Hi Folks,
     Sorry for being somewhat offtopic. Just wanted to ask if anyone knows how to change the Export Bitrate for / in Final Cut Pro (X). In Davinci Resolve, I can manually choose either "Best" setting or Manual bit rate and I normally go with Manual bit rate of 160Mbps for H.265 10bit. I am trying to find a similar setting in Final Cut Pro (M1 Pro sllicone) on Macbook Pro. The reason I am trying to change this setting is I think I am noticing some compression artifacts in FCPX, i.e. where highlited bright (i.e. white) color starts to somewhat break out and show sort of like film grain instead of being solid white highlight. It is similar to what you see if you overexpose white, but in this particular example I don't see overexposure on histogram nor I see this compression artifact on the original video. Hoping there is a way to increase compression bit rate to a higher value so that these compression artifacts go away.
If someone could please suggest if they know how to do it (was not able to find on the web).

Thanks in advance, Mike.

Hi Mike,

Have you tried turning off Optimized media in Final Cut?  This seems to encode separate video that makes it easier to work with Final Cut and it does cut down the quality while in final cut, but the exported file depending on your settings will be better.
Also, there's a couple places you can look.  In your Project's settings (click the project in the library, the on the right inspector, go to Modify Settings) then you can change the type here:




When you go to "Export File" in Final Cut, you can also change the codec:


Last thing to look out for is your drone using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) or Constant Bit Rate (CBR) in the settings?  That could make a huge difference here.

dronethemoment Posted at 1-20 13:36
Hi Mike,

Have you tried turning off Optimized media in Final Cut?  This seems to encode separate video that makes it easier to work with Final Cut and it does cut down the quality while in final cut, but the exported file depending on your settings will be better.

Thank you Dronethemoment. I will check all of these. I might have Optimized media turned on and other settings I need to check. I just got the MacBook Pro and Final Cut Pro X and getting myself familiar with this app and the system as well. I noticed that a 29GB file , that is in MP4 format , that is shot in 5.1k 50fps  HLG 10 bit HDR on Mavic 3 (with a bitrate of 200mbps) gets exported by FCPX with default settings into M4P format HLG 10 bit HDR Dolby Vision 4k 50fps into a small 4GB file. Imho that is somewhere around 50 mbps encoding bitrate. I just rechecked and seeing artifacts everywhere compared to the original file. Thank you for your suggestions Dronethemoment, I will look into those and get back.

Thanks again and take care, Mike.

How do you export? The arrow at top right? You should have choices there. "Export File" is default, and you can then modify file types in the Settings tab. Chose Mastering in the drop down menu.

But I use Compressor. If you intend to work quite a bit in Final Cut, I'd suggest getting Compressor. And you can make presets with your favourite settings, and have them show up in the Final Cut export menu.

ZmoothOperator Posted at 1-20 15:17
How do you export? The arrow at top right? You should have choices there. "Export File" is default, and you can then modify file types in the Settings tab. Chose Mastering in the drop down menu.

But I use Compressor. If you intend to work quite a bit in Final Cut, I'd suggest getting Compressor. And you can make presets with your favourite settings, and have them show up in the Final Cut export menu.

Hi ZmoothOperator,

     I am also using Compressor (had to buy it). I also setup presets with it HEVC 10 bit HLG Dolby Vision or just HEVC 10 bit , but unfortunately I can't seem to find anywhere in settings of Compressor or in Final Cut Pro an option where I can select the bit rate manually. Thank you for your suggestion ZmoothOperator, I will try to dig around more, thinking also to try ProRes export and then transcode via Handbrake. Will keep looking , thank you for your suggestion.

Take care, Mike.

When you click on the selected preset applied to your source (bottom middle), you should have all the settings show on the right (general/video/audio).
So you're selecting from the "Apple Devices" presets? If you chose from the Prores presets, you can select from a myriad of codecs, including HEVC.

ZmoothOperator Posted at 1-20 18:44
When you click on the selected preset applied to your source (bottom middle), you should have all the settings show on the right (general/video/audio).
So you're selecting from the "Apple Devices" presets? If you chose from the Prores presets, you can select from a myriad of codecs, including HEVC.

Thank you ZmoothOperator. I will try that for sure.

Thanks again, Mike.