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Pal SVHS to SD DVD best settings.
Hi all,
I have several SVHS tapes that I would like to transfer onto SD DVD. I have managed to tranfer some of the footage but I’m begining to wonder if my settings are correct.
I am using the latest version of FCP. My SVHS tapes were either recorded on a Panasonic MS1 or DP800 (PAL)4:3.
Can somone either point me to a link or talk me through what settings I should be using to get the best quality. The final DVD’s will be viewed on a widescreen television.
I am using DVDSP4 to create my finished DVD and using a DAC 100 to convert to DV.
While on this subject. I’ve noticed that occasioanlly broadcasters show old footage that has black bands down either side of the picture. I assume this is because the footage was shot using 4:3 aspect ratio. But occasionally other footage is shown and the black bands are missing! Why is that, and how does that relate to what I am trying to do?
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4 Replies
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Well, there is no single best setting for compression to MPEG to burn DVD’s with… the longer the show, the lower the bit rate in order to fit on a single DVD… if you can keep it down to under an hour per DVD, a CBR of 6.8 mbs should look pretty good.
When 4:3 material fills the screen it’s either been stretched making everyone gain weight, or it’s been expanded to fill the frame making it degrade that way. There are boxes which do a better job of this than FCP will, but they are expensive… I’ve not checked the scaling that can be done in Color vs FCP myself, but that might be a way to scale up the 4:3 and keep it cleaner.
Jerry
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[Rob Evans] “While on this subject. I’ve noticed that occasioanlly broadcasters show old footage that has black bands down either side of the picture. I assume this is because the footage was shot using 4:3 aspect ratio. But occasionally other footage is shown and the black bands are missing! Why is that, and how does that relate to what I am trying to do?”
They have zoomed in on the footage, cropping off the top and bottom to make it fill the 16:9 frame.
You are degrading the image doing this, but the tradeoff may be acceptable in some cases. Compressor actually does a very good job of this (better than within FCP) when the resize is done at Best Quality in the Frame Controls. Note, in Compressor you cannot keyframe the position of the crop, as you can in FCP. -
Thanks for your help. I’ll give this a try.
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Hi Jerry,
I think I should have been a little more clearer with my posting. I am familiar with bit rates – but really looking at what settings should be used in FCP to capture footage.
Another posting suggests using Compressor to get around the 4:3 aspect ratio issue. So that’s my next step.
Thanks for your time.
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