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Problems playing FCP-made .mov files in Windows computers

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I've been having issues playing .mov files that I make using FCP. Whenever they are transferred to a Windows PC the playback is always choppy. Playback is fine on my Mac, but always skips on a Windows system (XP, Vista and 7). I'm guessing it is some sort of codec issue but I'm not sure how to solve it. The Windows PCs in question are equipped with Quicktime and VLC Player, so I thought that should have solved whatever possible codec issue might have been. I guess not.

As far as how I output the files on FLC, it is whatever standard output setting FCP has when I select "Export Video". I don't change anything.

This happens with videos that I output from a sequence and with videos that I capture from my camera.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Are you just giving the .mov from an fcp export? If you are, there's probably your mistake - unless you're changing the output codec information, it's going to output in the codec of the timeline (ie: ProRES). Even tho windows users can get (in this example) a codec for Quicktime to playback ProRES codec video, it's really not the best format to hand out to people as the format of the video within FCP is really an edit friendly format and not distribution friendly (including the fact that the files are usually huge)

Your better bet is to take the output from FCP then transcode it - either using Compressor or mpegstreamclip to a H.264 mp4 or something similar that will be much more distribution friendly. I don't know what your source footage is, but if it's 720p for example, you may want to try ~4000kbps bit rate h.264 mp4 (if it's a higher rez video, like 1080p, your bitrate will need to be higher to maintain a good quality playback).
 
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Alright, I'll test that out tonight. When I go to export videos on FCP there's an 'options' button that can allow me to export as H.264 mp4. Would that have the same end result as exporting on FCP then transcoding w/ Compressor?

So what about HD videos that I log and capture from my camera? I have the same problem with those videos. Can I change the settings so that those videos are captured as an H.264 mp4 also?
 
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I prefer using either Compressor or MPegStreamClip (depends on what my target is and what adjustments I need to make during transcoding and compression). The flaw is - with either option, it's best to do an export from FCP then take that exported file into compressor rather than (in Compressors case at least) using FCP's Export to Compressor function. Personally I have a harder time getting good results with the FCP export to different containers and codecs, some things are kind of buried - and the biggest problem I've seen is that it can guess the frame rate wrong and you end up needing to re-export.

You can use mpegstreamclip or compressor to convert your source footage that was log and transfered or log and captured through FCP.

mpegstreamclip is fairly easy to use with all of the options in front of you. Compressor is fairly powerful but a little more difficult to use. I would suggest though if you ever want to produce DVDs using DVD Studio Pro - learn compressor - you'll need to use it anyway to convert the footage to mpeg2 video and ac3 audio.
 

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