementary MPEG-2 video stream so that it can be used for DVD authoring.

•

For MPEG-2 program and transport stream outputs: Compressor embeds the closed caption data in program and transport MPEG-2 streams using the EIA-708 ATSC protocol.

Important: The timecode values in the closed caption le must directly relate to the timecode of

the source media le. You can open a closed caption le in TextEdit to see the timecode values it

contains (the actual text is encoded and cannot be read this way).

Inspector window

When you select a batch’s job, the Inspector window shows you information about the job’s

source media le.

The Inspector window contains three tabs: A/V Attributes, Additional Information, and Job Action.

A/V Attributes tab

The A/V Attributes tab contains general information about the source media le and is divided

into three sections.

Chapter 3 Import source media 27

•

File information: This section shows the lename, location, and type of le.

•

Video information: This section, when applicable, shows all video-related information about the

le. This includes its frame size, frame rate, and timecode information.

•

Audio information: This section, when applicable, shows all audio-related information about the

le. This includes its sample size and sample rate.

Additional Information tab

The Additional Information tab allows you to see and modify a variety of metadata items that might have been added in other applications such as Final Cut Pro or QuickTime. You can also

add metadata to the output media le, or associate a closed caption le with the output le.

•

Closed Caption le eld: Displays the name of the closed caption le currently associated with the source media le.

•

Choose (closed caption) button: Use this button to open a dialog and navigate to the closed

caption le you want to associate with the source media le.

•

Clear button: Use this button to remove the associated closed caption le.

•

Annotations table: Displays the current annotation types and the corresponding annotation text.

•

Add Annotation pop-up menu: Choose the type of annotation you want to add to the source

media le.

•

Remove (annotation) button: Use this button to remove the selected annotation.

Job Action tab

The Job Action tab allows you to apply and adjust post-transcoding actions for entire jobs. For information about using the Job Action tab, see Post-transcoding actions overview on page 184.

Chapter 3 Import source media 28

Batch window

Batch tabs

Show/hide toolbar button

The Batch window provides a central location for organizing your transcoding tasks and quickly

assigning settings. When you rst open Compressor, the Batch window appears with an empty,

untitled batch. Think of batches as documents that can be saved, closed, and opened again. You use the toolbar at the top of the Batch window to open all other Compressor windows.

Toolbar

Job area

Batch status

Batch submission button

To simplify common workows, Compressor includes a Batch Template Chooser that can appear

anytime you create a new batch. The For New Batches setting in Compressor preferences controls whether the Batch Template Chooser appears. For details, see Set Compressor

preferences on page 211 .

The Batch Template Chooser contains a variety of options you can choose from to congure a

new batch.

Choosing a template adds one or more settings to the batch, as well as a job action to be

executed when the batch output is nished.

Chapter 3 Import source media 29

Compressor includes the following batch templates:

•

Create Audio Podcast: Use this template to create an AAC audio le suitable for podcasting and

add it to the iTunes library.

•

Create Blu-ray disc: Use this template to create BD H.264 video and Dolby Digital Professional (.ac3) audio les and automatically burn them to a Blu-ray disc or an AVCHD disc (AVCHD discs can be played in Blu-ray Disc players that are compatible with the AVCHD format).

•

Create DVD: Use this template to create a standard-denition DVD using MPEG-2 (.m2v) video

and Dolby Digital Professional (.ac3) audio and automatically burn it to a disc.

•

HTTP Live Streaming: Use this template to create a set of les you can use to stream a movie to

iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac, using an ordinary server.

•

Publish to Apple TV: Use this template to create a video le suitable for viewing on Apple TV

and add it to the iTunes library.

•

Publish to YouTube: Use this template to create a video le suitable for viewing on YouTube and

upload it to a YouTube account.

Note: Choose a template based on the intended use of the output media le you’re creating. If there is no obvious template for your intended workow, you can create your own batch or transcoding workow.

Chapter 3 Import source media 30

Create a New Setting

Assign settings and preview media

Settings overview

A setting is a combination of transcoding attributes, such as output format, lter, and geometry settings, that you apply to the source media le as a part of the transcoding process. You need to assign at least one setting to a source media le before you can transcode it. Once you have a source media le in the current batch in the Batch window, you can either select a preexisting

setting or create a customized one using the Settings tab.

The Settings tab allows you to manage your settings. In conjunction with the Inspector window, the Settings tab also provides details of all the settings and includes easy access to common transcoding controls.

The Settings tab contains a list of the existing settings and the necessary buttons to add, remove, or duplicate a setting and create groups and Droplets.

Group button

Duplicate Selected Setting button

Create a New Setting pop-up menu

Delete Selected Setting button

Save Selection as Droplet button

Click the disclosure triangles to show or hide a setting

group’s contents.

An example setting

Settings list

The Inspector window contains the panes that let you create and modify all the settings related

to your output media le, such as lters, geometry, and output format. The Inspector window is

also where you name your settings, as well as add descriptions to make it easier to remember later what you customized. For more information, see Inspector panes on page 42.

Assign settings

A job with a source media

Assign settings to source media

You can use a variety of methods to assign settings to a job. Some methods, such as dragging the setting from the Settings tab, are better suited to working with one job. Other methods, such as using the shortcut menu, are better for assigning the same settings to a group of jobs. You can even assign settings by dragging settings or Droplets from the Finder.

Note: The following steps assume you have already added source media les to a batch, creating

the jobs to which you are adding the settings. For information about importing source media

les, see Importing overview on page 17.

Assign a setting to a job by dragging

1 In the Settings tab, select one or more settings or groups of settings.

Tip: You can Option-click a setting group’s disclosure triangle to expand that group (and all subgroups) and show all the settings it contains.

2 Drag the settings to the job in the Batch window.

file in the Batch window

Select one or more (two in this case) settings

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 32

to apply to the job.

A new target is created for each setting that you added to the batch’s job.

Select the jobs in

Note: You can only apply the settings to a single job when you assign them by dragging.

Assign a setting to a job using the Target menu

1 Select one or more jobs in the Batch window’s current batch.

2 Choose Target > New Target With Setting.

The settings selection dialog appears over the Batch window.

the Batch window.

New targets are added for each setting you drag to the job.

Select the settings to apply to the selected jobs.

Click Add to assign

the settings to the

selected jobs.

3 Choose one or more settings or groups of settings to assign to the jobs, and click Add.

The settings are assigned to each selected job.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 33

Assign a setting to a job using the shortcut menu

1 Select one or more jobs in the Batch window’s current batch.

2 Control-click one of the selected jobs and choose New Target With Setting from the

shortcut menu.

The shortcut menu lists the settings based on their groups. You cannot directly choose a group to be assigned, but each group contains an “All” item that selects all the group’s settings.

Note: You cannot select multiple individual settings with this method.

3 Choose a setting, or choose All to choose all settings in a group.

The settings are applied to all selected jobs.

Assign a setting from the Finder

Do one of the following:

m Drag one or more settings from the Finder to an empty space in the Batch window.

A new job appears with one or more target rows populated with the settings.

m Drag one or more settings from the Finder to an empty space on a job tile in the Batch window.

One or more new target rows appear on the job, populated with the settings.

Replace an assigned setting with a dierent setting

After you’ve assigned a setting to a job, you might nd a more suitable setting and decide to

change the target’s setting to the new one. You can use several methods to change a target’s

setting. All of these methods leave the destination and output lename settings as they are.

Replace a setting already assigned to a target with a dierent setting

Do one of the following:

m Select the target and choose Target > Change Setting.

This opens the setting selection dialog, where you can choose a new setting and click Add to assign it to the selected target.

m Control-click the target and choose Change Setting from the shortcut menu.

This opens the setting selection dialog, where you can choose a new setting and click Add to assign it to the selected target.

m Select the new setting in the Settings tab and drag it to the target.

Note: With all the above methods, if you select multiple settings, only the top one is assigned to the target.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 34

Modify an assigned setting

You can edit or change any component of a setting that has already been assigned to a source

media le in the Batch window (identied as Selected Target in the Inspector window).

Modify a setting already assigned to a source media le in the Batch window

1 Select the target in the batch with the setting that you want to change.

The setting appears in the Inspector window with Selected Target in the Name eld. This

is a temporary copy of the setting and not the setting itself, so you can make temporary

modications to the setting for just that one batch submission.

Select a target in the Batch window to see its settings in the Inspector window.

The setting’s name appears as Selected Target.

Click the Save As button to save this as a new setting with any changes you make.

2 Make the changes to the setting.

When you modify the setting, the Save As button at the bottom of the Inspector window becomes active.

3 To save the modied setting with a new name, click Save As.

The saved copy appears in the Settings tab as Setting Name-Copy and immediately becomes the selected setting in the Settings tab.

Note: You don’t have to save the modied setting, but it’s a good idea to save it in case you need

to use it again later.

Create custom settings

Create and modify settings

If the settings that come with Compressor aren’t sucient for your transcoding needs or if you

simply want additional settings, you can create your own. You can also create a group of settings

so that you can quickly assign multiple settings to a source media le.

The easiest way to create a custom setting is to duplicate an existing setting and then adjust the copy to suit your needs.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 35

Create a custom setting

1 In the Settings tab, choose an output format from the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu.

Choose an output format for the new setting.

A new setting called Untitled appears in the Custom folder of the Settings tab, appended with

the selected output le format (for example, Untitled H.264 for Apple Devices).

New Untitled setting

The Inspector window also changes to show this setting’s parameters.

Note: You can always change the output le format for that setting in the Encoder pane of the Inspector, but be sure to change the setting name to reect its output le format.

2 At the top of the Inspector, change the name and description to make it easy to remember why

you created this custom setting.

3 Click the Encoder button in the Inspector, and change the output format and video and audio

codecs and their associated attributes.

Dierent options are provided in the Encoder pane for each le format.

You can also change options in any of the other panes in the Inspector. For more information, see Inspector panes on page 42.

4 To Save the setting, click Save.

Search for a setting

The Settings tab in the Settings and Destinations window includes a search eld that you can

use to quickly locate the setting you need. For example, you can type “iPhone” to see a list of settings that mention iPhone.

m In the Settings tab, click the search eld and enter the text to search for.

Both the names and descriptions of the settings are searched to determine if any contain the text you entered. To clear the text entry and return to a normal settings display, click the search

eld reset button (with an X).

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 36

Duplicate a setting

Click this button to duplicate

If there is a setting that contains some attributes that you want to use in another setting, you can

duplicate the existing setting and make the necessary modications to the duplicate rather than

creating a new setting from scratch. Duplicating a stock Apple setting and then adjusting the duplicate to suit your needs is the most convenient way to create a custom setting.

1 In the Settings tab, select the setting that you want to duplicate.

2 Click the Duplicate Selected Setting button.

the selected setting.

Select the setting to be duplicated.

A new setting appears in the Custom folder with the word Untitled appended before the original name.

3 Select the new setting in the Custom folder.

4 At the top of the Inspector, name the duplicate setting and provide a description.

5 Click the Encoder button in the Inspector, and change the output format and video and audio

codecs and their associated attributes.

Dierent options are provided in the Encoder pane for each le format.

You can also change options in any of the other panes in the Inspector. For more information, see Inspector panes on page 42.

6 If you’ve modied the setting in any way, you can do one of the following to save the changes:

•

Click the Save button at the bottom of the Inspector window.

•

Select any other setting.

A dialog asks if you want to save the changed attributes.

7 Click OK to save the changes, or click Revert to cancel the changes and return to the Inspector.

For information about assigning settings, see Assign settings to source media on page 32.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 37

Create a group of settings

Enter a name

1 Click the Group button in the Settings tab.

A folder called Untitled appears in the Settings tab with “0 Settings” in the Summary area. You

cannot modify this eld. It displays the number of settings the group contains.

Click the Group button.

A new, untitled group with 0 settings is created.

for the new group.

2 In the Inspector, enter a name for the group in the Name eld.

3 In the Settings tab, drag the settings you want to group into the group folder.

You can also create hierarchies of groups (groups within groups). Just drag a group folder into another group folder.

This custom group contains three other custom groups, each with its own settings.

The Summary area displays the number of settings your group contains. Once you have at least one setting inside the group folder, you can click the disclosure triangle next to the group folder to show or hide the setting group details. You can also see full details of the settings in any group by selecting the group and then looking at the Summary pane in the Inspector window.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 38

Add the same setting to more than one group

1 Select the setting in the Settings tab.

2 To create a copy, click the Duplicate Selected Setting button.

3 Drag the duplicated setting to another group folder.

You can choose to rename the setting—for example, removing the word “copy” from it.

Delete a setting

1 In the Settings tab, select the setting that you want to delete.

2 Click the Delete Selected Settings (–) button, or press the Delete key on your keyboard.

WARNING: There is no warning when you delete a setting, and you cannot undo the deletion

to restore the setting.

Share settings

Newly created settings are stored as XML les in the home folder at /Users/username/Library/ Application Support/Compressor/Settings/, with the le extension .setting. You can distribute

and share any of your custom settings by placing them in the same location within the home

folder of whatever computer you distributed the settings to. You can also transfer these les the same way that you would distribute any other le, by emailing them as an attachment or placing

them on a server.

Note: Settings created using Compressor 4 or later are not compatible with earlier versions of Compressor.

Copy a setting directly from Compressor

m Drag one or more settings from the Settings tab to the Finder (to the desktop, for example).

Apply or add a setting to Compressor from the Finder

Do one of the following:

m Drag one or more settings from the Finder to the Custom folder in the Settings tab.

m Drag one or more settings from the Finder to an empty space in the Batch window.

A new job appears with one or more target rows populated with the settings.

m Drag one or more settings from the Finder to an empty space on a job tile in the Batch window.

One or more new target rows appear on the job, populated with the settings.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 39

About the Automatic settings

Several items in the settings panes have an optional automatic mode. When the automatic mode is on, Compressor determines the optimal value for the setting.

The Automatic button

is dark when active,

and its item is dimmed.

The Automatic button

is dimmed when inactive,

and its item is selectable.

In general, when the automatic mode is on, its item is dimmed and cannot be changed.

•

If the setting has not been assigned to a source media le: The item says “Automatic.” An exception is in the Frame Controls pane of the Inspector window, whose state is undetermined

until you have applied the setting to a source media le.

•

If the setting has been assigned to a source media le: The item remains dimmed but shows the value that will be used.

You can click the Automatic button to turn the automatic mode on (the button darkens) or o (the button lightens). When the automatic mode is o, you can choose values for an item as usual.

Tip: It’s a good idea to verify the values for those Inspector settings that are set to Automatic.

