Exporting | DVcreators.net

How do I export a high quality movie?

August 3, 2008 in DVD, digital video news, editing, web video by Josh

When you’re finished with your edit, how should you export?

Well, it depends.

METHOD #1. Reference movie

If you want to export a temporary file as quickly as possible, export a reference movie.

File > Export > Quicktime Movie

UNcheck “Make Self-Contained”

Pros:

If you’ve rendered your sequence, this is the fastest way to export
The file size is very small – it only contains audio and pointers to the video files, no actual video

Cons:

The exported file is fragile and not portable. If any of the referenced video files (including render files) are moved, renamed or deleted, or if the ref movie is moved to a different computer, the reference movie will not open. This means you should use the ref movie right away, for example, to import into DV Kitchen to publish on the web. It is definitely useless as an archival movie to save for future use.
If your sequence is in DV format, the quality of text, graphics and animations will be very poor.
If your sequence is in HDV format, the quality of text, graphics and animations will not be as good as it could be, especially fast moving or intricate CG.

If you are converned about quality, try a short test export of a section containing titles, graphics or an animation and view it in Quicktime Player.

METHOD #2. Native format movie

If you want to export quickly, but want an exported movie that is permanent and self-contained, export a native format movie.

File > Export > Quicktime Movie

Make sure “Make Self-Contained” is checked

Pros:

If you’ve rendered your sequence, this is faster than the 3rd option below

Cons:

If your sequence is in DV format, the quality of text, graphics and animations will be very poor.
If your sequence is in HDV format, the quality of text, graphics and animations will not be as good as it could be, especially fast moving or intricate CG.

METHOD #3. lossless PNG movie

If you have completed an important project, and want a perfect quality export, and don’t mind if it takes a while, this method quickly, but want an exported movie that is permanent and self-contained, export a PNG codec movie.

This way, now or anytime in the future, you can:

encode this movie to x264, H264, FLV or WMV (or any other format) with DV Kitchen
drag it into DVD Studio Pro or iDVD to author an SD DVD
import it into Encore or Toast to author a Blu-Ray DVD
take it on a Firewire drive to a dub house to transfer to a broadcast format for cable/satellite, or for a film festival
or any other conceivable use.

You can copy the exported movie to a cheap terabyte Firewire or even USB drive to archive it and save room on your main drives.

I recommend the PNG codec, because it is lossless, and it is compatible with almost any software that accepts Quicktime files.

If you are concerned with how long it will take, try a test export (with a 5 second sample) and time it, then try one of the methods above and time that. This way, you can easily calculate how long the entire export will take. If the 5 seconds took 10 seconds to export, this is a 2-1 ratio- so a 2 hour timeline will take 4 hours.

Here are the steps:

1.	In Final Cut Pro, go to File > Export Using Quicktime Conversion In iMovie, go to Share > Export Using Quicktime With other apps, look for something called “Export Quicktime Movie” or similar
2.	Choose ”Quicktime Movie” (or ”Movie to Quicktime Movie” in some applications) from the format popup menu
3.	Click the “Options” button:
4.	Click the “Settings” button in the Video panel and set Compression Type to PNG and Depth to Millions of Colors.
5a.	If your project is DV anamorphic (16:9/widescreen), click “Size”, choose “Custom” from the menu, and type 720 for width, 405 for height. (Otherwise, skip to 5b)
5b.	If your project is any other format besides DV anamorphic, click “Size” and choose “Current” from the menu. (Ignore whatever numbers pop up in the fields) We generally recommend checking “Deinterlace”. But what if your footage was shot progressive? Like 24p pr 30p? Well, if you shot 24p, and are editing in a 60i timeline, you still have interlacing due to the 2:3 pulldown. Also, if you edited your show in an interlaced timeline, any title moves, animations, zooms and pans of still images or even dissolves will appear interlaced, and you will get better perceived quality if you deinterlace. The only exception to this would be if you are editing in a progressive timeline.
6.	Click the “Settings” button in the Sound panel and set it up like this:
7.	Uncheck “Prepare for Internet Streaming”, then click “OK” and “Save”.