Best setting for export for DVD into compressor and finish off in DVD studio Pro

[Shane Ross]

Don’t modify the Compressor settings. Choose BEST QUALITY 90-MIN (or other to match timing) and don’t modify anything. Just compress.

Shane
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[E’mya Greene]

Hey Shane,

Appreciate you response.

So i’ve done as you’ve suggested and it’s come out the same… i’m at wits end at this point. I might add that in compressor 4.2 it doesn’t have the option to select best quality settings for 90mins like its previous version. It’s basically just select the Create DVD option (unless i’m missing something)

Before i put it into compressor 4.2 it looks perfect, not sure what else i can do right now… I’ve tired also
going straight into DVD studio pro but that also comes out looking pixelated. Any other suggestions i’m seriously open and would appreciate it. Got a deadline for end of the week which is looking bleak right now.

– E’mya

[Shane Ross]

The new Compressor doesn’t have BEST QUALITY DVD? Why am I not surprised? Apple seems to have dropped caring about formats that still need to be delivered…Tape and DVD.

Not sure what to suggest…I have Compressor 3.5 that shipped with FCP 7, and it works fine. Obviously this is an issue with Compressor 4. But I’m not sure how to fix. Hopefully someone will know.

Shane
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[Mark Suszko]

Try using MPEG Streamclip instead of Compressor, see if a test burn in DVDSP with that file also has the pixelation. I’m wondering if you have a pref mis-set in DVDSP.

[Gary Milligan]

[E'mya Greene] “- Exported using quicktime movie (1 Hour 20mins Video Clip)”

What codec are you using for your export (ProRes, Animation, H264, other)? How does that file look when played back?

[E'mya Greene] “Compressed it comes out right size for disc but is super pixelated.”

What do you mean by “super pixelated”? Really blocky?… or just not as sharp as the original? I’m assuming that the original footage is HD so you have to keep in mind that DVDs are SD. There’s a fair amount of scaling that has to be done to get HD to SD and this may be part of what you’re seeing.

[E'mya Greene] “I’ve then got to put it into dvd studio for titles and chapters and subsequently even worst after.”

What are you using to add titles… or do you mean menus? The graphics tools and templates provided in DVDSP are not great. If possible, build your menus using Photoshop or something similar but make sure the screen resolution and aspect ratio are the proper size so DVDSP doesn’t have to do any scaling.

How are you viewing the finished version? If you are just looking at the program screen in DVDSP then that could be the problem. You need to burn a disk and play that on a TV. Or, write the DVD to a folder on your computer and play that using your computer’s DVD player.

HTH
Gary

[Richard Van harderwijk]

Hi,

Problem can indeed be the scaling from HD -> SD. And if you have 1 hours 20 min and want to put that on a single layer DVD, that’s heavy compression. Cannot judge without an image.

I still have compressor 3.5.3 with the DVD 90 min best quality. Works perfect 🙂 Here are the settings:

Name: MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 2-pass
Description: Fits up to 90 minutes of video with Dolby Digital audio at 192 Kbps or 60 minutes with AIFF audio on a DVD-5
File Extension: m2v
Estimated size: 2.79 GB/hour of source
Type: MPEG-2 video elementary stream
Usage:SD DVD
Video Encoder
Format: M2V
Width and Height: Automatic
Pixel aspect ratio: Default
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
Start timecode from source
Aspect ratio: Automatic
Selected 16:9
Field dominance: Automatic
Average bit rate: 6.2 (Mbps)
2 Pass VBR enabled
Maximum bit rate: 7.7 (Mbps)
High quality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP Size: 1/2 second, Structure: IBBP
DVD Studio Pro meta-data enabled

Further looking it says resize settings are Better. Perhaps you can set that at Best, but if I remember correctly it can lead to very long compression times, and you have to set motion from best to better. Try a small part of the movie first.

Good luck with the deadline

[Nick Meyers]

you should be exporting from FCP using “current settings”, not re-compressing.

i’ve had serious issues DOWN-scaling moving images
admittedly these were UHD drone shots, but the best way i could get them to HD was using the “best” motion scaling settings in compressor.

maybe try a small section of your film using “best” see how it compares,
then get read for a long haul.

nick

[E’mya Greene]

Hi Richard,

Thanks i’ve tried what you using compressor 3.5.3 and still the same outcome. I think you’re right HD-SD is the problem and converting to mpeg-2 for dvd just seems like the outcome i’m going to get. I upgraded to compressor 4.2 thinking it would have a better encoder but i was wrong. Seems like i’m going to have to just issue it as a online file.

Thanks anyway.

[E’mya Greene]

Hey Nick,

Thanks for your response.

I’ve actually done both options with current settings non/compressed & recompressed to check if it’s something i’m doing wrong. But it seems its in the mpeg2 conversion for dvd in compressor.

Trying other methods but the best quality is when i export for web, but then i can’t transfer it into dvd studio pro because its obviously not in the format it wants.

Thanks for the suggestion – Still trawling the net for answers but i feel its HD-SD the quality wont change. But i stay hoping!

Thanks

[Richard Van harderwijk]

Hi E’mya,

Bad luck. Apparently just too much compression for a single layer dvd. If you will make an on-line file, use H264. Newer codec, same file size will yield a superior result.