Compressor can usually correctly determine the appropriate values; however, there may be instances where there is not enough information in the source media le to determine the correct

value. For example, some QuickTime clips might not have proper metadata or the metadata might

be incorrect. Additionally, if the source media le uses nonstandard settings (such as the video

frame size or frame rate), Compressor chooses the nearest standard value to use.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 40

Example: Create custom groups and settings for DVD

For this example, suppose you’re working on an HD project that will eventually end up on both an HD and an SD DVD. Before that happens, though, you also need to supply SD DVDs of the dailies.

An easy way to handle this is to create two groups of settings:

•

Settings for the dailies: These settings would include an AIFF audio encoder (because you want it done fast and disc space will not likely be an issue) and an MPEG-2 encoder with an SD frame size using the fastest settings (because quality isn’t the highest priority). This could also

be an HD encoder if you have an easy way to play an HD DVD.

•

Settings for the nal disc: These settings would include an AC-3 audio encoder, an H.264 HD

for DVD video encoder, and an MPEG-2 encoder using the Frame Controls to ensure a highquality SD output video.

You would most likely create a third settings group that would be named after this project and would contain the above two groups.

Create the groups for dailies and nal outputs

1 In the Settings tab, click the Create a New Setting Group button three times to create three new,

untitled groups.

2 Select the rst of the new groups and, using the Inspector window, name it after the project.

3 Select the second of the new groups and name it Dailies.

4 Select the third of the new groups and name it Final Discs.

5 In the Settings tab, drag the Dailies and Final Discs groups up until a black box surrounds the

group named after the project, and then release them.

Note: You can select multiple groups or settings by holding down Shift while selecting them.

6 Locate the Apple settings that come closest to matching what you need each setting to do in

these new groups.

7 Make a copy of each setting by clicking the Duplicate Selected Setting button.

8 Select each copied setting, rename it, and then drag it to the proper folder.

This custom group contains the other custom groups, each with its own settings.

This custom group contains the settings used to create the dailies.

This custom group contains the settings used to create the final disc.

You can then select each setting and make any necessary changes to it.

When you’ve imported the source media les and created their jobs, you can just assign the

appropriate group (Dailies or Final Disc) and all the proper settings are applied to the targets.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 41

Inspector panes

When you select a setting in the Settings tab or a target in a batch’s job, the Inspector shows one of six panes.

Summary pane

The Summary pane contains the Summary table, which describes all the settings (video and audio

settings, geometry, and lter settings) associated with the setting selected in the Settings tab. Information in the Summary table is updated automatically whenever any setting is modied.

The Summary table includes the following details:

•

Name: The name of the setting selected in the Settings tab.

•

Description: A description of the setting selected in the Settings tab.

•

File Extension: The extension assigned to the transcoded media le. This identies which format your source media le is being converted to.

•

Estimated le size: When a source media le is assigned to the setting, the estimated total le size is displayed here. When a source media le is not assigned to the setting, this eld shows

an estimated size per hour of source length for the source media.

Note: The estimated total le size is not available for all output formats.

•

Audio Encoder: Details of the audio output le format and other transcoding settings, such as

sample rate, channels, bits per sample, and codec type.

•

Video Encoder: Details of the video output le format and other transcoding settings such as

frame width and height, crop amount (in pixels), frame rate, aspect ratio, codec type, pixel depth, spatial quality, minimum spatial quality, key frame interval, temporal quality, minimum temporal quality, and data rate (in bits per second).

•

Filter: Details of all, some, or none (depending on how many lters you selected in the Filters pane) of the available Compressor lters.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 42

Encoder pane

You use the Encoder pane to select and congure the output le format and other settings. The le format options and attributes are dierent for each format.

•

File Format: Use this pop-up menu to choose an output le format.

•

Extension: The following le extensions automatically appear in this eld based on the format

you choose from the File Format pop-up menu, and if video and audio tracks are enabled.

Don’t alter this eld without good reason, because your le may not be recognized if you do.

•

ai: Represents AIFF.

•

ac3: Represents Dolby Digital Professional.

•

caf: Represents Apple CAF les.

•

dv: Represents Digital Video (DV) format video.

•

mpg: Represents MPEG-1 multiplexed (video and audio) stream.

•

m1v: Represents MPEG-1 video elementary stream.

•

m1a: Represents MPEG-1 audio elementary stream.

•

m2v: Represents MPEG-2 video elementary stream.

•

m2t: Represents MPEG-2 transport stream.

•

mpeg: Represents MPEG-2 program stream.

•

m4v: Represents H.264 for Apple Devices.

•

mp4: Represents MPEG-4.

•

mov: Represents QuickTime.

•

tga: Represents TARGA.

•

ti: Represents TIFF.

•

Allow Job Segmenting: This checkbox allows you to turn o job segmenting. It’s relevant only if

you’re using Compressor with distributed processing and with two-pass or multi-pass encoding. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 43

Frame Controls pane

This pane of the Inspector oers automatic and customized settings for advanced image analysis,

including frame resizing, clip retiming, and deinterlacing.

Frame resizing would be necessary when transcoding between a high-denition (HD) format such as 1080i and a standard-denition (SD) format such as DV-NTSC. An example of frame retiming would be when transcoding between video formats with dierent frame rates such as NTSC (29.97 frames per second) and PAL (25 frames per second).

Filters pane

You use the Filters pane to add lters to your setting. You can use lters to perform tasks such as

gamma correction and noise removal.

Select the checkbox next to any of the lters you want to include in a particular setting. Use each lter’s sliders or arrow controls to adjust your lter settings as necessary.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 44

Filters are applied to the source media le according to their order in the lters list. You can reorder lters by dragging them up or down in this list.

Geometry pane

You use the options in the Geometry pane to crop and resize the media le being compressed

and set its aspect ratio.

The Geometry pane has three sections:

•

Source Inset (Cropping): Use any of the four elds to enter the number of pixels by which you want to reduce the source media le size, or choose a setting from the “Crop to” pop-up menu to have Compressor enter crop values based on the source media le video content.

•

Dimensions (encoded pixels): Use the Frame Size pop-up menu or these elds to create an appropriate output frame size and aspect ratio for your output media le. Use the Pixel Aspect

pop-up menu to set width and height values to conform to a designated pixel aspect ratio.

•

Output Image Inset (Padding): Use the Padding pop-up menu to calculate the output height or

width values. With Custom selected, you can enter values in the elds.

For more information about the Geometry pane, see Geometry overview on page 17 6.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 45

Actions pane

You use the Actions pane to turn on email notications about completed transcodes and assign

a default destination to the selected setting.

•

Email Notication to: Select the checkbox to turn on email notications, and enter the address

where you want the email to go.

•

Default Destination: Choose a destination from the pop-up menu that you want this setting to use as its default.

For more information, see Add setting actions on page 184.

Use markers and poster frames

Markers and poster frames overview

Compressor can import and create several dierent kinds of markers. In addition, Compressor can

import entire lists of chapter markers. Compressor also supports setting a poster frame for a clip.

Compressor can import and create the following types of markers:

•

Chapter markers: Chapter markers allow easy access to index points throughout a DVD, QuickTime movie, or video podcast. QuickTime Player can interpret any text track containing

time stamps as a chapter track. Chapter markers can also have artwork and a URL assigned to

them that appear when a podcast is played.

These markers appear as purple in the Preview window timeline and are the type created when you manually add markers using Compressor.

•

Podcast markers: Like chapter markers, podcast markers can have artwork and a URL assigned to them. However, podcast markers cannot be used to access frames within the clip, and they

don’t appear as chapter markers in QuickTime.

You can use podcast markers to provide a slideshow (with URLs) for users to view when

playing audio podcasts.

These markers appear as red in the Preview window timeline.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 46

•

Compression markers: Compression markers are also known as manual compression markers. These are markers you can add in the Compressor Preview window to indicate when Compressor should generate an MPEG I-frame during compression. For more information about I-frames, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

These markers appear as blue in the Preview window timeline.

•

Edit/cut markers: Edit/cut markers are also known as automatic compression markers. These markers are intended to be at each cut or transition point in a sequence. During transcoding, Compressor uses edit/cut markers to generate MPEG I-frames at these points, improving compression quality.

These markers appear as green in the Preview window timeline.

Markers are supported in the following output le formats:

•

MPEG-2

•

MPEG-4 when congured for podcasting (audio-only with the Enhanced Podcast checkbox

selected)

•

QuickTime Movie

•

H.264 for Apple Devices

Important: You can set and congure markers for other output le formats, but they are not

included in the encoded output le.

Manually add and remove markers

The Preview window includes comprehensive marker support, including the ability to manage

markers already added to the source media le, manually add or remove markers, and import

chapter marker lists. When you add a marker to a clip, it appears as a chapter marker by default. You can then change the marker to a compression or podcast marker if you wish (see Add

compression or podcast markers on page 49).

Add a chapter marker to your clip

1 In the Preview window, choose Show Chapter/Podcast Markers from the Marker pop-up menu,

so that there’s a checkmark by it.

2 Choose a clip from the Batch Item pop-up menu or click the Batch Item selection button until

the clip you want appears in the pop-up menu.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 47

3 To determine where the marker is to be placed, do one of the following:

•

Drag the playhead to where you want to add a marker.

•

Enter a timecode value in the playhead timecode eld.

4 To add a marker, choose Add marker from the Marker pop-up menu (or press M).

A purple chapter marker appears in the timeline.

A purple marker appears under the playhead after the marker is added.

5 Choose Edit from the Marker pop-up menu (or press Command-E).

A dialog for editing the marker appears.

6 Enter a name for the chapter marker in the Name eld.

For chapter markers, this name appears in the output media le, where it can be seen with

QuickTime Player and in playback devices.

7 If you want to assign an image to the chapter marker, choose one of the following from the

Image pop-up menu:

•

Frame in source: By default, the frame displayed is the frame on which the marker is placed. To

use a dierent frame as the image, enter a dierent timecode value.

•

From File: Drag an image to the image well. You can also click Choose to open a le-selection dialog and select a still-image le to assign to the marker.

8 Click OK.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 48

Remove a marker from your clip

1 To move the playhead to the marker you want to remove, click either the Move to Previous

Marker or Move to Next Marker control.

2 To remove the marker, choose "Remove marker" from the Marker pop-up menu (or press M).

Import a chapter marker list

1 In the Preview window, choose a clip from the Batch Item pop-up menu or click the Batch Item

selection button until the clip you want appears in the pop-up menu.

2 Choose Import Chapter List from the Marker pop-up menu.

A le-selection dialog opens so that you can locate and select the chapter marker le for that source media le.

3 Select the chapter marker le and click Open.

The markers are imported and added to the Preview window timeline.

Note: Although all markers imported by using a chapter marker list are congured as chapter markers, you can change them to podcast or compression markers. You can also add URLs and

artwork to them as needed.

Important: The timecode values in the list must be based on the source media le’s timecode.

Add compression or podcast markers

To manually add a compression or podcast marker to a clip, you rst add a chapter marker and

then you edit the marker.

Note: A podcast can have both chapter and podcast markers. The only dierence is that the

viewer can navigate directly to a chapter marker but cannot navigate to a podcast marker. For more information, see Markers and poster frames overview on page 46.

Manually add a compression or podcast marker to a clip

1 In the Preview window, choose the Show Chapter/Podcast Markers and Show Compression

Markers items from the Marker pop-up menu, so that there is a checkmark by them.

2 To determine where the marker is to be placed, do one of the following:

•

Drag the playhead to where you want to add a marker.

•

Enter a timecode value in the playhead timecode eld.

3 To add a marker, choose “Add marker” from the Marker pop-up menu (or press M).

A purple chapter marker appears in the timeline.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 49

4 Choose Edit from the Marker pop-up menu (or press Command-E).

A dialog for editing the marker appears.

5 Choose Compression or Podcast from the Type pop-up menu.

6 in the Name eld, enter a name for the marker.

Note: Podcast marker names do not appear in the output.

7 To add a link, enter an Internet address in the URL eld.

When viewing the output, you can click the URL to open a web browser and view the URL’s

website.

8 To assign an image to the chapter marker, choose one of the following from the Image

pop-up menu:

•

Frame in source: By default, the frame displayed is the frame on which the marker is placed. To

use a dierent frame as the image, enter a dierent timecode value.

•

From File: Drag an image to the image well. You can also click Choose to open a le-selection dialog and select a still-image le to assign to the marker.

9 Click OK.

The marker in the timeline changes to blue if it’s a compression marker, or red if it’s a podcast marker. You can use the Move to Previous Marker and Move to Next Marker buttons to select other markers in the timeline to edit.

You can also import a chapter marker list. These lists can be in either the QuickTime TeXML format (an XML-based format for constructing 3GPP-compliant timed text tracks in a QuickTime movie le) or a plain text chapter list le. For information, see Plain text chapter marker lists on page 51.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 50

Plain text chapter marker lists

You can create a list of timecode points that Compressor can import to create markers. The timecode values need to match the timecode of the track’s video clip. The list of timecode values

must be a plain text le; you can create it with TextEdit (as long as you save the le as plain text). If you create the list with a more advanced word-processing application, be sure to save the le as a plain ASCII text le with no formatting.

The le must follow these rules:

•

Each marker must be on a new line that starts with a timecode value in the format 00:00:00:00. These values identify the marker positions.

•

After the timecode value, you can include a name for the marker. You can use a comma, space, or tab character to separate the timecode value from the marker name.

•

Any lines that do not begin with a timecode value are ignored. This makes it easy for you to add comments to the list.

•

The timecode values do not have to be listed in chronological order.

Set the poster frame

You can use Compressor to set the poster frame for a movie. This is the frame that appears in iTunes to represent the movie. If you don’t set the poster frame, iTunes uses the frame 10 seconds

from the movie’s rst frame.

Set the poster frame

1 In the Preview window, position the timeline playhead at the frame you want to be the poster frame.

2 Choose “Set poster frame” from the Marker pop-up menu.

A vertical line with a center dot appears in the timeline.

Move the playhead to the poster frame

m In the Preview window, choose “Go to poster frame” from the Marker pop-up menu.

Note: This setting is not available if the poster frame has not been set.

Remove the poster frame setting

m In the Preview window, choose “Clear poster frame” from the Marker pop-up menu.

Note: This setting is not available if the poster frame has not been set.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 51

Preview media

Previewing overview

The Preview window has two main roles. It allows you to play batch items before submitting them for transcoding and to compare versions of your clip to ensure that the quality of the

output media le is acceptable.

When you use the Preview window to compare the original version of the clip with the version that will be output, you can make and view real-time changes. This comparison lets you check

the eects of settings on your le before spending time and resources transcoding it. Do this to check the quality of the output media le.

Original version of the clip

Scaled, cropped, and filtered version of the clip

You can also use the Preview window to enlarge the preview area, manually add I-frames

(MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 only), and designate a portion of your media le for transcoding using the

In and Out markers.

