Need Assistance Compressing to 2GB or Under. About to lose my Mind.

I know this board is full of knowledge and I need some. This is my 1st post. I am exhausted trying every way, thank goodness I found this forum. I have a large file. 106GB (horror film) I need to reduce it to 2GB for "Online Screener" with Withoutabox. They do it though IMDB. See specs below.

Recommended Video Settings
We recommend the following settings to optimize video quality on the IMDb site:
• File size: Less than 2GB
• Frame: 480 px by 360 px at 30 frames per second
• Format: Flash Video (Codec: Sorenson or VP6 codec) or Quicktime • We do not currently support HD video. You will be able to upload an HD video, but the file will NOT be displayed in HD.

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I use FCPX and have exported it every which way possible. Nothing will get it below 2GB. I can get it to 15g. Also, I have "Compressor 4.1.2" and I have the same problem. Can't get it small enough.

My question is; Is there a way to reduce the size, yet maintain good quality with FCPX or Compressor?; Or is there another method I need to consider? Thanks very much.

Reducing 106 to 2 is going to be next to impossible. What is the duration of your original Timeline? I assume your original edit in FCPX is 720 or 1080?

The answer to Ben's question on resolution is pretty important info. As is the codec of the source video.

The math is essentially to reduce the size of the output to 2% of the original. If, foe example your original is 1080 Pro Res 422, you can probably accomplish what you need for the submission. 1080 Pro Res has a bit rate of roughly 150 mb per second. So 2% of that is about 3 Mbps. There is no flavor of Pro Res that will give you that bit rate _ regardless of the resolution.

However, your output file codec should be H.264, which is way more compressed then Pro Res and requires a far lower data rate. And at the resolution they want, it should work.

Circling back to the resolution and codec question, if on the other hand your original movie is already in a highly compressed and/or its resolution is already small, then we'd be trying to square the circle.

Russ

BenB - Yes, I am starting to believe you are correct that I can't get it down to under 2GB. The duration of the film is 2 hours and 8 minutes. 1080 Pro Res 422.

Russ - What option in Compressor should I choose in order to give me H.264?

Last week I was trying to compress for Blu-Ray and it export me a H.264 which turned out to be 15GB. Well, I was still not able to burn my blu-ray. I purchased a Samsung blu-ray burner and have Toast 12 Pro and still can't get a darn blu-ray but that is a separate problem from the one posted in this thread.

Right now my focus is on uploading a 2GB file or smaller for Withoutabox. (which links via IMDB) for online screening.

Thanks for your response Ben & Russ.

Nativebullet wrote: What option in Compressor should I choose in order to give me H.264?

After starting compressor if you open the settings pane and twirl down the "Video Sharing Services" disclosure triangle you'll get several choices. If you also open the info pane on the right side of the window you'll get an approximate "file size/hour" when each of the choices are selected.

HD 720p is 4.67 GB/hour. To get under 2 GB with over two hours of video you are going to have to go to something like SD 480p which gives you resolution that maxes at 640x360. However, files sizes are under 1 GB/hour.

I just play at this stuff (not a professional). There may well be other tricks I'm not aware of.

To be sure there are inevitably multiple ways to get to a desired result in the pro apps

If you want the mov container, you could do as Marchyman suggested and start with a video sharing preset. Or you could take any one of the Pro Res presets and change the codec to h.264. Or you could go to the bottom of Settings panel and click the plus sign, That brings up a drop down where you can select Quicktime Movie.

In the mov settings, the codec and bit rates (also frame size) can be reset by going to the Inspector>QuickTime Settings and clicking the Change button. The rate is set by typing it into the field on the right and codec is chosen from the Compression Type codec list.

You can also use MPEG4 – again, from the drop down that appears after hitting the plus sign in them Settings panel. Again, you make any changes in the Inspector, although the bit rate is controlled by a slider in this setting. If you go this route, I suggest using High Profile and CABAC entropy.

Good luck.

Russ

Excellent information Marchy & Russ.

Stay with me here, for I am not as advanced so I will go through the steps. (please correct where I mess up)

I have my project sitting my timeline. ( 2 hour 7 minute film) then I...

Share > Master File. This gives me my MOV file ( ProRes 422, 1920X1080, 23.98fps. Audio 24-bit, Stereo 48000 HZ

Ok, I then drop that MOV file into Compressor.

Click of "Video Sharing Services" > then SD480p. Then this should get me under 2GB, Correct?


or if I try Russ's way.... Which Video Sharing should I start with prior to change codec to h.264? Russ, which one of the options you listed would give best results you think?

Marchyman - I did it your way tonight. It is currently "processing". I hope this works. Thanks.

Russ - I would also like to do it your way. Would the results differ? If not, then there is no need but if one may look better than the other, I would like to try both. If so, could you 'dumb' it down for me, step by step. That would help me out tremendously. Thanks.

The results would likely differ. For one thing you could pick a different frame size. You coud pick, for example, 1280x720. But then you'd have to lower the bandwidth to get it to fit in under 2 GB. I don't know if the results would be better or worse -- not enough experience. I'd probably waste 3 days creating a bunch of different versions then pick the best of what I have when I ran out of time.

Good luck. I hope the results meet your needs.

Sorry for the delay in answering your question; I was away from my computer all afternoon and most of evening.

Any of the settings can do what you want. If it were my project I'd test alternatives and decide based on the evidence (the quality and size of the output).

In the preview window, set in and out points. to mark a short section of a representative part of the movie. Apply your settings. Submit and evaluate the results. – one setting against the other . If they're all at the same bit rate (say, 2K) and at the same resolution (480), you shouldn't see a lot of difference, But check for peace of mind.

Russ

Nativebullet
Is it possible to break apart your movie? Part 1 / Part 2
That would give you 4GB total to work with. Less compression, better quality.
Lots of YouTube and Vimeo vids are done this way.

Hope this helps, Greg