[forumhound]

Hi all I am just really starting to use Compressor for production in small studio and have the following questions about this very cool app:
1. I am using version 2.13, and I think there is a v3 out there. What is that and how does it differ then v2?
2. I used to have compressorX (not responding) process running all the time in pre-updated v2, but now i have compressord (not responding) there all the time instead. It's not taking up any cpu, so should I be worried? Compressor functions fine.
3. Is there a way to extend compressors supported formats to say flash and wmf? I do use flip4mac and that works kinda, for window media, but I would like to stay in compressor batch mode for everything I need. I guess there is Episode Pro with a plug-in (supposedly) but sheesh, it's costly.
Well, thanks for any compressor help!!!
Ccfccp

[mduell]

1. Info on v3 here.

2. The 'd' implies it's just a background daemon... not sure why it's listed as not responding, but if it's not using any CPU or much memory I'd just let it be.

3. Still need to drop the $1k on Episode Pro for WMV/FLV.

[forumhound]

Thanks for that! well, I am not sure about the FCP install on this machine. It seems to be an upgrade and is all mixed up, for example instead of Compressor 3, it has 2. But it does have Motion 3 with the upgrade, same thing for color and all the rest. Oh well, I never use that stuff as I am a Adobe CS3 master suite user. But I do like compressor (and color). I cant really see the difference between compressor 2 and 3 but i am sure there is something different in there....

ps. Do you know the answer to this one:
I am making instructional DVDs for PC users, and I am exporting QT using the H.264 codec. Will all pc users be able to view these movies, or should I use mp4? Thanks!

[Steve SpotOn]

Are they DVD's to play in DVD players .... then you would be exporting Mpeg2 files and authoring in something like DVD Studio.
If they are standalone video files then it really depends on what the end user has. Worst case might mean encoding to Mpeg1 which are pretty poor on file size/quality but will play in all versions of Windows Media Player and QuickTime. Check out your end user.
I'm a regular user of Episode Pro (managed to sneak in through an upgrade so haven't had to pay that extortionate purchase price)... it is a great app and with the Flash plugin I use it a lot.

Steve

[forumhound]

Originally Posted by Steve SpotOn 

Are they DVD's to play in DVD players .... then you would be exporting Mpeg2 files and authoring in something like DVD Studio.
If they are standalone video files then it really depends on what the end user has. Worst case might mean encoding to Mpeg1 which are pretty poor on file size/quality but will play in all versions of Windows Media Player and QuickTime. Check out your end user.
I'm a regular user of Episode Pro (managed to sneak in through an upgrade so haven't had to pay that extortionate purchase price)... it is a great app and with the Flash plugin I use it a lot.

Steve

Steve, thanks for that - its the latter case, standalone video clips that will just invoke whatever the user has installed by default. I can set requirements on the DVD packaging but I am looking for a format that most folks will have without issue. Space is an issue, as I have a lot of material that is going on a single layer DVD. So are u saying that Mpeg1 is that format? Currently I am exporting from Adobe Premiere CS3 in uncompressed QT, then using QT pro to export again in h.264 to reduce the files by 1/5 but still retain the same quality. I want to use compressor to batch that final process, hence all this about getting it working and whatnot. Congrats on Episode, it looks really cool - so are u using the compressor plugin so you don't have to use the Episode interface? I hear it has one. But 1000+!!! wha!!!! And I am not impressed with flip4mac, or maybe its just the WMF that's hosed, but flip4mac creates terrible .wmfs here albiet plays them well within QT player (without crashing too much).
Cheers,
ccfccp

[Steve SpotOn]

We use Compressor with FCP purely for Mpeg2 files for DVD creation. Any other format we export a full resolution QuickTime and then bring that into Episode Pro. From Episode we export all our Mpeg1, wmv, Flash etc. We don't use the Compressor plugin and have got used to and familiar with the Episode interface.
For our instructional CD-ROM's we would encode the video as Mpeg1 and then bring this into Director for integrating with graphics. I believe Director can now import Mpeg2 and flash video but I've not tried it (stuck with the work flow I know that works!). For the web we've been encoding to Flash8 in Episode and these look pretty good in comparison with other web based videos and is a format most users expect (i.e. YouTube etc.)

You really must look at your target and check/test to get the best solution.

Steve

[forumhound]

Steve, ur the man! I am sure you can help me with this one: We are a small music/video studio but I have a contract with client to produce instructional material for their org. I originally used Encore and Sonic to make interactual disks, which is pretty much what the client would like, however, about 80% of their machines are locked down and they cannot install any new software. So that killed that idea. Not knowing what to do then, I used Camtasia MenuMaker on a PC (it behaves badly on mac/intel) to recreate the project. They liked it, but thought it boring, and it is without video backgrounds on the menus and animated buttons, etc. So searching around, I can't find anything else to do the same job in a better way. As I understand Director (and it's been years since I opened it) you have to have the shockwave player installed on the client for it to work. Is this true? Anyway, I would switch to Director for this project if it has a zero-footprint on the clients PC. Well, thanks for the other tips, I will get ahold of orgs IT department and run some video tests to determine the right format.

[Steve SpotOn]

I think Shockwave is part, or used in, the authoring tools in Director. Director creates a projector that works across a wide range of PC's (it can alo create a seperate projector for Mac's) and it doesn't require any particular plugins on the client machine. I'm no expert on Director as I use other tech people for this (I suggest you have a browse on the Adobe support forums). I wouldn't recommend Director unless you have some help or previous experience- it's a very complex programme (and very expensive).

Steve

[Steve SpotOn]

Sorry but a stupid option.... buy all your clients DVD players. They are soooo cheap!

Steve