Preview media as source or with settings applied

You can use the Preview window to play back either the original source media le or the le with a setting applied to it. Source media les appear as a list of lenames. Any settings that have been applied to the source media le are listed immediately below the le’s name and are indented to make it easier to identify them. You see dierent options in the Preview window depending on whether you choose to view the original source media le or the le with a setting applied.

Important: Settings you make in the Encoder pane and the Frame Controls pane of the Inspector

cannot be previewed. Only the settings made in the Filters pane and Geometry pane can be previewed. For an alternative method of previewing Encoder pane and Frame Controls pane settings, see Transcode a portion of a clip on page 57.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 52

Preview a source media le

1 If the Preview window is not shown by default, open it by choosing Window > Preview.

Tip: To open your le in the Preview window in one step, double-click the source media le in its

job in the Batch window.

2 Do one of the following:

•

Choose a source media le from the Batch Item pop-up menu (identied by its lename).

Selects the default color bars image.

The original source media file “Nancy at table CU 5”

A setting applied to the source media file “Nancy at table CU

5.” The checkmark indicates that this is currently being viewed in the Preview window.

•

Click the Batch Item selection buttons until the source media le appears in the pop-up menu.

•

Select the source media le in its job in the Batch window.

Only the Source View button is active (the Setting View button is dimmed). This is because you

selected a regular source media le, so you can only see the unadulterated clip—without the

split-screen divider or cropping bars.

3 Choose a preview screen size from the Preview Scale pop-up menu, or drag the Preview window

handle to a size you like.

This doesn’t aect the display frame size of the actual output media le. That can be set only in

the Geometry pane of the Inspector window.

4 To preview the selected source media le, click the Play button.

Source media les with markers already added, such as les from Final Cut Pro, show the markers

in the timeline. You can manage the markers if needed. For more information, see Markers and

poster frames overview on page 46.

You can use the Preview window to play back Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) les. Compressor includes a Dolby Digital decoder so that when you add an AC-3 source media le to a batch and

play it, you can to hear it using your computer’s current speakers. This includes everything from

the built-in stereo speakers, which play a mixed-down version of the AC-3 le if it contains more

than two channels, to a set of external surround speakers connected to a USB or FireWire output.

Important: Because Compressor is decoding the Dolby Digital audio le, you cannot use your

computer’s optical output to preview Dolby Digital audio.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 53

This feature is important if you’re using the Dolby Digital Professional encoder because you

Batch Item pop-up menu

cannot preview the encoder’s settings in real time in the Preview window. Instead, you can add

the encoded AC-3 les to a batch and play them to verify that the encoder’s settings produced

good results. For information about creating a short test clip for this purpose, see Transcode a

portion of a clip on page 57.

Preview a clip with an assigned setting

The Compressor Preview window lets you see the eects of your setting—such as lters and frame resizing—and make adjustments to these attributes while previewing the media le in real time.

1 If the Preview window is not shown, open it by choosing Window > Preview.

Tip: To open the clip in the Preview window in one step, double-click the target (that contains the setting) of a job in Batch window.

2 Do one of the following:

•

Choose a setting from the Batch Item pop-up menu (the indented setting names, not the

source lenames).

•

Click the Batch Item selection buttons until the clip with a setting appears in the pop-up menu.

•

Select the clip’s setting in its job in the Batch window.

Both Source View and Setting View buttons are active, so you can switch between these two views. Because you selected a setting, you can use the split-screen slider and cropping boundary in the Preview window.

The opening frame of the selected source media le appears in the Preview window, and the title

of the selected setting appears in the Batch Item pop-up menu. The left half of the screen displays

the source media le in its original form (Source view) and the right half displays what the output image will look like with selected lters and other setting attributes applied to it (Output view).

Batch Item selection buttons

Output view

Source view

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 54

3 Click the Setting View button in the upper-right corner of the Preview window, and do any of the

Batch Item

Preview Scale

following to assign settings:

pop-up menu

•

Choose a screen size from the Preview Scale pop-up menu, or drag the Preview window to a

pop-up menu

Source View and Setting View buttons

Split-screen slider

Cropping boundary and handles

Cropping dimensions (also seen in Source Inset fields in the Geometry pane)

Split-screen divider

size you like.

This doesn’t aect the display frame size of the actual output media le. That can be set only in

the Geometry pane of the Inspector window.

Note: When you adjust the frame size of a setting (in the Geometry pane) while viewing it in the Preview window, the frame size may not be resized accordingly. If this occurs, choose

Sample Movie or a dierent target from the Batch Item pop-up menu and then choose this

target again. It will display the correct frame size.

•

Drag the split-screen slider left or right across the top of the screen to move the split-screen divider over more or less of the transcoded portion of the clip.

•

Use the cropping boundary to adjust the display frame size of your output media le.

You can check the results of your cropping by clicking the Source View and Setting View buttons.

Note: The more you reduce the clip image by cropping it, the larger the scale factor of the output image will be (as the framing geometry conforms to the settings of the output aspect

ratio rather than to the source le settings). This eect is similar to zooming in on an image,

which results in larger pixels and overall image degradation. So make sure that you don’t crop in so far that the image is enlarged past its original size relative to the original size of the frame.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 55

•

Click the Setting View button to see

In the Inspector, click the Filters button to view the lters list. Select the lter that you want to

adjust and make changes as necessary.

the effect of the selected filter.

Selected filter settings are displayed in the Preview window.

Note: To preview the eect of a lter on your media le, make sure that the checkbox for that particular lter is selected in the lters list. Otherwise, the Preview window won’t recognize that lter, and it won’t be part of the transcoding settings for that job. A selected lter has a checkmark next to it in the lters list.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 56

•

If you want to make the display frame size of your output media le dierent from that of your source media le, open the Geometry pane of the Inspector window and choose a preexisting value from the Frame Size pop-up menu or enter dierent output size values in the Frame Size elds.

Cropping dimensions (also displayed in the Inspector window when you drag cropping bars)

Note: MPEG-2 is limited to preestablished display frame sizes based on MPEG-2 specications.

In this instance, all output size items are unavailable.

4 To view the clip, click the Play button in the Preview window.

For more information about these settings, see Previewing overview on page 52.

Transcode a portion of a clip

Although Geometry (cropping and scaling) and Filters adjustments are displayed instantly in the Preview window, Encoder pane and Frame Controls pane settings are not. To preview Encoder pane

and Frame Controls pane settings, do a test transcode of a small section of your source media le.

You can use the Preview window to set In and Out points to transcode a portion of your media

le rather than all of it.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 57

Designate a portion of your media le for transcoding

1 If the Preview window is not shown by default, open it by choosing Window > Preview.

2 To set an In point, do one of the following:

•

Drag the In point to the appropriate location.

•

Drag the playhead to where you want transcoding to begin and click the Set In Point button.

In point

Playhead

Out point

Set In Point button

Set Out Point button

3 To set an Out point, do one of the following:

•

Drag the Out point to the appropriate location.

•

Drag the playhead to where you want transcoding to end and click the Set Out Point button.

Note: When you use In and Out points to specify a segment of the source media le to transcode, they apply to all targets assigned to the le’s job. You can add a source media le multiple times to a batch, creating multiple jobs, and set the In and Out points dierently in each job.

The only segment of the media le that will be transcoded is between the two points that you

set. The rest of the clip will not be transcoded.

For information about how to transcode the media le, see Jobs, targets, and batches

overview on page 137.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 58

Preview window

Preview Scale pop-up menu

Batch Item

The Preview window contains the following controls:

Source View and Setting View buttons

Preview area

Timeline controls

In and Out controls

Transport controls

Selection and view controls

You can use the Batch Item selection controls to choose specic items from the Batch window

to show in the Preview window. You can also resize the Preview window and switch between Source view and Setting view.

•

Batch Item selection buttons: Use these buttons to click backward or forward through the list of

source media les and clips with settings available for previewing. As you click through the list,

the selected batch item appears in the Batch Item pop-up menu.

selection buttons

Batch Item pop-up menu

•

Batch Item pop-up menu: Choose the source media le you want to preview, with or without its

assigned settings.

•

Preview scale pop-up menu: Adjusts the Preview screen size. The three settings are 100%, 75%, and 50%, but you can also drag the Preview window resize control to any size you like.

•

Source View and Setting View buttons: Use these buttons to preview the selected batch item using either the source’s aspect ratio and size or the setting’s aspect ratio and size. Source view

also provides a cropping boundary that you can use to dene one or more edges to be cropped.

Setting view shows the cropped version of the media scaled to its aspect and size setting.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 59

In and Out controls

In point timecode

Out point timecode

After you select the batch item, you can use the In and Out controls to see and adjust the In and Out point timecode information.

Sets In point to current playhead position.

•

In and Out point timecode elds: The exact locations of the In and Out points are displayed

Sets Out point to current

playhead position.

here using the standard timecode format of hh:mm:ss:. You can manually edit these elds by selecting the eld and entering new values. If a new value is entered, the timeline’s In or Out point moves to the specied point in the current batch item.

Note: If your source media le has a timecode track, the Start and End timecode values of the clip appear in the In and Out point timecode elds. Otherwise, the timecode starts at 00:00:00:00.

•

In and Out point buttons: You can use the Set In Point and Set Out Point buttons (next to the

timecode elds) to set In and Out points. (You can also set In and Out points by dragging; see

the “Timeline controls” section, below.)

•

Source/output information: The clip’s frame size and frame rate are shown in the lower-left corner of the Preview window. The clip’s duration (from the In point to the Out point) is shown in the lower-right corner. With the Source View button active, the frame size and frame rate

represent the source media le. With the Settings View button active, the frame size and frame

rate represent the setting for this batch item.

Note: To see the total duration of the clip (without In and Out points), select the source le in

the Batch window and open the Inspector window (choose Window > Show Inspector).

Preview area controls

The preview area displays the currently selected batch item.

Split-screen slider

Cropping boundary

Cropping dimensions (also seen in Source Inset fields in the Geometry pane)

Cropping handle for the lower-right corner

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 60

•

Playhead

In point

Out point

Split-screen slider: Drag the split-screen slider any distance across the top of the preview area

to get a comparison view between the source media le (left side) and output media le (right

side). In addition to the location of the slider at the top, the screen division is indicated by a vertical white line bisecting the image.

•

Cropping boundary: The cropping boundary is available only in Source view. Use the handles to drag the red boundary edges and corners in the direction you want to crop your output media

le. Use the center handle to drag the entire frame in any direction while still maintaining its

dimensions. The new values (for left, top, right, and bottom) appear dynamically in the preview area as you crop the frame. If you also have the Inspector window open with the batch’s target

selected, you can see the same values changing in the cropping elds of the Geometry pane.

To show the results of the crop boundary settings, select the Setting view.

Timeline controls

The timeline controls provide information about the clip, including any markers it has and the current In and Out point settings. You can also use the timeline to position the playhead at a

specic frame and set the In and Out points.

Playhead timecode

•

Playhead timecode: Shows the playhead’s position in the timeline using the standard timecode

Marker

format of hh:mm:ss:. You can enter a new value to precisely position the playhead in

the timeline.

Note: If your source media le has a timecode track, the clip timecode appears in the playhead timecode eld. For everything else, the timecode starts with 00:00:00:00.

•

In and Out points: You can set new In and Out points by dragging the In or Out point to a

dierent location. As you change the In and Out points, the In and Out timecode elds at the

bottom of the Preview window update. (You can also set new In and Out points using the Set In Point and Set Out Points buttons. See the “In and Out controls section” above.

Important: In and Out points are not preserved after a transcode has been completed, so if

you want to resubmit a batch from the History window, you need to reapply these points to

your clip. For more information, see View batch information in the History window on page 151.

In and Out points are assigned to the source media le rather than the setting, so whatever In

and Out points you create will be the same for all other settings related to that source media

le in the current batch.

•

Playhead: Shows where the displayed frame is located within the clip. You can drag the

playhead to navigate quickly to a specic location within the clip.

•

Marker: Shows where a marker has been placed in the clip. The color of the marker indicates its type:

•

Blue: Compression markers that you add manually

•

Purple: Chapter markers (named markers that are intended to be navigational chapter stops

or visual artwork in the output media le)

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 61

•

Play/Pause

Move to Next Marker

Red: Podcast markers (named markers that are intended to be navigational chapter stops or

visual artwork in the output media le)

•

Green: Edit/cut markers (compression markers that are added automatically at edit points in the Final Cut Pro sequence)

•

Gray bar with center dot: Poster frame (the bar indicates the frame chosen as the poster

frame for this le)

For more information, see Markers and poster frames overview on page 46.

Transport controls

These move the playhead backward or forward to the exact position of the next marker or In or Out point, making it easy to navigate quickly between existing markers. You can also use these buttons to quickly move the playhead to the start or end of the clip.

Move to Previous Marker

Fast Backward

•

Play/Pause button: Starts or stops playback of the clip. If you stop playback, the playhead

Fast Forward

Playback Loop Mode

remains at its current position. To return to the start of the clip, you need to drag the playhead back to the beginning or click the Move to Previous Marker button.

•

Move to Previous Marker and Move to Next Marker buttons: Move the playhead to the previous or next marker, the In or Out point, or the start or end of the clip if no more markers are present.

•

Fast Backward and Fast Forward buttons: Allow you to play your clip in either direction at twice the normal speed. If one of these buttons is clicked during playback, clicking it a second time returns playback to normal speed.

•

Playback Loop Mode button: Plays the media in a continuous loop.

Marker pop-up menu

Use the Marker pop-up menu to manage the clip’s markers. Although you can use markers

with all settings, they appear in the output le only when the setting uses the MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (when congured for podcasting), H.264 for Apple Devices, or QuickTime Movie output le format. For more information, see Markers and poster frames overview on page 46.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 62

Choose items from the Marker pop-up menu to add, remove, show, hide, and edit markers and poster frames.

•

Import Chapter List: Opens a le import dialog that allows you to import a le containing a list of chapter marker times for the source media le. For more information, see Add compression

or podcast markers on page 49.

•

Add/Remove marker: The option you see changes depending on whether or not the playhead is positioned on a marker.

•

If the playhead is not positioned on a marker: Choosing “Add marker” places a new marker in the timeline at the playhead’s current position.

•

If the playhead is positioned on a marker: Choosing “Remove marker” deletes the current marker.

•

Edit: Available only when the playhead is positioned on a marker. Choosing Edit opens a

dialog that allows you to set the marker type and assign a URL and an image to it. For more

information, see Add compression or podcast markers on page 49.

•

Show Chapter/Podcast Markers: Controls whether chapter and podcast markers (those with names) are shown in the timeline. A checkmark indicates they are shown.

•

Show Compression Markers: Controls whether compression markers (those without names) are shown in the timeline. A checkmark indicates they are shown.

•

Show Edit/Cut Markers: Controls whether markers automatically placed at each edit point by another application, such as Final Cut Pro, are shown in the timeline. A checkmark indicates they are shown.

