-
poor titles quality
I am trying to output my movie, downconverting for SD tape and DVD.
Here’s how I made the movie:
1920×1080
ProRes4444
24fps
pixel aspect square
render all YUV in high precision YUVAlong with the titles, the movie contains lots of graphics that I made in AE, outputting from there with the same settings and using RGBA.
Overall, the movie looks a bit softer in SD, which would seem normal, but the titles look absolutely terrible. Jaggies and very blurry. There is one image that is computer generated, a line drawing of 1 pixel white lines, which also doesn’t look great on the diagonals–the lines are broken and not supercrisp–but not nearly as bad as the type.
Clearly, I’m not creating the titles properly–I’ve tried some different things, but the result is always the same–not even close to acceptable.
I’ve read around CC and some other places and I don’t seem to find information specific to this problem.
Thanks for your help.
Jeanne
-
23 Replies
-
First, do not ever make a one pixel line for use in video. It’s always going to look bad. Minimum is two pixels and three is better. Second, the line should not be white. The RGB values should not exceed 235s. Also a one pixel vertical motion blur can be very helpful.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
Thanks very much Tom!
The real problem is the text, though.
Any information that would be most appreciated.Jeanne
-
Information on the text would be helpful. The same rules apply. No white. No bright colors reds and oranges. Avoid seriffed fonts unless they’re large.
What’s being done exactly to make them SD? What format? What settings? Where are you going when you’re making the media SD? Where are you looking at the finished output.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
Tell us your settings and steps in converting to DVD SD?
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
The text is Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20 and Trade Gothic Condensed No 18. The minimum size is 72px.
The color is blue #00A7F.I’m sending the HD sequence from FCP to Compressor where I’m using these settings:
MPEG-2 video elementary stream
Format m2v
width 720
height 480
pixel aspect ratio NTSC CCIR 601/DV (this is what I get when I select 720×480)
Frame rate 29.97 (because I read that dvds have to be this rate)
Aspect ratio 4:3 (because I made a sequence 1920×1440 and dropped my 1920×1080 into it. The movie is actually a custom size, 1920×960. There are lots of square photographs in my movie, and I didn’t want to crop them.)
Field dominance top first
Average bit rate 15 (Mbps)
2 pass VBR enabled
Max bit rate 20 (Mbps)
High qauality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP size 15, structure IBBPI should mention that I have never been able to produce a dvd that played in a dvd player or a pc, only on apple computers–but I haven’t tested the above settings yet. With these settings I can only report that the type looks awful, the drawing a little better.
After trying lots of different settings in compressor and dvd studio and deciding to throw in the towel and give my hd file to a duplication house, it turned out that their results were just as bad as mine, the only difference being that their dvd plays on a dvd player.
Also they told me they’re using compressor as well, which convinced me the problem is with how I’m creating the titles.
Also it annoys me to pay someone to make something with equipment I own only because I’m too frustrated and intimidated to learn how to use it properly.
These are the circumstances that bring us together.Jeanne
-
Aspect ratio 4:3 (because I made a sequence 1920×1440 and dropped my 1920×1080 into it. – NO
Choose 16 by 9, your edit is HD. You should make a 16X9 DVD
Don’t nest your comp, don’t make a custom size comp.
Edit HD native size to video.
Output a ref movie file.
drop that file into compressor
choose SD DVD 16X9 Letterbox
frame control set to best.
Dial in the data rate to match your program length.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Don’t use net color values. Use RGB color values.
1920×1440? What the heck is that? That’s a weird size. Why are you bothering with HD settings? You can’t make up 4:3 HD. All HD is widescreen. If you need 4:3 you need to be working in uncompressed SD 720×486.
Field dominance looks wrong. Should be lower for NTSC DVD shouldn’t it?
The data rates are way, way to high for set-top box playback. How are you getting those numbers? Using transport or program stream settings? Max data rate should not be more than 8 including audio for standard player delivery. Look at the Apple presets for DVD.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately I don’t understand a single word.
Would it be too much trouble to ask you to explain what you mean?
I’m sure this would be helpful to other beginners having some of the same problems I am.For example:
Choose 16 by 9, your edit is HD. You should make a 16X9 DVD
Why?
Don’t nest your comp…
This is recommended in lots of situations by other people at CC, in fact this is how I came to set the project up in this way. Why do you say it’s wrong?There are 10 dvd settings in compressor–which one are you suggesting I use?
As far as dialing, I have no idea what that means or how to implement it.
Also, I’m trying to get an answer on how to make titles that look sharp. As it is, the video and graphics look ok, except the one I mentioned that is computer generated, but the titles looks much worse. If you have some thoughts on this I would appreciate knowing them.
Thanks for your help.
Jeanne
-
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your reply.
When you say use RGB, do you mean instead of YUV in FCP sequence settings?
I made the movie in HD so I could also output to HD. For the moment I need to downconvert to SD for HDCAM (requested by a film festival) and dvd (for screeners).
The numbers I’m getting for the data rate is what comes automatically with the setting I’m using in compressor: elementary stream.
Is this the reason why the dvds I’m making don’t play? Or are there more.I appreciate your time–if you know of where I can find some information that will help me fill in the blanks that would also be great.
Thanks,
Jeanne
-
No, the graphics colors. You used blue #00A7F. That’s net colors, no? Use RGB values. You’re making the graphics in AE, correct? That’s RGB only.
Elementary stream is for transmission not for DVD delivery. Look at the DVD presets. None of them go beyond 8. The top value that’s usually sued is 7.7. Keep the data rate to these values and the disc will play in a set-top player.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up