Best [quality] settings for exporting SD video to DVD

[Ryan Atkins]

Thank you very much for this post

It is much appreciated

[Chaia Dechen]

That really cleared up a lot for me. Thank you so much.

got 3 questions…
Is it best to export as a self contained movie when going straight to DVD studio pro and not using compressor at all? (my compressor isn´t working)

I have a video of a duration of 85min, it will be viewed on the big screen and 3thousand dvds will be produced to hand out to people who in the most part will watch the DVD on their PC´s. I´m in Brazil, so Mac isn´t huge here yet.

I´ve had problems viewing my video on PC´s and the quality seems to be muuuuch poorer.

Aaaaand, how on earth do you do “POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™” I always border line insanity when editing and finalizing work, makes me question my whole existance and why I choose to do this kind of work. lol
Please share your secret.
Thanks 😉

[David Roth weiss]

[chaia dechen] “Is it best to export as a self contained movie when going straight to DVD studio pro and not using compressor at all? (my compressor isn´t working)
“

No, compression in DVDSP is inferior. Get Compressor working again…

[chaia dechen] “I have a video of a duration of 85min, it will be viewed on the big screen and 3thousand dvds will be produced to hand out to people who in the most part will watch the DVD on their PC´s. I´m in Brazil, so Mac isn´t huge here yet.

I´ve had problems viewing my video on PC´s and the quality seems to be muuuuch poorer.”

I don’t see a question, but the answer is: Get some help from a professional facility before your screening and before making 3000 copies.

[chaia dechen] “how on earth do you do “POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™” I always border line insanity when editing and finalizing work, makes me question my whole existance and why I choose to do this kind of work. lol
Please share your secret. “

I’ve been doing this for a long, long time, and I do my homework… Plus, I specialize in bringing sanity to the projects of others who have created insanity for themselves by not doing their homework. Sanitariums are full of filmmakers who ran out into the field with a camera because it looked like fun. I save many of them from life in a straightjacket.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Ryan Atkins]

“I´ve had problems viewing my video on PC´s and the quality seems to be muuuuch poorer.”

First off, you should know that a computer monitor won’t display pixels the same as a TV does. NEVER use a PC monitor (laptop or desktop, Mac or PC) to judge the quality of your DVD’s. 720×480 on a computer monitor will not display over the entire screen, like a TV does. If you make the DVD full screen, it will pixelate, because you are actually viewing it at what the video card is set to display.

So —

ALWAYS use a stand-alone DVD player for testing. Sure, make sure the DVD plays fine in a computer, but never judge quality from it. Also, before you commence in burning your DVD in DVD Studio Pro always simulate it – see if there are any major quality flaws with the content you want to burn.

Also, I agree with David. Though, do some tests on multiple players and make a few copies of your own and test those out.

You should definitely get Compressor working again. It has presets for your DVD time length, and those values are set by the video bitrate. So, always export a RAW video file from FCP, bring that into Compressor – choose the appropriate preset (DVD 90, 120, or 150 minute), and this will create an m2v file that DVD Studio likes.

You might have to play with your bitrate settings to get your .ac3 and .m2v file to be under 4.4 GB for a DVD-5 single layer disc. However, the less advanced you are at adjusting these presets in Compressor, the more trouble you get in – it takes time.

Test on a stand-alone, never a computer monitor for quality judgment…and use Compressor.

Hope that helps

[Chaia Dechen]

waw…
Ok, I got Compressor working again, just a few minutes ago.
I’m going to run some tests now that I have compressor working, and I’ll be testing my dvds on PC’s to see if they work.
waw, Wish I could get some work experience with you. 🙂

Thank you so much for your response and good luck with everything.

[Ryan Atkins]

No problem. It just takes practice and a little reading sometimes.

Good luck on everything.