•

Set poster frame: Makes the current frame the poster frame, which is a still image that

represents a video or audio media le or a podcast chapter in applications such as iTunes and the Finder. By default, the rst frame in a video le is the poster frame.

•

Clear poster frame: Deletes the poster frame marker.

•

Go to poster frame: Moves the playhead to the poster frame.

Chapter 4 Assign settings and preview media 63

Custom settings and output formats

Custom settings and output formats overview

Selecting a playback platform (Apple devices, DVD, web, CD, and kiosk) is the rst choice you need to make before you compress a source media le into a dierent output format. After you

decide on the platform, you can choose the appropriate output format for that platform.

Whatever the digital video format of your source media le, you can use one of the many encoders supplied with Compressor to transcode the source le to the following industry-

standard formats, all of which have their own particular attributes.

Platform Available video formats Available audio formats

iTunes and Apple devices H.264: See iTunes and Apple device

output overview on page 65.

Web delivery, including YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo

Blu-ray discs H.264: See Create Blu-ray discs

High-denition (HD) DVD MPEG-2: See MPEG-2 overview

Standard-denition (SD) DVD MPEG-1: See Create MPEG-1 video

Audio CD AIFF: See AIFF overview

DV Stream See Create DV Stream settings

QuickTime Export Components les See QuickTime Export

Image sequence les See Create image sequence

H.264: See Create QuickTime media

on page 124.

les

MPEG-1: See Create MPEG-1 les

for the web

page 70.

page 84.

for DVD

MPEG-2: See MPEG-2 overview page 84.

page 133.

Components overview

page 130.

les

on page 108.

on page 109.

on page 134.

AIFF: See AIFF overview page 100.

MP3: See MP3 overview page 104.

H.264: See Create QuickTime media

on page 124.

les

MPEG-1: See Create MPEG-1 les

for the web

AC-3 (Dolby Digital Professional): See

Dolby Digital overview on page 72.

AC-3 (Dolby Digital Professional): See

Dolby Digital overview on page 72.

MPEG-1: See Create MPEG-1 audio

for DVD

AC-3 (Dolby Digital Professional): See

Dolby Digital overview

page 100.

CAF: See Create Common Audio

Formats settings

MP3: See MP3 overview page 104.

AC-3 (Dolby Digital Professional): See

Dolby Digital overview

on page 108.

on page 110 .

on page 72.

on page 103.

on page 72.

Before you can convert your existing media les to a DVD project, you must convert the video to MPEG-1 (SD projects only), MPEG-2 (SD and HD projects), or H.264 (HD projects only) les.

Compressor can encode audio in the Dolby Digital Professional format (also known as AC-3). Dolby Digital Professional is a very common compressed audio format for DVD-Video discs. Compressor also supports two specialized situations:

•

For those situations in which you’re editing HD sources in Final Cut Pro and want to create an SD DVD from them, Compressor includes a high-quality downconversion capability. HD

sources using 1080i or 720p resolutions use a high-quality transcoding process to create SD

MPEG-2 video output les.

•

For those situations in which you must t the maximum video onto a DVD and don’t require

broadcast quality, Compressor includes the ability to export DVD-Video-compatible MPEG-1

format les.

iTunes and Apple device output

iTunes and Apple device output overview

Using Compressor, you can create iTunes-compliant H.264 les. These can be played in iTunes; on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod; or with Apple TV.

Compressor includes precongured settings that use the H.264 for Apple Devices Encoder pane to make it easy for you to create suitable media les.

For information about creating H.264 les for other uses (such as web video), see QuickTime

movie overview on page 121. For information about creating H.264 les for DVDs, see Custom settings and output formats overview on page 64.

H.264 workows

The eciency and quality of H.264 provide a number of options for iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV video producers. When choosing a device option, you can choose to create a le that plays on a wide variety of devices or a le targeted to a specic device, such as an iPhone 4.

•

Options that are compatible with all devices don’t produce optimal results when played on

higher-resolution devices, such as Apple TV. However, these options produce smaller les,

which can be an advantage.

•

Options that are targeted at higher-resolution devices produce great results on those devices; however, they result in larger les.

When choosing options, make sure to take into account the devices on which you want to play

the video, the video content, and how you intend to deliver the le.

Additionally, you can assign a clip’s poster frame using the Preview window. For more information, see Apply frame controls to a setting on page 167. You can change the poster frame

in iTunes if necessary. For more information, see iTunes Help.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 65

Chapter and podcast markers

Chapter markers created in Final Cut Pro are passed through (transferred) to other output les that can be recognized by QuickTime Player, iTunes (.m4v les), and Final Cut Pro.

You can also add podcast markers to the output le. Podcast markers are similar to chapter markers (they can have a URL and artwork assigned to them); however, viewers cannot navigate

to them. They are intended to provide a slideshow function to audio podcasts. For information about adding chapter and podcast markers, see Markers and poster frames overview on page 46.

Aspect ratios

The choice you make in the Device pop-up menu denes the width of the encoded le. The choice you make in the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu denes the height of the encoded le. Compressor scales the source video vertically to make it t the height. This means that the

source video must be anamorphic (things look tall and skinny) in anticipation of being scaled to

t the intended aspect ratio. Non-anamorphic video set to an aspect ratio other than its native aspect ratio appears distorted in the encoded le.

Important: If your source video is letterboxed, use the aspect ratio that matches the whole

video frame, including the black bars, or you will end up with distorted output les. You can use the automatic crop feature to crop o the letterbox bars. For more information, see Geometry

overview on page 176.

The following choices are available in the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu for each device option:

•

4:3

•

16:9

•

1.85:1

•

2.35:1

Each choice results in a dierent height for the output media le. For example, with the iPod/ iPhone (VGA) setting, the 4:3 option results in a 640 x 480 le, whereas the 16:9 option results in a 640 x 360 le.

If the source media le is either DV NTSC or HDV, but you’re unsure of your source media le’s aspect ratio, click the Automatic button. This option analyzes the source media le’s aspect ratio

to determine the appropriate pixel dimensions.

Create H.264 settings

To ensure that your output media les are compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV, it’s

recommended that you use the standard settings provided in the Apple Devices group in the Settings tab. For information about applying settings, see Assign settings to source media on page 32.

You can also create media les compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV using batch

templates. For more information, see Quick and easy batch template workow on page 14.

Note: Files created using iPhone and iPod settings can also play on Apple TV.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 66

Create H.264 for Apple Devices settings

1 In the Settings tab, select a setting or create a new setting by choosing H.264 for Apple Devices

from the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu.

2 In the Encoder pane of the Inspector window, choose H.264 for Apple Devices from the File

Format pop-up menu.

3 Choose from the following Encoder pane options:

•

Extension: This eld displays the H.264 for Apple Devices le extension (.m4v) automatically after the H.264 for Apple Devices output format is chosen from the File Format pop-up menu

or the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu in the Settings tab.

•

Allow Job Segmenting: This checkbox allows you to turn o job segmenting. It’s relevant only if

you’re using Compressor with distributed processing and with multi-pass encoding. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Device: Choose one of the following device options from this pop-up menu:

•

iPod/iPhone (VGA): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 640 pixels.

•

iPod/iPhone (Anamorphic): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 640

(anamorphic) pixels.

•

iPod/iPhone (QVGA): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 320 pixels.

•

Apple TV SD: This option creates video output les with a frame width of 640 pixels and a

higher bit rate range than those created using the iPod/iPhone (VGA) option.

•

Apple TV SD (Anamorphic): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 720

(anamorphic) pixels.

•

Apple TV HD: This option creates video output les with a frame width of 1280 pixels, except when the aspect ratio is set to 4:3. In that case, the video output les have frame dimensions

of 960 x 720 (anamorphic) pixels for frame rates above 24 fps and 1280 x 720 (square) pixels for lower frame rates.

•

Apple TV 3rd Generation: This option, intended for the third-generation Apple TV and iPad

models, creates video output les with a frame width of 1920 pixels.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 67

•

iPhone (Local/WiFi): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 854 pixels.

•

iPhone (Cellular): This option creates video output les with a frame width of 176 pixels.

•

iPad/iPhone with Retina display: This option creates video output les with a frame width of

1280 pixels.

•

Aspect Ratio: Use this pop-up menu to choose the exact pixel dimensions of the output media

le. The available options depend on which device option you chose. For more information,

see iTunes and Apple device output overview on page 65.

The Aspect Ratio setting also has an Automatic button. Clicking the Automatic button causes

the encoder to choose the aspect ratio that matches the source video le.

Important: When the Aspect Ratio setting is in automatic mode, Compressor can choose from

a wider variety of values to better match the source video (with the values determined and

displayed when this output format is applied to a source media le). For the best results, it’s

recommended that you use the automatic mode for the Aspect Ratio setting.

Aspect Ratio Automatic button

Note: By default, the Frame Controls feature is set to Automatic. The Frame Controls retiming

controls are engaged only if the source le is interlaced. For more information, see Frame

controls overview on page 166.

•

Frame Rate: Use this pop-up menu to choose from the options listed below.

The Frame Rate setting also has an Automatic button. Clicking the Automatic button causes

the encoder to choose the frame rate that matches the source video le.

Frame Rate Automatic button

•

29.97: Used for NTSC-based video

•

25: Used for PAL-based video

•

24: Used for standard video

•

23.98: Used for NTSC-based video

•

15: Used for web-based video

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 68

•

Bit Rate: Use this slider to choose the bit rate to use for the output video, or enter a number

in the text eld. The available ranges depend on the Device setting. The setting you should choose depends on how the output is to be used. Higher bit rates produce better picture quality, but they also produce larger output les.

•

Audio: Use this pop-up menu to choose from the four audio bit rate options listed below.

•

None: Use this option to exclude audio from the output media le.

•

24 Kbps: Creates an audio bitstream at 24 kbps for the iPhone (Cellular) device option.

•

128 Kbps: Creates an audio bitstream at 128 kbps.

•

256 Kbps: Creates an audio bitstream at 256 kbps.

•

Frame Sync: Also known as the key frame interval, the Frame Sync value represents how often a

key frame is inserted in the H.264 stream. The lower the number, the more smoothly the video

can be manipulated (scrubbed) during playback (more frequent key frames). The higher the

number, the more ecient the compression (less frequent key frames). The available range is from 2 to 10 seconds; the default is 5 seconds.

The Frame Sync setting also has an Automatic checkbox. Selecting the Automatic checkbox

causes the encoder to choose a frame sync rate that matches the source video le.

•

Multi-pass: Similar to two-pass MPEG-2 encoding, multi-pass oers the best possible quality. For faster (single-pass) encoding, turn this feature o by deselecting the checkbox.

Note: If you’re also using distributed processing, you may want to turn o job segmenting. For

more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Include Dolby 5.1: Use this checkbox to add a Dolby Digital Professional 5.1 surround sound audio track, in addition to the standard AAC audio track, to the output movie. This feature is

intended to be used when creating output les from source les that include surround sound

audio. The Dolby Digital Professional audio track is played by Apple TV only when connected to a system with a suitable Dolby Digital decoder. The AAC audio track plays in all other cases.

Note: Selecting the Include Dolby 5.1 checkbox creates a true Dolby Digital Professional 5.1 surround sound audio track only if your source audio includes 5.1 surround sound audio. If your source audio includes only stereo audio, the Dolby Digital Professional 5.1 surround sound audio track has only two channels of actual audio.

4 Click Save.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 69

Create Blu-ray discs

Compressor includes the ability to easily create H.264 settings specically congured for Blu-ray and AVCHD discs.

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is a format that was developed to enable recording,

rewriting, and playback of high-denition (HD) video. The format oers more than ve times the

storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25 GB on a single-layer disc and 50 GB on a dual-layer disc.

An AVCHD disc can be thought of as a simpler HD disc that is burned to red laser media. The resulting disc plays in Blu-ray Disc players that are compatible with the AVCHD format.

The eciency and quality of H.264 creates a number of options for optical disc producers:

•

Video resolutions supported by standard-denition (SD) DVDs are also supported by Blu-ray Disc. This means that a Blu-ray disc can use an HD video resolution le for its main content, such as a feature lm, and then use SD video resolution les for additional features like trailers

and a “making of” documentary.

•

The Create Blu-ray Disc job action can be used to burn an AVCHD disc using red laser media. An AVCHD disc provides a way to play H.264 video in Blu-ray Disc players that are compatible with the AVCHD format.

•

Because H.264 can deliver HD video at SD bit rates, you can get more HD content on a regular DVD-5 disc than you might expect for an AVCHD disc.

Create H.264 for optical disc

1 In the Settings tab, select a setting or create a new setting by choosing H.264 for Blu-ray from

the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu.

2 Choose the H.264 for Blu-ray format from the File Format pop-up menu in the Inspector.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 70

3 To congure settings, choose from the following options:

•

Extension: Displays the H.264 for Blu-ray le extension (.264) automatically after the H.264

for Blu-ray output format is chosen from the File Format pop-up menu or the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu in the Settings tab.

•

Allow Job Segmenting: This checkbox allows you to turn o job segmenting. It’s relevant only if

you’re using Compressor with distributed processing and with multi-pass encoding. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Stream Usage: Use this pop-up menu to choose how you intend to use the H.264 stream. Compressor modies the bit rate range settings based on the usage you choose.

•

Blu-ray: Choose this option if you intend to use the stream to create a standard Blu-ray disc.

•

AVCHD: Choose this option if you intend to use the stream and the Create Blu-ray Disc job

action to burn an AVCHD disc using a standard DVD burner. This disc can be played in Bluray Disc players that are compatible with the AVCHD format. AVCHD discs can have up to a

maximum of 50 chapter markers.

•

Video Format: Use this pop-up menu to choose from the four options listed below. All of them

are HD progressive formats.

The Video Format setting also has an Automatic button. Clicking the Automatic button causes

the encoder to choose the video format that matches the source video le.

Video Format Automatic button

•

NTSC: This format is referred to as 480p. It uses a 720 x 480 frame size with an anamorphic 16 x 9 format at 59.94 fps.

•

PAL: This format is referred to as 576p. It uses a 720 x 576 frame size with an anamorphic 16 x 9 format at 50 fps.

•

720p: This format uses a 1280 x 720 frame size with a 16 x 9 format at either 59.94 fps for

NTSC or 50 fps for PAL.

•

1920x1080: This format is referred to as 1080p. It uses a 1920 x 1080 frame size with a 16 x 9

format at either 59.94 fps for NTSC or 50 fps for PAL.

•

Frame Rate: Use this pop-up menu to choose a frame rate for the output media le.

The Frame Rate setting also has an Automatic button. Clicking the Automatic button causes

the encoder to choose the frame rate that matches the source video le.

