I'm not sure how many org users have edit on macs, but I'm definitely new to it. I've been figuring out Final Cut and how it works with compressor. I've yet to come up with a setting under the MP4 format with h.264 compression that looks decent. Obviously there is a balance of file size and the quality of the rendered video.
If there are any org mac users that have a method for Final Cut rendering any help at all would be greatly appreciated!
Yeah, FCP doesn't play well with mp4 or anything that uses the H.264 codec. You would need to uses compressor or MPEG-Streamclip (my preference) and convert it to another FCP friendly codec such as Apple ProRess 422, HDV, or in rare cases DVC-Pro. This all sounds complicated, but FCP is meant to be used for professional businesses that operate in high capacity files sizes and qualities. So I could make my FMA AMVs, I burned up nearly 600GB in Apple ProRess files. That codec will give you little to no errors during editing.
So, to answer your question: Don't use MP4. Use the .mov container and a codec such as HDV or Pro Res. They take up a ton of space, but you have the best quality and fewest editing issues.