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HD compression to SD mpeg2
This is probably a stupid question, but I’m new to working with HD video…
My question is, what is the best way to maximize quality when converting HD video to SD for DVD?
Here is what I did, I had a 48 gig file that was 35 minutes long (the footage is in 1080i), I used media encoder and chose format – mpeg2 for DVD, and output – match source attributes (highest quality); the file then was compressed to about 1.75 gigs… when burned to dvd, the quality is ok, but not great.. I see lines when there are words on the video, and other compression type stuff…
How do normal movies look so great when they are shot in HD then compressed? What am I doing wrong? My HD cameras arent EX1’s or anything, but I shoot with FX-7’s from sony – and in its original quality, it looks killer!
Last thing, could it be my original export? I use FCP and export to quicktime movie with Pro Res 422 or whatever its called, again with highest quality…
Thank you for your time and help, I really appreciate it!
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1 Reply
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The problem is with the horrible algorithms used by the leading NLE applications for downscaling. The closest you will get to studio quality with any NLE alone is using the “Maximum Render Quality” setting in the Adobe Media Encoder.
Unfortunately with this setting enabled, it takes forever to encode, and the quality still isn’t that great compared to studio quality. You will notice issues around high-contrast areas, and strange artifacts.
If you want to learn how to do studio quality encoding using completely free utilities, please read this article:
https://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com
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