Frame Rate Automatic button

Note: If you choose a format from the Video Format pop-up menu, the Frame Rate pop-up

menu is lled in automatically.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 71

Use the Frame Rate pop-up menu to choose from the following options:

•

23.98: Used for NTSC-based video

•

25: Used for PAL-based video

•

29.97: Used for NTSC-based video

•

50: Used for PAL-based video

•

59.94: Used for NTSC-based video

•

Average Bit Rate: Use the slider to choose an average bit rate to use for the output video,

or enter a value in the eld. Although the available range for a Blu-ray disc is between 5 Mbps and 30 Mbps, typical video bit rates with H.264 might range from 7 Mbps to 15 Mbps, depending on your DVD bit budget and the nature of your source media les. The available range for AVCHD discs is 5 Mbps to 15 Mbps.

•

Maximum Bit Rate: Choose a maximum bit rate between 6 Mbps and 35 Mbps for a Blu-ray

disc, or between 6 Mbps and 17 Mbps for an AVCHD disc. You can also enter any number within these ranges in the accompanying eld. The Maximum Bit Rate setting cannot be

lower than the Average Bit Rate setting. As a general rule, set your maximum bit rate at least 1 Mbps higher than your average bit rate, to allow for bit rate variability in achieving the goal of constant quality.

•

Multi-pass: Select this checkbox to turn on multi-pass encoding. Similar to two-pass MPEG-2

encoding, multi-pass oers the best possible quality. For faster (single-pass) encodes, turn this feature o by deselecting the checkbox. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-

pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

4 Click Save As.

Dolby Digital Professional les

Dolby Digital overview

Compressor provides the tools you need to encode and batch-encode Dolby Digital Professional

(AC-3) audio les.

Dolby Digital Professional format (also known as AC-3) is a very common compressed audio

format for DVD-Video discs. Compressor accepts multichannel sound les in a variety of formats

and gives you complete control over the AC-3 encoding process. Dolby Digital programs can

deliver 5.1-channel surround sound with ve discrete full-range channels (left, center, right, left surround, and right surround) plus a sixth channel for low-frequency eects (LFE), sometimes

known as “the subwoofer.” Another surround option is Dolby Surround, with four channels (left, center, right, and surround). But not all AC-3 audio is 5.1 surround sound. Dolby Digital

Professional is commonly used to encode stereo les to greatly reduce their le size.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 72

For more information about creating surround sound audio les using other output formats, see

Assign les to surround sound channels on page 74.

Note: It’s important to understand that Compressor cannot take stereo audio les and create

5.1 surround sound from them. If you want to create a 5.1 surround sound AC-3 audio le, you must rst create the six channels of audio it requires. This must be done using other applications

outside Compressor.

Following are some things to keep in mind as you congure and encode Dolby Digital Professional AC-3 les.

Source media les

There are a few guidelines to be aware of when encoding Dolby Digital Professional output les from your source media les.

Depending on the format, a le can contain a single channel (mono), dual channels (stereo), or multiple channels. Compressor supports Dolby Digital Professional in all these congurations.

Sound les intended for Dolby Digital Professional encoding must conform to the following rules:

•

All source les should be the same duration. (If they aren’t, Compressor sets the duration of the AC-3 stream to match the duration of the longest le.)

•

All les must have a 48 kHz sample rate (as required for DVD).

•

AC-3 streams must have a multiple of 1536 samples. If the selected input les do not, Compressor adds digital silence to the end of the les.

Note: Compressor can support any kind of source les that contain surround sound and highresolution audio up to 64 bits per sample (oating point) and sample rates up to 192 kHz.

Previewing the encoder settings

The settings made in the Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane cannot be previewed. If you have an external surround sound device connected to the USB, FireWire, or other output from

the computer, you will be able to hear the audio assigned to the dierent channels, but it won’t

include any settings, such as the Dialog Normalization or Compression Preset settings.

Important: Because the audio output is not Dolby Digital, the optical output cannot be used to

verify the audio assigned to each channel.

The only way to verify the settings is to submit the batch and listen to the results. If you’re unsure of the settings, use the Preview window to encode a short portion of the source as a test. For more information, see Transcode a portion of a clip on page 57.

You can import an AC-3 le as a source media le into a Compressor batch. Compressor includes a built-in Dolby Digital decoder that it uses to decode the AC-3 les. This decoder properly

applies any settings you made in the Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane, allowing you to

hear their eects without having an external Dolby Digital decoder. You can also transcode the AC-3 les to a dierent format.

Note: Surround sound AC-3 les are downmixed to stereo if you don’t have an external surround

sound system connected to the computer.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 73

Convert stereo audio to Dolby Digital Professional format

Follow these steps to encode a stereo (2/0 L,R) Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) stream from a stereo source media le.

Encode an AC-3 stream

1 Add source audio les to the Batch window.

For details, see Importing overview on page 17.

2 Save the batch by choosing File > Save As (or pressing Command-Shift-S), entering a name for

the batch, selecting a location, and clicking Save.

3 To apply the appropriate Apple setting from the Dolby Digital Professional category to the

source audio le, do one of the following:

•

Choose Target > New Target With Setting, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

In the Batch window, Control-click in an empty part of the job, choose New Target With Setting from the shortcut menu, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

Drag a setting from the Settings tab to the source audio le’s job in the Batch window.

4 Make any adjustments to the setting in the Encoder pane of the Inspector window.

For more information, see Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane on page 78.

Note: Compressor maps channels intelligently. Here are some examples:

•

If you import a stereo source le and apply a mono 1/0 (C) audio coding mode to it: The le

is downmixed.

•

If you apply a surround audio coding mode to the stereo le: The left and right channels are

mapped to the left front (L) and right front (R) channels, leaving the other channels of the

coding mode silent.

•

If you assign a stereo le to the left front or left (rear) surround channel: Compressor picks the left channel and ignores the right channel.

5 Click Submit.

For information about encoding surround sound les, see Assign les to surround sound

channels on page 74. For information about playing your AC-3 audio les with Compressor, see Preview media as source or with settings applied on page 52.

Assign les to surround sound channels

Compressor oers a streamlined channel assignment technique that can save you time. You can also use the manual method for assigning individual audio les to surround sound channels.

You can also combine surround audio source les with a video le to make a single Compressor job. This is useful in audio post-production workows in which surround audio stems (submixes) are created separately from the nal picture edit. Compressor treats the video and up to six audio les as a single asset. For example, you could apply the Create DVD job action to make a

DVD with 5.1-channel surround sound.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 74

Assign les automatically to surround channels using channel identier codes

1 In the Finder, append the channel identier code of the target surround channel to the lename

of each source audio le using these codes:

•

-L: Left front channel

•

-R: Right front channel

•

-C: Center front channel

•

-Ls: Left surround channel

•

-Rs: Right surround channel

•

-S: Center surround channel

•

-LFE: Low-frequency eects channel (subwoofer, LFE)

Note: OS X may add a le extension like .ai. This will not interfere with this channel assignment method.

This procedure works only when you drag les into the Batch window. If you drag the les onto the Compressor application icon, they’ll appear as separate source les, each in its own job.

Note: If you’re creating Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) surround sound streams, you won’t use all the channels at once. For a diagram of the Dolby audio coding modes, see Dolby Digital

Professional Encoder pane on page 78.

2 Drag the renamed source audio les to the Batch window.

If the following conditions are met, Compressor automatically collapses the entire group of les into what appears as a single surround source media le in the Batch window:

•

The les in the group must be named correctly. (See the channel identier codes listed above.)

•

The total number of les in the group must be fewer than seven.

The Inspector window shows the audio les assigned to each channel.

Click a channel’s icon to change the file assigned to that channel.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 75

Note: You can click a channel icon in the Inspector window to change the le assigned to it.

3 To apply the appropriate Apple setting from the Dolby Digital Professional category to the

source audio le’s job, do one of the following:

•

Choose Target > New Target With Setting, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

In the Batch window, Control-click in an empty part of the job, choose New Target With Setting from the shortcut menu, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

Drag a setting from the Settings tab to the source audio le’s job in the Batch window.

4 Make any necessary adjustments in the Inspector window and click Submit.

Compressor creates an AC-3 surround audio stream. For information about playing your AC-3

audio les with Compressor, see Dolby Digital overview on page 72.

Manually assign source audio les to channels of a surround sound stream

1 To import the source audio les, do one of the following:

•

Choose Job > New Job With Surround Group (or press Command-Control-I).

•

Click the Add Surround Sound button in the Batch window.

•

Control-click the batch and choose New Job With Surround Group from the shortcut menu.

The channel assignment interface opens.

2 To assign a source audio le to a particular channel, do one of the following:

•

Drag the source audio le from the Finder to the icon for a specic channel (for example, L).

•

Click the icon for a specic channel (for example, L) and use the Open dialog to locate the source audio le intended for that channel.

The le is now assigned to the L (left front) channel.

3 Repeat step 2 for each source audio le that you intend to include in the surround stream.

Note: If you’re creating Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) surround sound streams, you won’t use all the channels at once. For a diagram of the Dolby audio coding modes, see Dolby Digital

Professional Encoder pane on page 78.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 76

4 When you’ve nished adding source audio les to the channel assignment interface, click OK.

The group of surround les appears as a single surround source media le job in the Batch

window, and the icons are also shown in the Inspector window.

Click a channel’s icon to change the file assigned to that channel.

Note: You can click a channel icon in the Inspector window to change the le assigned to it.

5 To apply the appropriate Apple setting from the Dolby Digital Professional category to the

source audio le, do one of the following:

•

Choose Target > New Target With Setting, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

In the Batch window, Control-click in an empty part of the job, choose New Target With Setting from the shortcut menu, choose a setting, and click Add.

•

Drag a setting from the Settings tab to the source audio le’s job in the Batch window.

6 Make any necessary adjustments in the Inspector window and click Submit.

Compressor creates an AC-3 surround audio stream. For information about playing your AC-3

audio les with Compressor, see Dolby Digital overview on page 72.

Combine a video le with surround audio les to make a single source media le

1 To manually assign source audio les to channels of a surround sound stream, follow steps 1

through 5 above.

2 Click the Add Video button and use the resulting Open dialog to choose the video le.

Note: This feature supports QuickTime source media les only. Image sequences are

not supported.

3 Make any necessary adjustments in the Inspector window and click Submit.

You can further streamline the channel assignment process by encapsulating the automatic method described above in a Droplet. For more information about Droplets, see Create

Droplets on page 198.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 77

Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane

This section contains detailed information about the various tabs within the Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) Encoder pane of the Inspector window.

You make your Dolby Digital Professional settings using the tabs described below, by either modifying an existing setting or creating a new setting in the Settings tab. The Dolby Digital Professional pane opens with the Audio tab on top.

Basic settings

Use the following basic settings to set up a Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) job or batch:

•

Extension: This eld displays the Dolby Digital Professional le extension (.ac3) automatically

after the Dolby Digital Professional output format is chosen from the File Format pop-up menu or the Create a New Setting (+) pop-up menu in the Settings tab.

•

Allow Job Segmenting: This checkbox allows you to turn o job segmenting. Because job

segmenting isn’t used for audio-only encodes, this checkbox is dimmed when you choose the

Dolby Digital Professional le format. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass

or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Audio, Bitstream, and Preprocessing: These buttons open the Audio, Bitstream, and Preprocessing tabs described next.

Audio tab

All the most important Dolby Digital Professional settings are accessible in the Audio tab.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 78

•

Target System: Compressor limits available settings to those appropriate for the target system. If you’re encoding for use with DVD Studio Pro, choose DVD Video. Choose DVD Audio only if you’re encoding for use in a DVD Audio authoring application. To remove the setting limits, choose Generic AC-3.

•

Audio Coding Mode: Species the audio channels of the encoded stream. This setting also has

an Automatic button.

Audio Coding Mode Automatic button

For example, “3/2 (L, C, R, Ls, Rs)” means three front channels (left, center, right), and two rear channels (surround). “2/0 (L, R)” is essentially a standard stereo le. The audio coding mode aects settings such as the available bandwidth and surround channel preprocessing. If you

click the Automatic button (next to the Audio Coding Mode pop-up menu), Compressor

makes its best guess at the intended audio coding mode, based on available source audio les.

C R

LFE

3/2 channels

Ls Rs

2/2 channels

LFE LFE

2/1 channels

C R

LFE LFE

3/1 channels 3/0 channels

LFE

2/0 channels

(LFE option not available)

C R

(LFE option not available)

LFE

1/0 channels

Note: In the Audio Coding Mode pop-up menu, “S” stands for a single rear surround channel,

and in this illustration, “LFE” stands for low-frequency eects (also known as the subwoofer). For more information, see Assign les to surround sound channels on page 74.

•

Enable Low Frequency Eects: Select this checkbox to include the LFE channel in the encoded

stream (not available for 1/0 mono or 2/0 stereo).

•

Sample Rate: Species the sample rate. All les intended for video and audio DVD authoring must have a 48 kHz sample rate as required by the DVD specication. The 32 kHz and 44.1 kHz

sample rates are available only when Generic AC-3 is the target system.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 79

•

Data Rate: The choices depend on the coding mode and target system. The higher the rate, the better the quality. AC-3 streams have a constant data rate. At 448 kbps, which is the default for 5.1 encoding, one minute of AC-3 audio takes about 3.3 MB of storage space. For stereo encoding, rates of 192 kbps and 224 kbps are typical and will produce good results.

•

Bit Stream Mode: Denes the purpose of the encoded audio material. The information is included in the nished stream and can be read by some decoding systems.

•

Dialog Normalization: Species the average volume of the dialogue, using decibels of full scale (dBFS), in your sound les relative to full modulation. The playback device uses this information to maintain similar volume among dierent AC-3 streams. The goal is to make all AC-3 encoded audio les have the same listening level, regardless of the source le.

It’s especially important to properly use the Dialog Normalization feature if you have dierent audio les (with dierent volume levels) going on to a DVD. If you know the average level for each le, enter that number in the Dialog Normalization eld for each le. For example, if the

dialogue in your Final Cut Pro project averages around –12 dB on the audio meter, enter “–12”

in the Dialog Normalization eld.

Note: This normalization is between the audio streams on the DVD, not within an individual audio stream itself. For that type of normalization, use an audio editing tool. You can enter

values from –1 dBFS to –31 dBFS. The dierence between the value you enter and 31 dBFS

(which represents the normal dialogue listening level) is the amount that the source audio will be attenuated.

•

If you enter –31 dBFS: The attenuation is 0 dB (31 dBFS–31 dBFS), and the source audio levels

are not aected at all.

•

If you enter –27 dBFS: The attenuation is 4 dB (31 dBFS–27 dBFS).

•

If you enter –12 dBFS: The attenuation is 19 dB (31 dBFS–12 dBFS).

The louder the source le, the smaller the value you enter, and the more the audio in the encoded le is attenuated during playback.

