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DVDs from HVX-200 footage
Hi,
Okay–I shot all 24pN footage and edited in a FCP 720p 24 sequence. I output thru Compressor to make SD DVDS–but the results were way subpar.
Then, I tried making a QT reference file of the completed HD sequence and brought that into After Effects and output using the animation codec, then back into compressor, and made DVDs—these looked much better.
But, I’m wondering if anyone else has a good “recipe” for making SD DVDs from HD projects in FCP.Thanks for any help,
John
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5 Replies
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Did you use the HIGH QUALITY 2-pass VBR from Compressor? Because my DVDs from DVCPRO HD 720p timelines look great.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
I like to downcovert our projects before we compress them for DVD.
So from a 24P timeline we export it using Compressor. At the end of the post I’ve included the setting. Each show is a little different and you can play with the settings to improve quality. But for the most part, I just keep them like this.
So copy the text below and paste it into a new text document. Save it and then change the extention from .txt to .setting. Then move the setting into the home/library/application support/compressor folder. Open up compressor and the setting should be there.
From there I’ve created setting to ensure that Compressor recognizes that the file is 23.98 and doesn’t change the frame-rate. I’ll attach that too for kicks.
NOTE: For some reason DVDSP calls 23.98 files, 29.97. It’s confusing, but if you burn the DVD, 23.98 files come out as 23.98.
Hope this helps. I’d love to here other people’s tricks as well.
-Russ
Downconvert to 10-bit Uncompressed
Uncompressed%252010-bit%2520NTSC%2520Video%2520with%2520audio%2520pass-through mov yes ima4 -100 1 2 1 0 Y 0 1 0 0 v210 KeyG 0 0 0 0 yes Encode to MPEG-2 23.98 (Change the bitrate to whatever you want)
Fits%2520up%2520to%252090%2520minutes%2520of%2520video%2520with%2520Dolby%2520Digital%2520audio%2520at%2520192%2520Kbps%2520or%252060%2520minutes%2520with%2520AIFF%2520audio%2520on%2520a%2520DVD-5 m2v yes 23.976 1 1 1 0 Y 0 100 0 0 yes 3 6 7.5 yes yes 2 7 IBBP no yes no 384000 -
I did. I tried “DVD: Best Quality 90 Minutes.” I also tried bumping the bitrate up (nothing notable) and tried compression key frames in trouble spots where there is lots of movement. Not sure what’s up, but seems like I’m jumping through too many hoops to burn a DVD. Thanks
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I don’t know what to say…I get great looking DVDs.
I mark IN and OUT on my entire sequence, then export a Quicktime Movie…reference, not self contained. Then I import that into Compressor and choose the BEST QUALITY 90 MIN 16:9 setting, and wait 16 hours (Dual 2Ghz G5). When I am done, import that into DVD SP…set chapter markers for Act starts….and then BUILD/FORMAT.
I get great looking DVDs. DVCPRO HD 720p at 23.98 is the source.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
I also have great results, but with a little different method.
Shot 720/24p and cut in FCP 5.1.4. I export a self-contained QT movie and then import it into DVD SP, where I’ll compress it, using 16:9, 2-pass VBR and setting the bit rate to 7 Mbps with a max of 8.3 Mbps (for an hour-long DVD). Motion Estimation set to Best.
Compressor for me has been buggy in the past – freezing up or crashing after many hours on a render. Haven’t tried it lately since I don’t have the extra day or so it would take to solve an issue. Compressor was also a slower method than letting DVD SP do the compression itself. Again, that might have changed with updates – it’s been 6 months since I’ve used it. And I was doing an Export To Compressor, rather than creating a referenced QT Movie.
Takes me about 10 hours for a 16:9 60-min DVD with a 1.5 GHz PowerBook G4. Did one last weekend and will have another next weekend.
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