Multo.com :: Visual Magic

Compressor 3 – Same Ol’ Issues & New Puzzles

I burn DVDs regularly from projects built in FCP, and have been doing this since the first version of FCP. DVD Studio Pro has its issues, but they are workable – the DVDs I build for clients – art installations, documentary rough cut reviews, screeners and video wallpaper – require the best out of the MPEG 2 codec. A recent project for an installation of 4 concurrently running DVDs had me testing codecs and encoders to get the best image from text and stills. Granted, the designers are print designers, and forgot the basics about images and text on video – keep it a fat font, keep on whole numbers for the x/y plane, keep it above 24 points, make sure its not WHITE white, use a keyline if you can, or deal with the faded edges versus jagged, pixelated ones. So I had work with InDesign Interchange documents, export as high res print PDF, import back into CS3′s Photoshop, exported several ways – high res JPEG, high res PNG, and finally, (what worked the best) Quicktime MOV files, using the animation codec setting.

(deep breath…slug back a coffee…sigh deeply, and…)

I then imported the files into FCP6, set the sequence codec to match (animation), and viola – tiny text that is readable when projected on a huge screen. At least according to my NTSC monitor.

Then, I ran a test – export from the timeline in FCP6 using QuickTime compression – MPEG2, 2 pass VBR, Best Quality, no audio. I also, after the short time it took to export (about 3 minutes for a 6 minute piece), I tried Compressor’s MPEG2 90 min DVD – Best Quality. It took 30 minutes to export and looked pixelated. THIRTY MINUTES?!?!?! Apple, wassup? If QuickTime is the better codec and LOOKS BETTER ON SCREEN (my client, in a blind test, chose the QuickTime exported DVD vs Compressor’s attempt), why call it “superfluous” and “outdated” when hyping Compressor in the support section of Apple’s site?

Apple, please stop trying to shine on multimedia editors about Compressor. It has sucked from product ship day one and continues to suck hard. After three full versions, few editors I know even use it, and the ones that attempt to do so cringe or spit curses when I bring it up. It makes the rest of the FCS2 suite look bad. Its junior varsity to FCP’s All American performance. Its a wallflower next to Motion’s incredible updates to its fantastic software. It pales beside the usability and functionality of DVDSP. Depreciate this product, stop wasting your customers’ time, and rebuild it properly, for both Intel Core and older G5s.

Apple, you have lots of competition out there – Sorenson Squeeze (yes, not so great either, but it doesn’t take hours to output), Cleaner (not so recent, but reliable), Telestream’s Episode Pro (just BUY this company and replace Compressor with Episode Pro!), etc. And you have a user base that is clearly frustrated, on and off the Apple support forums. I literally read through hundreds of posts in the Compressor support forum that range from frustrated to homicidal. Off the site, the comments were more, um, blunt. Get the point yet, Apple?

Here’s why we Multimedia Editor types RAGE against Compressor. Time, for an editor, is most definitely money. And often, we don’t charge for rendering/compression time. But we don’t expect it should take HOURS for minutes of footage. Its not HD, HDv or some obscure Pixar codec – its straight out of FCP that we see these issues. And, after waiting so long (people have no idea that editors are not really patient, they are just good at multitasking), the output from Compressor, particularly when it comes to MPEG2, is subpar to the other options available. So time plus quality should equal excellent work right? WRONG! In this case, using Compressor, time equals waste, quality equals crap. Money lost right there – not time you should bill a client with.  Time we have to eat and explain to our client why the quality is low or why the job is delayed.

We, Apple, as media makers, require CONSISTENCY in our tools. Compression has been consistently crappy. Can you switch that to be the best compression app on the market? Come on, you took on AVID and ADOBE in the editing and effects market and KICKED BOOTY!!! Bring some of that title fighting jedi master design usability programming magic back! We are rooting for you!

One more thing – can you make it so Compressor doesn’t highjack FCP when you run a job? THAT REALLY SUCKS!

Okay, I’m down off the soap box, rant over.

Peace,
Melissa