If you don’t know the sound level of the source le or for some other reason want to ensure the Dolby Digital Professional encoder does not aect your sound levels, enter “–31” for the

Dialog Normalization and choose None from the Compression Preset pop-up menu (located in the Preprocessing tab).

Important: It’s critical that you set Dialog Normalization correctly if you intend to use any of

the Compression Preset settings. The Compression Preset settings assume that the audio, after

the dialogue has been normalized, is at the normal listening level of 31 dBFS. Levels that are

consistently louder than that result in distorted sound and erratic levels.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 80

Bitstream tab

These settings are stored in the nished stream for use by the playback device. Leave them at their default values unless you have a specic technical reason for changing them.

•

Center Downmix, Surround Downmix: If your encoded audio has these channels, but the player

does not, the channels are mixed into the stereo output at the specied level.

•

Dolby Surround Mode: When encoding in 2/0 (stereo) mode, this setting species whether the signal uses Dolby Surround (Pro Logic).

•

Content is Original: Select this checkbox to specify that this audio is from the original source and not a copy.

•

Audio Production Information: Select this checkbox and ll in the elds below to specify how

the encoded audio content was mixed. Playback devices may use this information to adjust output settings.

•

Peak Mixing Level: Species peak sound pressure level (SPL) (between 80 dB and 111 dB) in

the production environment when this mix was mastered.

•

Room Type: Species information about the mixing studio.

Preprocessing tab

Preprocessing options are applied to the audio data before encoding. With the exception of the

Compression Preset setting, leave these settings at their default values unless you have a specic

technical reason for changing them.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 81

•

Compression Preset: Species one of the dynamic range processing modes built into the AC-3

format. The default setting of Film Standard Compression should be used only when you’re encoding an original mix intended for cinema. In almost all cases, you should choose None.

Important: It’s critical that you set Dialog Normalization correctly in the Audio tab if you intend

to use any of these Compression Preset settings. The Compression Preset settings assume that the audio, after the dialogue has been normalized, is at the normal listening level of 31 dBFS.

Levels that are consistently louder than that result in distorted sound and erratic levels.

Note: If you’re building a Dolby Digital Professional 5.1-channel surround sound DVD, choose Film Standard Compression.

•

General Digital Deemphasis: Species whether input audio data is preemphasized and needs to

be deemphasized before encoding.

•

LFE Channel Low-Pass Filter: Select this checkbox to apply a 120 Hz low-pass lter to the lowfrequency eects (LFE) channel. Turn o this lter if the digital signal fed to the LFE’s input doesn’t contain information above 120 Hz.

•

Full Bandwidth Chan. Low-Pass Filter: Select this checkbox to turn on a low-pass lter with a cuto near the available audio bandwidth that is applied to the main input channels. If the

digital signal fed to the main input channels doesn’t contain information above the available

audio bandwidth, you can turn o this lter, and Compressor automatically determines the

available bandwidth.

•

Full Bandwidth Chan. DC Filter: Select this checkbox to turn on a DC high-pass lter for all input channels as a simple way to remove DC osets. Most mixed audio material is already free of DC osets.

•

Surround Channels 90º Phase Shift: Select this checkbox to generate multichannel AC-3 streams that can be downmixed in an external two-channel decoder to create true Dolby Surround– compatible output.

•

Surround Channels 3 dB Attenuation: Select this checkbox to apply a 3 dB cut to the surround

channels of a multichannel lm soundtrack being transferred to a consumer home theater

format. Cinema surround channels are mixed 3 dB “hot” (higher) relative to the front channels

to account for cinema amplier gains.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 82

Spatial mixing options

Below are additional suggestions for using the channels in a Dolby Digital Professional program.

Center channel

In a multichannel system, there are three ways to achieve a centrally placed sound image:

•

Create a “phantom center” (mix sound to the left and right equally, as with stereo): This method is commonly used, but assumes the listener is seated exactly between the speakers (which is not possible in automobiles and not always the case in homes). The timbre of sound is not the

same as from a direct speaker because of cross-cancelation eects.

•

Use the center channel alone: This creates a stable center image for listeners in any location. (To prevent the audio from sounding too focused or narrow, its reverb can be spread to the left and right channels.)

•

Use all three front channels equally or in various proportions: This method allows for greater control of the range of spatial depth and width. The phantom center can be reinforced by additional signals in the center channel, which can be enhanced by signals spread into the left/right pair. The disadvantage is that sound from all three speakers may not blend well or

may not arrive at the listener at the same time, causing side eects such as comb ltering, shifts in tone color, or smearing. To counteract these side eects, you can rst process the

additional signals to change their spatial character, timbre, or prominence relative to the main center signal.

Surround channels

Subtle surround eects can greatly enhance the listener’s sense of depth compared to conventional stereo. Popular music often benets from creative use of surround. But don’t overdo it. The lm industry guideline—don’t use surround eects to distract the listeners from

the story—also works well for music.

LFE channel limitations

The low-frequency eects (LFE) channel is a separate signal with a limited frequency range and

is created by the mixing engineer and delivered alongside the main channels in the mix. A “brick

wall” lter at 120 Hz in the Dolby Digital Professional encoder limits use of the LFE channel to the bottom two audible octaves. Dolby recommends limiting the signal to 80 Hz when mixing

your sound.

In most music productions (with exceptions such as the famous cannon shots in Tchaikovsky’s

1812 Overture), the LFE channel isn’t necessary. The LFE signal is also discarded in the Dolby

Digital Professional downmix process, so that intense bass signals don’t stress small stereo

systems. Be sure not to include vital information in the LFE channel that would be missed in mono, stereo, or Pro Logic playback.

Because LFE is separate from other channels, its ability to blend with higher frequencies can be aected by lters used to generate the LFE signal. To ensure a cohesive audio signal, keep the

entire signal together in the main channel or channels.

Avoid creating an LFE channel for material originally produced without one. Dolby Digital Professional’s ve main channels are all full range, and the LFE channel doesn’t increase the frequency response. Dolby Digital Professional decoders oer bass management, directing low frequencies to a subwoofer or other suitable speakers. An LFE track may interfere with

bass management.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 83

Stereo playback

Even with the popularity of 5.1 systems, you should always address stereo reproduction. There are three basic ways to do this:

•

Prepare a new stereo mix from the original multitrack elements (using conventional stereomixing sessions).

•

Prepare a studio-adjusted downmix from the multichannel mix. This method takes advantage

of the work that has gone into mixing the 5.1 version. It retains exibility in the exact proportions of each channel represented in the nal stereo mix.

•

Let the decoder derive a stereo downmix, based on preset formulas in the decoder. Downmix options and dynamic range control eects can be previewed and adjusted in the production

studio, and a range of adjustments are possible.

Always check the mix on an inexpensive surround system to evaluate how well it sounds on modest playback systems.

Note: For more information about Dolby Digital Professional, visit the Dolby Laboratories Inc.

website at http://www.dolby.com.

MPEG-2 les

MPEG-2 overview

MPEG-2 is an internationally accepted compression standard developed by the Motion Picture

Experts Group (MPEG). MPEG-2 allows you to create broadcast-quality video les and was

designed to support high-resolution, high-bit-rate video. It’s the video compression format used

for high-quality video titles on DVD, high-denition (HD) broadcast, and home satellite dish

systems. All DVD players contain the hardware required for MPEG-2 playback.

The Compressor MPEG-2 encoder can create MPEG-2 video streams for the DVD-Video format. To create DVD-Video discs, you can use a DVD authoring application in conjunction with Compressor, or you can use the Create DVD job action, which is part of the Create DVD template. For more information, see Post-transcoding actions overview on page 184 and Create a batch on page 18.

Standard-denition (SD) MPEG-2

Standard MPEG-2 is full frame rate (23.98 to 29.97 fps) and full-screen resolution (720 x 480 for

NTSC and 720 x 576 for PAL). SD MPEG-2 has the following characteristics:

•

Support for interlaced video: MPEG-2 can support either interlaced or progressive video. Because MPEG-2 streams are generally played from a local DVD drive rather than over a network with variable bandwidth, video frame rate usually stays constant, and the video normally looks completely smooth.

•

No streaming support: MPEG-2 is not suitable for streaming video les over the web because it

requires a high bit rate (2 to 9 Mbps) to maintain acceptable image quality.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 84

HD sources and MPEG-2

Compressor has several dierent options and workows for transcoding HD video source les into MPEG-2 les.

•

HD on Blu-ray: Compressor can output MPEG-2 les for creating HD-resolution Blu-ray discs from either HD or SD source media. Compressor can retain the various frame sizes and frame rates of HD video when transcoding to MPEG-2. Compressor also supports the higher bit rates

required by the Blu-ray format. For more information about creating output for Blu-ray discs, see Create Blu-ray discs on page 70. For information about adding the Blu-ray job action to a job, see Post-transcoding actions overview on page 184.

Note: The other output le format option for Blu-ray discs is H.264, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10.

•

HD to SD downconversion: For those situations in which you’re editing HD sources in Final

Cut Pro and want to create an SD DVD from them, Compressor provides high-quality downconversion. Compressor retains as much detail as possible during scaling and correctly preserves progressive or interlaced formats when encoding to MPEG-2 for DVD.

When you import source media into the Batch window, you can click the source’s name in the Batch window to see resolution, frame rate, and duration information in the lower-left corner of the Preview window.

Elementary, transport, and program streams

There are three common MPEG-2 stream types that are used to deliver MPEG-2-encoded video:

•

Elementary streams: These streams contain only one MPEG-2 content channel and no audio.

•

Transport streams: These streams can contain several MPEG-2 content channels and associated audio. All the channels are multiplexed together, allowing the receiver to choose which to play back. Compressor supports creating single-channel transport streams that can also include associated audio.

Transport streams can also recover from interruptions during playback, making them ideally suited for broadcast and streaming applications where noise or network congestion can lead to interruptions.

•

Program streams: These streams contain only one MPEG-2 content channel and its associated audio. Program streams require an error-free delivery method and are primarily used for storage or processing within a computer.

By default, the Compressor MPEG-2 encoder creates elementary MPEG-2 streams. In the Extras

tab of the MPEG-2 Encoder Pane, you can congure the MPEG-2 encoder to create transport

or program streams and choose whether they should include audio. For more information, see

MPEG-2 Encoder pane on page 89.

Note: The SD DVD and Blu-ray options in the Stream Usage pop-up menu output only

elementary streams. If you choose either of these and then congure the output to be either

a transport or program stream, the Stream Usage setting changes to Generic. For more information, see MPEG-2 Encoder pane on page 89.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 85

Create MPEG-2 les

This section includes step-by-step instructions for setting your MPEG-2 attributes prior to

creating MPEG-2 output les with Compressor. Make your MPEG-2 settings from the MPEG-2

Encoder pane by either modifying an existing setting or creating a new one in the Settings tab.

Stage 1: Open the MPEG-2 Encoder pane and choose video format settings

It’s important to match the video format, aspect ratio, and eld dominance to those of your source media le. For a more detailed description of each of these settings, see MPEG-2 Encoder

pane on page 89.

1 In the Settings tab, select a setting or create a new setting by choosing MPEG-2 from the Create

a New Setting (+) pop-up menu.

The MPEG-2 Encoder pane opens in the Inspector window with the Video Format tab displayed.

Choose the type of MPEG-2 stream to create.

Click the Automatic buttons to have the encoder match the source media file.

Manually configure these

settings if you don’t intend

to match the source media file.

2 In the Stream Usage pop-up menu, choose the setting (Generic, SD DVD, or Blu-ray) that matches

how you intend to use the encoded video.

This ensures that the MPEG-2 encoding options are restricted to those that are supported by your intended usage.

3 Choose a format from the Video Format pop-up menu or click its Automatic button.

4 Choose a frame rate from the Frame Rate pop-up menu or click its Automatic button.

5 Choose an aspect ratio from the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu or click its Automatic button.

Before you can choose your aspect ratio, you must determine whether the intended shape of your source video is 4:3 (normal) or 16:9 (widescreen).

6 In the Field Dominance pop-up menu, choose a eld dominance setting based on your source

media type.

For example, for DV choose Bottom First. Or click the Field Dominance Automatic button to let Compressor determine the correct setting.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 86

7 If you want to use the timecode from your source video, leave the “Choose start timecode”

checkbox unselected.

Otherwise, select this checkbox and enter a new timecode value.

8 If you selected the “Choose start timecode” checkbox, and your video format is NTSC, select the

“Drop frame” checkbox if you want to use drop frame (rather than non-drop frame) timecode.

Stage 2: Open the Quality tab and choose quality settings

In the Quality tab, you set the MPEG-2 encoding attributes that have the greatest inuence on the resulting quality of your MPEG-2 video output le: encoding mode, average and maximum

bit rate, and type of motion estimation.

1 To open the Quality tab, click the Quality button in the MPEG-2 Encoder pane of the Inspector.

Choose a mode that fits your time and quality requirements.

Choose bit rates that fit your file size and quality requirements.

Choose a Motion Estimation setting.

2 Make a selection from the Mode pop-up menu.

For best image quality, choose “One pass VBR Best” or “Two pass VBR Best.” For faster encoding

with excellent image quality, choose “One pass VBR” or “Two pass VBR.” For HD sources, choose

either “One pass VBR Best” or “Two pass VBR Best.”

With two-pass modes, the source media le is examined on the rst pass and transcoded

on the second pass, with bit rates tailored to the video content. In contrast, one-pass modes transcode the material more quickly, but allocate bits less optimally than do the corresponding two-pass modes.

3 Choose an average bit rate using the Average Bit Rate slider or eld, or click the Automatic button.

Note: Your choice of bit rate may be inuenced by several factors, including the complexity of

your source video, the format and number of your audio streams, and the total duration of all

video clips to t on your DVD.

Choose an appropriate bit rate based on the content and length of your source video and the

intended size (in bytes) of your output le. In DVD authoring, the entire video must t on the DVD disc—the lower the bit rate, the more data you can store. However, the higher the bit rate,

the better the image quality is.

As you change the Average Bit Rate value (with the slider or the eld), the bit rate calculator

at the bottom of the Quality tab dynamically shows the maximum number of minutes of video on a DVD-5 disc. The calculator assumes 1.5 Mbps for audio (two-channel AIFF). For more information, see MPEG-2 bit rates and formats on page 97.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 87

4 If available, use the Maximum Bit Rate slider or eld to set a maximum bit rate.

Choose a GOP structure

Because SD DVD players support peak bit rates of up to 10.08 Mbps for video plus audio, you should set the maximum video bit rate between 8.0 and 8.5 Mbps if you’re using a 1.5 Mbps (two-channel AIFF) audio track.

Note: For best results, make sure the maximum bit rate is at least 1 Mbps higher than the

average setting. Larger dierences can produce better results.

