Here are some tips for selecting codecs and quality settings exporting QuickTime Videos.
If you need to export your videos out of Final Cut Pro, MPEG Streamclip, QuickTime Pro, on any QuickTime based application then here are a few codecs that you can choose from. Using DV/DVCPro, DVCPro50 and Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 codecs can work out well for you. Here are some scenarios when you would use each of the codecs.
When you're finished with your video project many times you have to delivery content in a web based format, on DVD, on Mobile Devices or some other type of delivery. Having a video file that be stored or used in a compression application is important. Using the DV/DVCPro codec to export a video will allow you to keep your file size down. When space for storing all of your videos is an issue the DV/DVCPro codec is a good option.
Now if you want to double the quality of your video output for storage and encoding later in your favorite compression application, using DVCPro50 is a excellent choice. You can use DVCPro50 when you still have limited storage but can handle the ability to store a little larger file. You can double your quality if you edit your project using the DV/DVCPro codec then output using the DVCPro50 codec. DVCPro50 is twice the file size and quality of DV/DVCPro.
If file size is no issue then you can use the Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 codec which will produce a very large file but you'll end up with excellent quality. Remember if you are going to later encode your content you want to make sure you have a high quality video file and using the Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 Codec will give you far superior quality then that of DVCPro50.
Setting Your Quality Setting
If you're producing an output file using a QuickTime Codec for storage or for compression later then usually there's not a really good reason not to use the highest Quality setting of Best. With the Best Quality setting your video will take longer to export. However, having the higher quality video file that is produced is worth the wait. If you want your video to finish exporting quicker and are willing to take a quality hit then you can choose the High Quality setting.
