Odd data rate issue through Compressor

[Derf The Viking]

I have RED footage that I process through Compressor. I have it set to H.264 for the web. I need to restrict the data rate to 1500kbits/sec, so I do so in Compressor. The odd thing is that when I do that, the Quicktime that comes out of Compressor has a data rate of about 2800kbits/sec. Eventually I figured that I could set the data rate to restrict to 300kbits/sec in Compressor and the Quicktime that comes out has a data rate of about 1800kbits, which is kind of close to what I wanted so I've been going with that. But last week some test footage was shot for the show I'm working on now (on the RED), and I accidentally used a droplet that had the data rate set to restrict to 1500kbits/sec in Compressor, and the Quicktime came out at 1500kbits/sec! So through some form of divine intervention it actually worked the way it was supposed to. (or maybe it was just something they did on camera?) So today for the actual shoot I used the one I used for the test, but the Quicktime came out at around 2800kbits/sec. Bummer. So, I'm back to using the one that has 300kbit/sec restriction through Compressor again. Anywho, I was wondering if anyone knew why Compressor was doing this. (It's only doing it to RED footage by the way.) Is it the camera itself or a bug in Compressor? Thanks.

 

[Noah Kadner]

What about your audio? It's the average bitrate over the entire file you're setting. You might find Sorenson Squeeze or Episode can be more accurate in hitting a target bitrate.

Noah

 

[Derf The Viking]

The audio is 16bit 48k. The data rate setting was under "Video Setting."

I've tried the demo of Episode; it's pretty sweet. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can convince my boss to fork over nine hundred bucks for a new program. It may come to that if this comes to be a problem, but it's not right now.