5 Choose one of the following settings from the Motion Estimation pop-up menu:

•

Good: The fastest motion estimation setting—sucient when there is relatively low motion

between frames

•

Better: A good general-purpose motion estimation setting—provides very good results even in the presence of complex interlaced motion

•

Best: The highest-quality setting to handle the most demanding and complex motion for interlaced sources—somewhat slower than the Better mode

Stage 3: Open the GOP tab and choose GOP settings

Select a suitable GOP structure and size and decide whether you want the GOPs to be open or closed. For more information about GOPs, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

Note: These settings are not adjustable if you chose an HD video format in the Video Format tab.

1 To open the GOP tab, click the GOP button in the MPEG-2 Encoder pane of the Inspector.

to control how many B-frames are used.

Choose open or closed GOPs.

Choose a GOP size.

2 Choose a GOP structure from the GOP Structure pop-up menu.

For the majority of MPEG-2 encoding jobs for DVD authoring, choose the IBBP GOP structure.

3 Choose a GOP size from the GOP Size pop-up menu.

For the majority of MPEG-2 encoding jobs for DVD authoring, choose a GOP size of 15 for NTSC

and a GOP size of 12 for PAL and 24p.

The options available in the pop-up menu vary depending on the GOP structure you choose and whether the GOP is open or closed.

4 Decide whether you want the GOP pattern to be open or closed, and click the appropriate button.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 88

Stage 4: Choose Extras settings

You can control the inclusion or exclusion of specic MPEG-2 authoring information in the

Extras tab.

1 To open the Extras tab, click the Extras button in the MPEG-2 Encoder pane of the Inspector.

2 If you want Compressor to parse specic MPEG-2 authoring information rather than parse the

information later in DVD Studio Pro, select the “Add DVD Studio Pro metadata” checkbox.

Important: Selecting this checkbox may make your MPEG-2 les incompatible with any DVD

authoring tools other than DVD Studio Pro 2 (or later).

3 If you want to exclude automatic compression markers from the stream but still retain the

chapter markers, select the “Include Chapter Markers only” checkbox.

4 To create transport or program streams, select the Multiplexed MPEG-1/Layer 2 Audio checkbox.

For more information about settings in the Extras tab, see MPEG-2 Encoder pane on page 89.

MPEG-2 Encoder pane

This section contains detailed information about the various tabs within the MPEG-2 Encoder pane in the Inspector window. You make your MPEG-2 settings using these tabs, by either modifying an existing setting or creating a new setting in the Settings tab.

The MPEG-2 Encoder pane opens with the Video Format tab on top.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 89

Basic settings

•

Extension: Displays the MPEG-2 le extension (.m2v) automatically after the MPEG-2 output

format is chosen from the File Format pop-up menu.

•

Allow Job Segmenting: This checkbox allows you to turn o job segmenting. It’s relevant only if

you’re using Compressor with distributed processing and with multi-pass encoding. For more information, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Stream Usage: This pop-up menu allows you to choose how you intend to use the MPEG-2

stream. Compressor modies the available options and bit rate ranges based on the option

you choose.

•

Generic: This option allows you complete access to all the MPEG-2 settings. This is the only option

that supports the MPEG-2 640 x 480 video format in addition to the standard-denition (SD) and high-denition (HD) video formats. It’s also the only option that supports creating transport and

program streams. It supports the complete bitrate range of 2.0 Mbps to 40.0 Mbps.

•

SD DVD: This option restricts the encoding options to those allowed by the SD DVD

specication. These include the NTSC and PAL video formats and a bitrate range of 2.0 Mbps

to 9.0 Mbps.

•

Blu-ray: This option restricts the encoding options to those allowed by Blu-ray video discs.

These include the SD and HD video formats and a bit rate range of 10.0 Mbps to 40.0 Mbps.

•

Video Format, Quality, GOP, and Extras: These buttons open the Video Format, Quality, GOP, and Extras tabs. Their settings are explained in the following sections.

Video Format tab

You use the Video Format tab to make settings related to video formats, frame rates, aspect

ratio, eld dominance, and timecode. All of these, except the timecode setting, can be set to automatically congure themselves based on the video being encoded.

The Video Format tab contains the following controls:

•

Video Format: Choose your output video le format as NTSC, PAL, 720p, HD 1440x1080, HD

1920x1080, or a variety of versions of 640-width formats. The Stream Usage setting determines which of these formats are actually available. When you choose a Video Format setting, the

other settings in this tab are lled in with default values, or they are dimmed, indicating that there are no options for that setting. The NTSC and PAL items refer to SD settings for the NTSC and PAL TV standards. Of the major-market DVD regions, NTSC is used in North America and Japan, and PAL is used throughout Europe.

Generally, the output video format should match the source video format. For interlaced video

originating from traditional NTSC or PAL camcorders, choose NTSC or PAL from this pop-up menu. If you’re unsure of your source media le’s video format, you can choose Automatic. This setting analyzes your source media le’s frame rate to determine the correct video format.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 90

If you click the Video Format Automatic button, the GOP size is limited to 12 or 15 (based on

whether the video is PAL or NTSC), with a closed IBBP pattern. With Automatic selected, you

cannot change the frame rate setting in this tab, or the GOP settings in the GOP tab. For more information about GOPs, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

Video Format Automatic button

Note: Because MPEG-2 uses xed video frame sizes, Compressor enters the output frame size in the elds in the Geometry pane based on your video format selection.

The video format you choose determines the options for the associated characteristics such as

frame size and rate, aspect ratio, and eld dominance.

Note: The normal frame dimensions of SD NTSC digital video are 720 x 486. If you want

to transcode a source le using the NTSC setting, Compressor crops the le to achieve the required MPEG-2 frame size of 720 x 480, unless you’ve already specied cropping attributes

for your setting. If not, Compressor crops two rows of pixels from the top and four from the bottom. This crop attribute is only temporary and is not saved in the setting. You can see the

eects of the crop by double-clicking the setting in the job to open the Preview window.

•

Frame Rate: Choose the intended frame rate for the MPEG-2 output le. Film and some video

camcorders create progressive material at 24 fps (or the NTSC variant 23.98 fps). Although the term “24p” implies video with a frame rate of 24 fps, the frame rate is usually 23.976 fps (rounded to 23.98 fps). To transcode these sources for DVD playback on NTSC-related TVs, choose the 23.98 setting. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

Note: The NTSC frame rate is frequently referred to as 29.97 fps. Similarly, the “NTSC version” of 24 fps is referred to as 23.98 fps. Both these numbers are actually approximations of the true values of 30/1.001 and 24/1.001, or 29.97003 and 23.97602 shown to more decimal places. These numbers show that 29.97 is a pretty good approximation of 30/1.001 (only 3 frames drift in 100,000 seconds), but that 23.976 would be much better than 23.98. In fact, even though

23.98 is used as shorthand in Compressor Help and in the Compressor user interface, accuracy

of 23.976 or better is maintained internally in Compressor, and generally within QuickTime as well. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 91

•

Aspect Ratio: Choose the aspect ratio of your video le. The default is 4:3. The other option of 16:9 is used for anamorphic DVD. The aspect ratio determines how the picture lls the

television screen. A 16:9 (widescreen) DVD viewed on a typical 4:3 television appears in

letterbox format (black bars at the top and bottom of the screen). However, a widescreen DVD displayed on a 16:9 (widescreen) TV lls the screen.

•

Field Dominance: Choose whether the top eld or the bottom eld of your interlaced source media le will be the dominant (rst) eld in the output MPEG-2 video le. If you choose

Automatic (the default), Compressor analyzes the source video and attempts to determine

eld dominance automatically. The bottom eld is dominant for DV source video. This setting

does not pertain to the 720p video format, because that format must be progressive.

Note: For interlaced video, the top eld is also known as the upper or odd eld, and the bottom eld is also known as the lower or even eld.

•

Choose start timecode: If you leave the checkbox unselected (the default), Compressor embeds

the source media le’s existing timecode in the output media le. Selecting this checkbox allows you to override the source media le’s timecode and enter a new timecode value in the timecode eld. This eld is dimmed unless the checkbox is selected, and if it’s left blank, the output media le uses the default starting timecode value of 00:00:00:00.

•

Drop Frame: If you select the “Choose start timecode” checkbox, and you want your timecode to be drop frame (rather than non-drop frame), you must also select this checkbox.

Timecode is a numbering system for labeling the frames in a video sequence. The type of timecode designed for 30 fps video has a frame counter that counts from 0 to 29 and then increments the seconds counter and returns to 0. This type of timecode, also known as non- drop frame timecode, maintains an accurate measure of elapsed time for true 30 fps video.

However, the NTSC frame rate is 29.97 fps, so drop frame timecode was dened to provide

a more accurate measure of elapsed time for NTSC. Drop frame timecode skips frame numbers 0 and 1 once a minute on the minute, except for every 10 minutes. For example,

drop frame timecode 01:08:59;29 is followed by 01:09:00;02, skipping timecode numbers 01:09:00;00 and 01:09:00;01.

Note: Drop frame timecode applies only if you’re using interlaced NTSC video.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 92

Quality tab

The Quality tab allows you to set the bit rate for your video so that it can be transcoded to a suitable data size and quality.

In addition to the controls, the lower-right corner shows an estimate of how many minutes of

video would t on a 4.7 GB DVD using the current settings. This time assumes a single AIFF audio

stream to be used with the MPEG-2 stream.

Mode pop-up menu

Motion Estimation pop-up menu

Time estimate for a 4.7 GB disc with a stereo AIFF audio stream

•

Mode: Choose one of the following MPEG-2 encoding modes. (HD-quality modes are “One pass

VBR Best” and “Two pass VBR Best.”)

•

One pass CBR: Using this mode, the output MPEG-2 video stream’s bit rate is held approximately constant from one GOP to the next. This is the fastest Compressor MPEG-2 encoding mode, and it provides good to very good quality, especially at bit rates between 5 and 9 Mbps.

•

One pass VBR: This VBR (variable bit rate) encoding mode aims to maintain constant quality

(at the expense of constant bit rate) for the transcoded video le. This means that in scenes

with much detail or fast motion, Compressor allows a higher bit rate than it allows in less detailed or still parts of the stream. In spite of this bit rate variability, Compressor ensures

that your specied average bit rate is achieved accurately and that the maximum bit rate is

not exceeded. Unlike the two-pass modes, “One pass VBR” doesn’t have a “bird’s-eye” view of the source media prior to encoding, so its bit allocation is less optimized than that of “Two

pass VBR.” Nonetheless, for most standard-denition (SD) media les at bit rates of 3.5 Mbps

and above, this mode provides good to excellent quality and transcodes quickly.

•

One pass VBR Best: This is similar to “One pass VBR,” but Compressor applies greater eort

to its internal decision-making process. Although “One pass VBR Best” transcodes slower than “One pass VBR,” it provides excellent to outstanding SD video quality at bit rates of 3

to 3.5 Mbps and above. Bit rates for high-denition (HD) MPEG-2 can range from 10 to 29

Mbps average, 12 to 29 Mbps maximum. Compared to “One pass VBR,” “One pass VBR Best”

provides higher quality, especially for dicult material at low bit rates. For short streams of

1 to 2 minutes or less, if you’re using “One pass VBR” or “One pass VBR Best,” the average bit rate accuracy may be compromised by as much as 10 to 30 percent.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 93

•

Two pass VBR: In this mode, Compressor reads through the entire source video le twice. In the rst of these passes, Compressor analyzes the entire source video stream prior to transcoding it to determine the degree of encoding diculty of each scene. It then creates

a bit rate allocation plan that gives a higher bit rate to complex scenes and a lower bit rate

to easy scenes, in order to achieve the specied average bit rate without exceeding the specied maximum bit rate. In the second pass, Compressor does the actual compression, creating the MPEG-2 output video le according to its bit rate allocation plan. As with “One

pass VBR,” the goal of “Two pass VBR” is constant quality rather than constant bit rate. Unlike “One pass VBR,” “Two pass VBR” is able to establish an overview of where best to spend its

bits across the entire source media le, before beginning the actual encoding. The result of

this process is that transcoding time is almost twice that of “One pass VBR.” Although the

benet is not twice the quality, “Two pass VBR” provides more consistent overall quality than “One pass VBR,” especially in source media les with a substantial dierence between the

most and the least complex scenes.

•

Two pass VBR Best: In this mode, Compressor devotes more eort to its internal decision-

making process than it does for “Two pass VBR.” Encoding time for “Two pass VBR Best” is slower than for “Two pass VBR,” but it provides the best possible quality that the Compressor

MPEG-2 encoder has to oer. This mode provides outstanding quality at bit rates of 3 to 3.5

Mbps and above for SD video. For information about using the two-pass modes with job segmenting, see Job segmenting and two-pass or multi-pass encoding on page 249.

•

Average Bit Rate: Set the average bit rate by dragging the slider or entering a number in the

accompanying eld. The available range depends on the Stream Usage setting. You can also click the Automatic button to the right of the eld to have Compressor determine the

appropriate average and maximum bit rates.

Note: The average bit rate setting directly controls the size of the encoded le. The maximum bit rate setting does not aect the encoded le’s size.

•

Maximum Bit Rate: Set the maximum bit rate by dragging the slider or entering a number in

the accompanying eld. The available range depends on the Stream Usage setting.

Note: This slider is available only with the VBR modes and cannot be set lower than the average bit rate. The slider is also not available if the Automatic button is active.

•

Motion Estimation: The items in this pop-up menu provide trade-os between image quality and processing time, especially if there is a lot of motion in the source le.

•

Good: The fastest motion estimation setting. This mode does well even with signicant

amounts of motion between frames, if the motion has minimal intereld motion within frames. For example, footage that has been exposed to frame rate conversion or other

eects processes tends to have little intereld motion. In general, use Good with the one-

pass encoding modes.

•

Better: A good general-purpose motion estimation setting. The Better mode provides good results even with complex interlaced motion. Better works well for almost all types of interlaced video sources, even shaky footage from handheld consumer camcorders. In general, use Better with “One pass VBR” and “Two pass VBR.” If you’re using a progressive

video format, the Better mode does only frame-based motion estimation, and not eldbased motion-vector searching, which isn’t relevant for progressive source les. In this case

the Better mode will run somewhat faster.

•

Best: This is the highest-quality motion estimation setting and should be used for the most demanding and complex motion for interlaced sources. It’s slower than the Better mode. In general, use the Best mode to maximize quality when using “One pass VBR Best” or “Two pass VBR Best.”

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 94

GOP tab

You use the GOP (group of pictures) tab to select a GOP format, structure, and size. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

Note: If you choose any of the HD video formats in the Video Format tab, the settings in the GOP tab cannot be changed and default to a closed IBBP GOP structure with a size of 12 (for PAL) or

15 (for NTSC).

