best export format for DVD

[Alan Okey]

Export a self-contained Quicktime movie from a ProRes 422 or Uncompressed 8-bit or 10-bit sequence and use the self-contained movie file as a master source for your DVD compression. Use Compressor or another high-quality MPEG-2 encoder (BitVice, CinemaCraft MP) to create your MPEG-2 assets and import them into DVD Studio Pro. Use Compressor to create .ac3 audio assets and import them into DVDSP.

[David Mayer]

Is there no export option in Final Cut 7 that will create a high quality video file and a high quality audio file that I can import directly into DVD Studio Pro without the steps you just mentioned?

iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB
OS 10.6.2
Final Cut Pro 7.0

[Bret Williams]

FCP doesn’t export mpeg2. So your export should be as he said. From there you can use compressor to create the mpeg2 files, or DVDSP can do a lesser job of it within the app. It only created aiff files for audio, which take up space and bitrate, potentially affecting video quality and/or playback.

[Steve Eisen]

David

Your FCP manual explains the process for making DVD’s.

Exporting a QT Movie from your timeline and creating a m2v file in Compressor will give the the best results. You will never get better looking video than with what you originally started with.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group