•

GOP Structure: Choose an option from this pop-up menu to specify whether there will be two, one, or no B-frames between the reference frames within a GOP. GOP structure, along with GOP size, determines the number of I-frames, P-frames, and B-frames that are used within a GOP during encoding.

Note: For most MPEG-2 encoding situations intended for use on a DVD, choose IBBP as the GOP

structure setting, and a GOP size of 15 for NTSC, or 12 for PAL. These selections give the best

results in most situations. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

•

IP: No B-frames are used with this setting. Choose IP only if your media contains fast motion

that isn’t encoded with sucient quality using an IBBP or IBP structure.

•

IBP: One B-frame is used between reference frames (I-frames and P-frames). Choose this

setting only if your media contains fast motion that isn’t encoded with sucient quality

using an IBBP structure.

•

IBBP: Use IBBP for the majority of MPEG-2 encoding situations, along with a GOP size of 15

for NTSC, or 12 for PAL. Two B-frames are used between reference frames with this setting.

•

Open and Closed: Closed GOPs don’t contain any frame that refers to a frame in the previous or next GOP, whereas open GOPs begin with one or more B-frames that reference the last P-frame of the previous GOP. Closed GOPs created by the Compressor MPEG-2 encoder begin with an I-frame. Select your GOP type (open or closed) based on whether and how you create chapter markers for DVD authoring and whether you intend to use multiple video angles in your title. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

•

Open: Select this option to create open GOPs.

•

Closed: Select this option to create closed GOPs.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 95

•

GOP Size: Choose how many frames are contained within your GOP, following the format of the chosen GOP structure. The maximum GOP size you can choose within Compressor is 15 frames

(NTSC) or 12 frames (PAL and 720p). The minimum GOP size for all video formats is 6 frames

(closed GOP) or 7 frames (open GOP). The relationship between GOP structure and GOP size gives you GOP patterns. For more information, see About GOPs (groups of pictures) on page 99.

•

Pattern: This eld cannot be edited but displays the actual GOP pattern based on your chosen

GOP structure and size.

Extras tab

You use the Extras tab to include or exclude specic MPEG-2 authoring information.

•

Add DVD Studio Pro metadata: Selecting this checkbox allows Compressor to parse specic

MPEG-2 authoring information during the transcoding process to accelerate the import

process into DVD Studio Pro. However, these MPEG-2 les will be incompatible with versions of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 or earlier. Leaving the checkbox unselected means the information will be

parsed later in DVD Studio Pro.

Note: MPEG-2 streams with additional DVD Studio Pro metadata are compatible only with DVD Studio Pro 2 (or later). MPEG-2 streams created with this checkbox selected are incompatible with versions earlier than DVD Studio Pro 2 or with other DVD authoring

tools. All Apple settings have this checkbox selected by default. To make your MPEG-2 les

compatible with other DVD authoring tools, deselect this checkbox, and then save the setting.

•

Include Chapter Markers only: Selecting this checkbox excludes unnamed compression markers

from the stream but still retains the chapter markers. Leaving the checkbox unselected allows all markers to be recognized in the output media le. For more information about chapter

markers, see Add compression or podcast markers on page 49.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 96

•

YUV 4:2:2 Color encoding (Not for DVD use): Select this checkbox to enable 4:2:2 color encoding. This option is supported in the creation of MPEG-2 elementary, program, and transport streams, but it’s available only when the Stream Usage pop-up menu is set to Generic.

•

Multiplexed MPEG-1/Layer 2 Audio: Select this checkbox to create a multiplexed stream (rather

than an elementary stream). You can make the output le either a transport stream or a program stream. For information about the dierent stream types, see MPEG-2 overview on page 84.

The audio in this stream is MPEG-1 Layer 2, with a sample rate of 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz (depending on the source) and a bit rate of 384 kbps. To create an audio-only (MPEG-1/Layer 2

Audio) elementary stream, see Create MPEG-1 audio for DVD on page 110 .

Important: Generic is the only Stream Usage setting that supports transport and program

streams. Selecting the Multiplexed MPEG-1/Layer 2 Audio checkbox changes your Stream

Usage setting to Generic if it’s currently anything else.

MPEG-2 bit rates and formats

The following sections contain useful information for creating MPEG-2 output media les.

Bit rates

When determining average and maximum bit rates for standard DVD playback, remember to consider the bit rate of your audio track as well as the MPEG-2 bit rate.

You must keep the total of both average and maximum audio and video bit rates under 10.08 Mbps, the maximum guaranteed transfer rate from standard DVD players. Because DVDcompatible audio formats are constant bit rate (CBR), there is no maximum audio bit rate to worry about.

For example, if you’re using AIFF audio at 1.5 Mbps, you should keep both the average and maximum video bit rates under 8.5 Mbps. Typically, your average bit rate is lower than this (for

example, 3.5 Mbps for 2 hours of footage on your DVD). However, your maximum bit rate must

also stay below this number. A maximum bit rate of 8.0 Mbps is recommended to provide an extra margin for error (for example, to accommodate subtitle streams). If you’re using one of

the DVD-compatible compressed audio formats such as Dolby Digital or MPEG-1/Layer-2, your

audio bit rate may be as low as 0.2 to 0.4 Mbps, in which case you can set your maximum bit rate about 1 Mbps higher.

Also, as a general rule, set your maximum bit rate at least 1 Mbps higher than your average bit rate, to allow for bit rate variability in achieving the goal of constant quality.

The following table shows some average bit rates and corresponding footage times for a 4.7 GB DVD:

Average bit rate Approximate duration for 4.7 GB DVD

3.5 Mbps 121 minutes

5.0 Mbps 94 minutes

6.0 Mbps 82 minutes

7.5 Mbps 68 minutes

8.0 Mbps 65 minutes

Note: When “One pass VBR” or “One Pass VBR Best” is chosen for very short clips (less than a

minute or two in length), the resulting MPEG-2 output le size may not accurately reect the average bit rate you specied. If the MPEG-2 output media le is larger than you want, you can

try transcoding it again at a lower average bit rate.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 97

MPEG-2 video frame sizes and formats

Because MPEG-2 uses xed video frame sizes, Compressor enters the output frame size in the elds in the Geometry pane based on your video format selection.

The video format you choose in the Video Format pop-up menu determines the options for the

associated characteristics such as frame size and rate, aspect ratio, and eld dominance. For more

information, see MPEG-2 Encoder pane on page 89.

Video format Frame size (pixels) Frame rate (fps) Aspect ratio Scanning method

NTSC 720 x 480 23.98 (progressive

only), 29.97

PAL 720 x 576 25 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

720p 1280 x 720 23.98, 25, 29.97, 50,

59.94

HD 1440 x 1080 1440 x 1080 23.98 (progressive

only), 25, 29.97

HD 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080 23.98 (progressive

only), 25, 29.97

640 x 480 (1.33) 640 x 480 23.98, 25, 29.97 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

640 x 360 (1.78) 640 x 360 23.98, 25, 29.97 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

640 x 352 (1.82) 640 x 352 23.98, 25, 29.97 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

640 x 384 (1.67) 640 x 384 23.98, 25, 29.97 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

640 x 320 (2.00) 640 x 320 23.98, 25, 29.97 4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

4:3 or 16:9 Interlaced,

progressive

16:9 Progressive

16:9 Interlaced,

progressive

16:9 Interlaced,

progressive

About 24p (23.98p)

For DVD authoring and encoding, 24p refers to a video sequence that contains 24 progressive

(non-interlaced) frames per second, with NTSC-related standard-denition (SD) frame dimensions

(720 x 480 for MPEG-2). Film-based movies have a native frame rate of 24 fps, and because the MPEG-2 format is able to represent 24 fps video internally, many commercial movie DVDs are

encoded in this way. But any time you use NTSC video in your project, the frame rate of lm-

transferred material is slowed down from 24 fps to 23.976 fps (rounded to 23.98) and a 2:3:2:3 pulldown is added. So, the more accurate term is actually 23.98p.

Compressor can also do this for 24p source video les. For such material, the 23.98 frame

rate option (in the Video Format tab) compresses each source frame one-for-one, without

compressing repeated frames or elds in order to achieve a 29.97 fps display rate. This results in

higher quality at a lower compressed bit rate than would be possible if the 24p material were

converted to 29.97 fps prior to transcoding. Compressor also sets internal MPEG-2 frame ags

correctly, so that DVD players will properly apply the 3:2 pulldown process for display on 29.97 fps interlaced NTSC TV sets.

Note: If your source video has a frame rate of 24.00 fps rather than 23.98 fps, Compressor skips one out of every 1000 source frames. If the 24p source video is 23.98 fps, Compressor transcodes all source frames, without skipping (or repeating) any of them.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 98

About GOPs (groups of pictures)

A major feature of MPEG-2 encoding is its ability to remove redundancy, not only within a frame but also among a group of frames. MPEG-2 uses three frame types (I, P, and B) to represent the

video. A group of pictures (GOP) setting denes the pattern of the three frame types used. These three frame types are dened in the following ways:

•

Intra (I): Also known as the key frame. Every GOP contains one I-frame. The I-frame is the only MPEG-2 frame that can be fully decompressed without any reference to frames that precede or follow it. It’s also the most data-heavy, requiring the most disk space. If you want to place an

I-frame at a scene change or some other specic frame location, you need to manually set it

using the Preview window. This is known as a forced I-frame. For more information, see Markers

and poster frames overview on page 46.

•

Predicted (P): Encoded from a “predicted” picture based on the closest preceding I- or P-frame. P-frames typically require much less disk space than do I-frames because they reference a preceding I- or P-frame in the GOP.

Note: Both I-frames and P-frames are also known as reference frames, because a B-frame may refer to either one or both frame types.

•

Bi-directional (B): Encoded from an interpolation of succeeding and preceding reference

frames, either I-frame or P-frame. B-frames are the most storage-ecient MPEG-2 frame type,

requiring the least amount of disk space.

The use of B- and P-frames is what allows MPEG-2 to remove temporal redundancy, contributing

to its ability to compress video eciently.

You need to consider the following factors when choosing a GOP setting.

GOP structure

This setting species whether there will be two, one, or no B-frames between the reference

frames within a GOP. GOP structure, along with GOP size, determines the number of I-, P-, and B-frames that are used during transcoding.

The GOP structure you choose depends on how far apart P-frames should be spaced. Because a P-frame is predicted from the previous reference frame (either an I-frame or a P-frame), if there are one or two B-frames in between, the prediction must cover the distance objects can move over the duration of two to three frames.

In principle, the less average motion there is from one frame to the next, the farther apart P-frames can be spaced, and the greater the compression can be. For most video material, the IBBP structure is a good choice. Material with unusually fast motion throughout the entire

sequence may benet from an IBP or IP structure, but in such cases a relatively high bit rate (6 to

8 Mbps for SD video) may be required for good quality.

GOP size

This setting species the number of frames within a GOP. Because exactly one I-frame exists

per GOP, longer GOP sizes generally provide greater compression, because B- and P-frames are smaller than I-frames.

For most media, spacing I-frames about 1/2 second apart gives good results. This equates to a

GOP size of 15 frames for NTSC and 12 frames for PAL. The DVD-Video specication prohibits GOP

lengths from being much longer than this. Generally, only material with scene changes occurring

less than 1/2 second apart frequently throughout the video benets from shorter GOP sizes.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 99

Open and closed GOPs

Open GOP

Open GOPs are most ecient because they allow an extra B-frame in the GOP pattern. Open

GOPs start with a B-frame that is able to look at the last P-frame from the preceding GOP as well

as the rst I-frame of its own GOP.

(IBBP, 15 frames)

I B B P B B P B B P B B P B B IB BP

:06 :07 :08 :09 :10 :11 :12 :13 :14 :15 :16 :17 :18 :19 :20 :21:04 :05:03

Closed GOP

(IBBP, 15 frames)

P B B P B P B P B PI B BBB

:06 :07 :08 :10 : 11 :12 :13 :14 :15 :16 :17 :18:04 :05

:09

By denition, closed GOPs cannot contain any frame that refers to a frame in the previous or next

GOP. In contrast, open GOPs begin with one or more B-frames that reference the last P-frame of the previous GOP. Closed GOPs created by Compressor always begin with an I-frame.

Open GOPs generally provide slightly better compression than do closed GOPs of the same structure and size. The illustration above shows that a closed GOP contains one more P-frame than does an open GOP of the same length. Because P-frames generally require more bits than do B-frames, the open GOP achieves slightly better compression.

There are limitations to using open GOPs for DVD-Video discs that are created using a DVD authoring application. One limitation is that only closed GOPs are permitted within MPEG-2 streams that will be used for mixed-angle or multi-angle DVDs.

The other limitation is that DVD chapter markers can be set only at the beginning of a closed

GOP. The best time to dene chapter markers is before doing MPEG-2 transcoding. For example,

if you specify your chapter markers in Final Cut Pro, you can set Compressor to do MPEG-2

transcoding with open GOPs. Compressor then forces a closed GOP to begin only at the specied

chapter markers and makes all other GOPs open. You can also accomplish this by specifying “forced I-frames” in the Compressor Preview window and giving them a chapter name to be used by a DVD authoring application.

However, if you want to specify chapter markers at any GOP boundary after your video has been

transcoded in the MPEG-2 format, you should use only closed GOPs. This freedom is limited, as it allows you to set chapter markers only at GOP boundaries, rather than at any video frame.

AIFF les

AIFF overview

The Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) was developed by Apple for storing high-quality audio. The format was intended for DVD or CD authoring and is now one of the most commonly used

audio le formats for the Mac OS.

Note: Choose the AIFF option from the File Format pop-up menu only if you need to create

a specialized AIFF le. If you’re creating a standard AIFF le, choose the Common Audio

Formats option.

Chapter 5 Custom settings and output formats 100

Apple Compressor User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

What is Compressor?

Compressor window overview

Manage Compressor windows

Compressor terms

Importing overview

Create a batch

Add image sequences to batches

Inspector window

Batch window

Settings overview

Assign settings

Assign settings to source media

Modify an assigned setting

Create custom settings

Create and modify settings

Share settings

About the Automatic settings

Example: Create custom groups and settings for DVD

Inspector panes

Use markers and poster frames

Markers and poster frames overview

Manually add and remove markers

Add compression or podcast markers

Plain text chapter marker lists

Set the poster frame

Preview media

Previewing overview

Preview media as source or with settings applied

Transcode a portion of a clip

Preview window

Custom settings and output formats overview

iTunes and Apple device output

iTunes and Apple device output overview

Create H.264 settings

Create Blu-ray discs

Dolby Digital overview

Convert stereo audio to Dolby Digital Professional format

Dolby Digital Professional Encoder pane

Spatial mixing options

MPEG-2 overview

MPEG-2 Encoder pane

MPEG-2 bit rates and formats

About GOPs (groups of pictures)

AIFF overview